THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURAL LABOR

Labor and Human Capital,

The Near-death experience: implications for neuroscience and non-local consciousness

Near-death experiences (NDE) raise important questions about the nature of human consciousness, the relationship between brain function and consciousness, the perceptual information that is available to consciousness in moments before death, the role of physical and biological mechanisms associated with altered states of consciousness, and relationships between consciousness, space-time and phenomenal reality. Challenges posed by efforts to define the NDE, claims of anomalous experiences associated with NDEs, the problem of “timing” of NDEs with respect to brain function, recent findings from neuroscience are reviewed, along with emerging evidence for quantum models of consciousness that may help elucidate the nature of NDEs. I propose that the diversity, complexity and quality of imagery retrospectively interpreted as NDEs reflect a multiplicity of potential neural pathways and the degree to which a heritable NDE predisposition is present in each unique individual. Certain NDE features are probably explainable by neuroscience and take place in 4-dimensional space-time while other NDE features such as confirmed cases of veridical perception and other so-called “anomalous” experiences may be consistent with postulated non-local characteristics of consciousness mediated by quantum-like processes or other non-classical processes (Kafatos et al., 2015) or may reflect relationships between consciousness and the environment that take place in higher order space-times. I propose an integral model that reconciles conventional neural explanations and postulated non-classical models of consciousness. The article concludes with suggestions for animal and human studies aimed at further elucidating neurophysiological mechanisms and postulated quantum-like or other non-classical mechanisms in NDEs and other kinds of transpersonal or so-called “anomalous” experiences. Well-funded cooperative research initiatives in functional brain imaging are leading to rapid advances that will make it possible in the near future to empirically test the integral model put forward in this chapter yielding more complete understandings of consciousness including NDEs and other kinds of transpersonal or anomalous experiences.

Augmented Cognition to Enhance Human Sensory Awareness, Cognitive Functioning and Psychic Functioning: a Research Proposal in Two Phases

Augmented cognition (AC) is a specialized area in human factors engineering that employs brain-computer interface (BCI) and human-computer interface (HCI) technologies to enhance human awareness and cognitive functioning. By translating subtle “non-conscious” information into conscious awareness emerging AC technologies will enhance human “intuition.” Phase I of this research proposal is directed at developing optimal AC technologies and protocols for enhancing normal human sensory functioning, “intuition,” and select cognitive capabilities aimed at improving adaptive responding in day-to-day situations. Phase I goals include using AC technologies to increase the acuity of “ordinary” sensory perception in humans, convert non-conscious perceptual data into conscious awareness, augment “ordinary” human senses with novel sensory capacities in order to enhance or modify ordinary states of awareness, and enhance the speed and accuracy of human intuitive decision-making in response to non-conscious or subtle information. Starting from Phase I findings Phase II will characterize AC technologies and protocols that may be conducive of enhanced Psi capabilities in gifted humans or provide reliable methods for training Psi-naïve humans in various Psi capabilities including remote viewing, telepathy, precognition and PK. Phase II goals include developing AC technologies that reliably detect specific physiological or environmental signals (or complex patterns of 2 or more signals) that may correlate with a particular spontaneous or forced choice Psi capability, including AC technologies capable of changing data into a more accessible form (eg, visual, auditory or tactile cues); developing biofeedback technologies and protocols for training enhanced Psi performance (including both receptive and active tasks) using signal amplification (ie, of EEG, biophotonic spectra analysis, other neural or somatic activity measures) of “anomalous” perception or reward paradigm; developing AC technologies aimed at optimizing signal “bit-rate” needed to achieve practical applications of select Psi capabilities including RV, telepathy and DMILS

Expanding the Paradigm in DMILS/HI Research: a Proposal in Four Phases

Future investigations into direct mental interactions with living systems (DMILS) including studies on “healing intention (HI)” will ideally take place in the context of a collaborative longitudinal research program employing field methods used in anthropology together with advanced brain imaging techniques to permit rigorous examination of “healing” in both naturalistic settings and controlled laboratory conditions. The multidisciplinary research program outlined in this proposal addresses important unresolved conceptual and methodological problems in DMILS/HI research with the goal of clarifying the roles of socio-cultural, psychological, biological, spiritual and “energetic” factors in “healing.” As envisioned, a series of field and laboratory studies in four phases will examine “healing” in relationship to select traditional healing approaches as practiced in naturalistic settings; traits, attitudes and beliefs of healers, patients and researchers; relationship factors influencing outcomes in researcher-healer-subject teams including distance, duration, time displacement (eg, healing “intention” in past or future), differences in attitudes, numbers of healers, patients and researchers; environmental factors conducive of (or interfering with) responses to HI; quantitative or qualitative methodologies that permit replication of “healing” claims and clarify underlying mechanisms associated with healing in both field and laboratory conditions. The proposed research program will yield improved methodologies for future field and laboratory studies on “healing,” contribute to an integral theory of “healing,” help scientifically validate the rigorous interdisciplinary practice of “healing” that can be integrated into conventional allopathic medicine and alternative medical practices. Research findings will also lead to improved understanding of environmental factors and healer-patient dynamics associated with optimal “healing” outcomes, and examine efficacy claims of specific “healing” techniques used to treat medical and psychiatric disorders, investigate whether healing techniques used in the context of unique cultural settings, traditional healing systems or spiritual beliefs generalize to a human capacity for “healing” across cultures or in controlled laboratory settings. Finally, the proposed research program will ask whether humans can be trained as “more effective” healers and “more successful” patients

Toward a model of consciousness: philosophical problems and questions guiding a way forward

In spite of millennia of introspection, research and debate, there is still no compelling evidence for any single model of consciousness (Dehaene & Changeux 2011). Nor is there agreement on how to define consciousness, what constitutes a rigorous model of consciousness, and what research methods are most appropriate or productive when investigating consciousness. Current science relies on biological models of brain function as metaphors for describing what consciousness does and cannot confirm postulated causal relationships between discrete functional brain states and specific characteristics or subjective “states” of consciousness. The absence of a strong conceptual framework for thinking about consciousness, together with intrinsic limitations of contemporary research methods and technologies, have resulted in numerous un-testable hypotheses concerning the general nature of consciousness and a paralyzing lack of consensus on research priorities and methods , despite the fact that “mind” and “brain” have supplanted genetics as the next great scientific challenge for the international community -see the Human Brain Project in the EU and the BRAIN Initiative in the US (http://www.nih.gov/science/brain).With the above circumstances in view the principal goal of this paper is to clearly describe and concisely review philosophical problems and questions that are important to consider when developing models and research methods pertaining to consciousness. Topics covered include the roles and limitations of paradigms in science and other epistemologies, the relevance of different levels of analysis for investigating natural phenomena including the special case of consciousness, and different understandings of causality. The integral relationship between the nature of consciousness and the ‘background’ structure of space-time is discussed. A concise review of strengths and limitations of popular models of consciousness shows that current scientific models are based on naïve materialist assumptions that cannot potentially explain all functional characteristics or states of consciousness. The concepts of ‘body-brain’ and ‘embodiment’ are explored with respect to consciousness. I argue that a complete systems model of consciousness cannot be attained in the context of current science using existing research methods and technologies - however limited models of consciousness are possible. The evidence for so-called ‘non-ordinary’ characteristics or subjective states of consciousness including claims of psychic functioning is briefly reviewed and conceptual problems pertaining to deriving models of Psi are discussed. The paper concludes with questions aimed at reconciling contemporary models of consciousness with models that purport to explain so-called 'non-ordinary' states of consciousness, including claims of psychic functioning

The evolution of a predisposition for the near-death experience: implications for non-local consciousness

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Restraining False Light: Constitutional and Common Law Limits on a Troublesome Tort

The defamation tort is the common law\u27s established remedy for false speech that causes reputational and emotional injury. That tort is subject to intricate constitutional, legislative, and common law rules that have evolved over decades. The false light invasion of privacy tort also provides a potential cause of action in response to injurious falsehood. False light, however, has been subject to much less judicial and legislative scrutiny than defamation. As a result, courts often are uncertain about the proper limits on false light and, in some cases, have countenanced false light claims that would have failed if filed as defamation claims. Allowing such claims conflicts with two important legal principles: (1) the common law principle disfavoring novel causes of action that duplicate established torts, and (2) the constitutional rule of Hustler Magazine v. Falwell. These important legal principles require that courts reject false light claims that challenge defamatory speech but fail to meet defamation law\u27s standards

Cosmic necklaces in string theory and field theory

PhDIn this thesis we investigate astrophysical phenomena which arise in models with compact extra dimensions, focussing on the cosmological consequences of strings which wrap cycles in the internal space. Embedding our strings in the Klebanov-Strassler geometry we develop a concrete model of cosmic necklaces and investigate the formation of primordial black holes and dark matter relics from necklace collapse. Using data from the EGRET cosmic ray experiment, we place bounds on the parameters which de ne the warped deformed conifold, including the value of the warp factor and the radius of the compact space. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview, while background material is included in chapter 2, and these results are presented in chapter 3. In chapter 4 we analyse the dynamics of wound strings with angular momentum in the compact dimensions and determine the equation of motion for a self-oscillating loop. Finally, in chapter 5 we suggest a eld-theoretic dual for wound-string necklaces based on a modi cation of the standard Abelian-Higgs model. After introducing spatially-dependent couplings for the scalar and vector elds, we propose a static, non-cylindrically symmetric solution of the resulting eld equations which describes a \pinched" string with neighbouring vortex and anti-vortex regions. The similarities between pinched strings and the four-dimensional appearance of wound-string states are then examined and a correspondence between eld theory and string theory parameters is suggested. We nd that the topological winding number of the eld theory vortex may be expressed in terms of parameters which de ne the winding of the dual string around the compact space. According to this relation, the topological charge is equal to unity when the string has zero windings, and the standard Nielsen-Olesen duality is recovered in this limit. One key result of this work is an estimate of the Higgs boson mass (at critical coupling) in terms of the parameters which de ne the Klebanov-Strassler geometry and which, in principle, may be constrained by cosmological observations.Science and Technology Funding Council (STFC) Queen Mary EPSTA