the pale blue dot – earth from afar

If you follow the direction of mystics who have been pointing out for thousands of years the folly of mankind striving to shape what turns out to be an illusory world here on Earth then you’ll probably enjoy this clip based around the furtherest photo taken of Earth, where the planet we call home is no more than a single blue dot upon a backdrop of an infinitely expansive sky. Everything that happens on Earth is instantly put into a more realistic proportion ie. insignificant

linkage: the pale blue dot

moses high on mt sinai?

A professor from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem proposes an alternative to the commonly believed method for obtaining scriptures from God while atop a mountain. Dr Shannon told public Israeli radio that a more believable theory (Occham’s Razor and all that) is that Moses underwent a psychedelic experience induced by chemical alkaloids (aka drugs):

‘As far as Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don’t believe, or a legend, which I don’t believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics’

More interesting is that his opinion has not been instantly discredited. This from Laitmans (foremost Kabbalist) blog shows his response:

‘I do not find this assumption unreasonable at all! The professor’s point of view is quite modern. He is trying to scientifically explain a supernatural phenomenon that others simply take on faith or keep quiet about, which is not scientific at all! He is trying to “fit” the phenomenon into reality, into nature’s laws, while others remain with their superstitions. From the point of view of common sense, his assumption is scientific.’

One likely suspect for the psychedelic in question would be a wee brew from the (oft mentioned in the bible) Acacia tree with or without the benefit of a MAO inhibitor. Acacia plants are known to contain both the alkaloids Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5 MethoxyDimethyltryptamine (5 MeO-DMT). Both alkaloids are capable of providing fully psychedelic experiences that are likely to include encounters with ‘entities’ almost beyond our comprehending.

The psychedelic experience from consuming DMT is well documented to often produce the most profound spiritual experience of a consumers life – always a good time to take some notes. Carve them in stone – sure why not.

Turn on, tune in, drop out. Oh no that was Leary’s 3 commandments, not Moses’ 10

linkage: via abc news, comments on laitman’s blog

logic

linkage: via motherjones 

numenta and htm – has a.i. arrived?

It may not be what we were expecting after reading and watching sci-fi all these years. However Jeff Hawkins (of Palm and Treo fame) and the smart brains at Numenta may have developed the precursors, if not the first, true artificial intelligence. Based around Jeff’s HTM (Hierarchical Temporal Memory) model with four essential operations:

• Discover causes in the world
• Infer causes of novel input
• Make predictions
• Direct actions

linkage: overview of HTM via read write web, download the HTM white paper from numenta

christ guerrilla

  Alfredo Rostgaard, 1969

Christ guerrilla
Publisher: OSPAAAL
(Offset, 54×37 cm., inv.nr. BG D12/851)

This poster illustrates a quotation of the Columbian priest Camilo Torres: If Jesus were alive today, he would be a guerrillero. Torres, one of the most forceful spokesmen of the so-called liberation theology, joins the armed struggle and gets killed in 1969.

linkage via www.iisg.nl