A wide ranging discussion of consciousness at the intersection of science and spirituality with Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University Rupert worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Hyderabad, India. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge.
My scientific explorations through fieldwork in Asia and Europe
March 18th, 2024University College London Expeditions and Fieldwork SocietyIn this talk given Rupert Sheldrake explores the allure of expeditions and fieldwork, delving into his own adventures exploring Mayan ruins in Mexico and studying tropical plants in Malaysia. Throughout the talk he illustrates how these experiences broadened his scientific and spiritual horizons, connecting this intrinsic human curiosity to our ancestral hunter-gatherer roots.
3/19/2024 • 1 hour, 21 minutes, 6 seconds
The Science Delusion: TEDx Whitechapel, the "banned" talk
TEDx Whitechapel, Jan 12, 2013The theme for the night was Visions for Transition: Challenging existing paradigms and redefining values (for a more beautiful world). In response to protests from two hardcore materialists in the US, the talk was taken out of circulation by TED, relegated to a corner of their website and stamped with a warning label.Room for discussion was made, but those who condemned the talk never showed up. The vast majority of those who spoke out were outraged, including those who'd never heard of morphic resonance. Ironically, at the time of removal the video had a modest 35,000 views on YouTube; since then, its clones have been watched over 7 million times. The video has been translated into 24 languages by generous members of the YouTube community. Read more: https://www.sheldrake.org/ted
3/7/2024 • 18 minutes, 17 seconds
How do birds navigate and pigeons home?
Despite decades of research, no one knows how birds navigate to destinations hundreds of miles away. Rupert suggests that there is a field-mediated sense of direction through which they are attracted towards their goals. This is the first of a series of six talks on potential breakthroughs in the sciences released as an online course here:https://www.sheldrake.org/online-coursesRelated book:Seven Experiments That Could Change the Worldhttps://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/seven-experiments-that-could-change-the-worldReferences____Satellite Tracking of Wandering AlbatrossesJouventin,P. and Weimerskirsch, H. 1990. Nature 343, 745-748.____Perdeck, Albert C.Two Types of Orientation in Migrating Starlings, Sturnus yulgaris L., and Chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs L., as Revealed by Displacement Experiments. Ardea, 55(1–2) : 1-2.____Netherlands Ornithologists' Unionhttps://doi.org/10.5253/arde.v1i2.p1____Magnetic Fields 1750-1980 Bloxham, J. and Gubbins, D. 1985. The secular variation of tye earth’s magnetic field. Nature 317, 778-781.____World War 1 Pigeon Loft Photospublic domain____Mobile Loft Experiment at Coldham hall, Suffolk, 1989With Robbie Robson of Bury St. Edmunds Racing Pigeon ClubPhoto by: Jill Purce____Dutch Navel Pigeon ExperimentHNLMS TydemanJune, 1995Filmed by: Louis van Gasteren, Gregor Meerman and Jacqueline van Vugt
4/25/2023 • 50 minutes, 13 seconds
Trialogue: Fractal History at the Edge of the Millenium, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna
1998, UC Santa CruzThe fractal idea of history, and millenia as the plateaus of history. These bifurcation periods as opportunities to influence the creation of the future. What kind of future or change are we trying to create? The need for the enhancement and spread of clarity. Psychic pets and their role in breaking the spell of rationalism. Psychedelics, the World Wide Web and psychic pets as forms of boundary dissolution. The need for change in the educational system. The problem of the rejection of mathematics. Related BookChaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousnesshttps://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness
4/18/2023 • 53 minutes, 31 seconds
Trialogue: Radical Speculations From '98 on the Emergence of Super-intelligent AI, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham
1998, UC Santa Cruz"In the same way that the daughter of Zeus sprang full-blown from his forehead, the AI may be upon us without warning."- Terence McKennaA discussion on the evolution of consciousness as it relates to machines. Symbolic logic, nanotechnology and the possibility of a synthetic superintelligence. Terence compares the advent of superintelligent AI to the advent of language. Virtual computers as a route for AI to escape controls. How much control do we have in the evolution of machine intelligence? Quantum computers as a superior medium.Related BookThe Evolutionary Mindhttps://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mindTerence predicts virtual computers... children can now build virtual computers in Minecraft:https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Tutorials/Redstone_computersNo Linux? No problem. Just get AI to hallucinate it for youhttps://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/openais-new-chatbot-can-hallucinate-a-linux-shell-or-calling-a-bbs/
4/11/2023 • 1 hour, 7 seconds
Dr Andrew Weil, Fields of Mind and Body
Hollyhock, 2006Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.
3/28/2023 • 1 hour, 21 minutes, 21 seconds
Q&A with Brother David Steindl-Rast and audience; re: History of Orthodox Scientific Thought
This is an extract from Rupert's workshop with Brother David Steindl-Rast at Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC in August, 2011.00:00 Brother David Steindl-Rast: Making a thing out of the soul; AI Sentience 04:08 Rupert Sheldrake: Golem/Frankenstein myths and robot consciousness07:07 Rupert: Analog computers as possible framework for machine consciousness07:57 David: So it is possible?08:23 Rupert: Promissory Materialism will "prove" that people are machines 09:04 Rupert: The genome wager with Lewis Wolpert 14:13 David: Science as limited faith, one without hope15:00 Audience: if Science and Faith both seek truth, they must converge15:41 Rupert: we all have implicit biases; materialists in particular have huge blindspots17:31 Audience: Truth emerging like a flower17:54 Rupert: Institutionalized science, grants, educational conformity19:32 David: How can you do it?19:36 Rupert: I was forced to work independently, not recommended21:04 Rupert's excommunication by Nature Editor John Maddox22:29 Rupert: Pluralism in politics, but not science "we know the truth"24:13 David: Questioning establishment power25:32 Audience: A rebirth of creative thinking?25:43 Rupert: Trouble with the academic system; funding reform; medical system fatigue; alternative therapies29:10 Audience: Morphic resonance, homeopathy, interpersonal neurobiology, setting science free30:17 Rupert: Comparative effectiveness research, pragmatic medical systems, most scientists are from Eastern cultures (India, China)32:35 Audience: What if you talked to a radical cosmologist?32:48 Rupert: Mainstream cosmology IS radical, multi-verse theory, laws of nature must be fixed34:58 Rupert: Martin Reese's simpler hypothesis "get's rid of God"36:09 Rupert: Stars being conscious too much for Martin Reese37:48 Rupert: Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, creation story, popularized science, natural philosophy
3/14/2023 • 40 minutes, 8 seconds
Dr Andrew Weil, Evidence and Belief in Science and Medicine
Hollyhock, 2005Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.
2/28/2023 • 43 minutes, 16 seconds
Dr Andrew Weil, Integrative Medicine and the Extended Mind
Hollyhock, 2004Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.
2/21/2023 • 1 hour, 12 minutes, 16 seconds
Inherited Consciousness, with Anastasia & Michael Shilo
Rupert's appearance on the DemystifySci podcast. Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOs8pDjnqkAnastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Michael Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities.
2/14/2023 • 1 hour, 38 minutes
Trialogue: Creativity and the Imagination Part 2, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham
A three-way conversation, or trialogue, in two parts.Part 2 How is human imagination related to the creative principle of nature? The nature of the Gaian mind. Human history as a Gaian dream. The Divine Imagination as the source of all creativity. How can we extract the message of the Gaian mind? How could the imaginations of the solar system, galaxy and cosmos be related to each other? Dark matter and the cosmic unconscious. The nature of the Logos. The personal apocalypse. The journey of language to the Divine Imagination. Natural law, ordinary reality and chaos.This Trialogue and others are available in book form:https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mindTerence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the novelty wave, and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000.Ralph Abraham, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author, and pioneer in the fields of Chaos theory, computer graphics, visual mathematics and dynamical systems.
11/22/2022 • 44 minutes, 40 seconds
Holy Places
All cultures, as far as I know, have holy places. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, by their very nature nomadic, and seem to have carried out ceremonies at holy places like Lascaux and Chauvet caves. When people settled in the Neolithic, starting twelve thousand years ago, they were building ceremonial structures, including standing stones and stone circles. Some were built before settled agriculture began. Even in atheist regimes where there's an explicit denial of the sacred and of the holy, the need for holy places persists, like the mausoleum of Lenin in Red Square, in Moscow, to which people went on pilgrimages, rather in the same way Christians visit the relics of saints.Recorded on February the 16th 2022, at the Meditatio Centre London: https://meditatiocentrelondon.org Created by I AM Sound Academy: https://www.iamsoundacademy.com
5/10/2022 • 1 hour, 8 minutes, 54 seconds
Of Philosopher Kings and Theocracies | Are Enlightened People Better Judges of Reality?
A question to Rupert from Ali-Reza Omidvar of the Oxford Psychedelic Society; March, 2022. https://oxpsysoc.org/Don't you think there is a kind of a philosophical principle: that a community of people who have had more states of consciousness are a more qualified community to give judgments on reality? Not to say that their judgment is right and accurate, but just to say that, for example, the community of Hindu mystics and shamans. That community is better qualified, because they have experienced a wider variety of states of consciousness than the community of materialists, who may have not had those experiences.
4/19/2022 • 10 minutes, 9 seconds
Reason for Hope Beyond Materialism | How can we ease the trauma that we see all over the world?
A question to Rupert from the Oxford Psychedelic Society; March, 2022. Hosted by Ali-Reza Omidvar. https://oxpsysoc.org/You mentioned Terence McKenna. He said about the current situation of our society, and about our point in history as a whole, that we are in a state of transition. He compared it to the process of birth, which you mentioned in your talk (Episode 35:Expanding Consciousness with Psychedelics). So if you as humanity are in the birth canal, how can we ease the pains and traumas that we see all over the world? And what can we do to not lose faith that there is something beyond?
4/12/2022 • 6 minutes, 45 seconds
Expanding Consciousness with Psychedelics
This talk was given to the Oxford Psychedelic Society in March, 2022 and was hosted by Ali-Reza Omidvar. https://oxpsysoc.org/
4/6/2022 • 1 hour, 18 minutes, 22 seconds
Microcast: Has Culture Lost Sight of the Sublime?
This excerpt is from a panel discussion at IAI’s festival, HowTheLightGetsIn, entitled _Trash, trends and the transcendent_ recorded 21st February 2022. What really is the sublime and where can we find it in the 21st century?Watch the full discussion on IAI TV: https://iai.tv/video/trash-trends-and-the-transcendent?_auid=2020
