Expanding Mind

Academic psychologist Thomas Joiner talks about the mindfulness craze, stoicism, the trouble with “trauma,” and his trenchant new book Mindlessness: The Corruption of Mindfulness in a Culture of Narcissism (Oxford).  

Scholar, writer, and mythographer William Rowlandson talks about Jorge Luis Borges, magical trees, Yankee mysticism, and the power of the weird and murky.  https://williamrowlandson.wordpress.com/  

Futurist, science journalist, and Boing Boing co-editor David Pescovitz discusses space exploration, Carl Sagan the stoner, and the recent release of the Voyager Golden Record.  

Neurologist and world-class Parkinson’s expert Professor A.J. Lees talks about William S. Burroughs, self-experimentation, ayahuasca, and his terrific medical memoir Mentored by a Madman: The William Burroughs Experiment.   

Israeli therapist, spiritual teacher, and psychedelic activist Galia Tanay talks about deep dharma practice, the problems with mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy, and how psychedelics shape the self.

Computer scientist, artist, and UC Berkeley robotics professor Ken Goldberg talks about autonomous vehicles, tele-gardens, free speech on campus, and the Singularity myth. 

Designer and technology critic Adam Greenfield talks about magic bullets, the melancholy of machines, Tesla’s Autopilot, and his must-read new book Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life (Verso). 

Professional “psycho-diviner" (and former Expanding Mind co-host) Maja D’Aoust talks about solstice magic, liquid archetypes, artificial intelligence, and her hypnogogic new Tarot deck White Witch Tarot. 

Grateful Dead scholar and professor Ulf Olsson talks about improvisation, self-organization, pirate ships, and his new book Listening for the Secret: The Grateful Dead and the Politics of Improvisation (University of California Press). 

Performer, writer, and MC Mark Petrakis, aka Spoonman, talks about San Francisco Dada, avant-vaudeville, spontaneous spirituality, and the importance of disregarding precision.  

Novelist, poet and conceptual artist Rachel Nagelberg talk about trauma, technology, ayahuasca, and her intense and resonant debut novel The Fifth Wall. http://www.rachelnagelberg.com/

Performer, director and playwright Daisy Campbell talks about Robert Anton Wilson, the dangers of synchronicity, and her recent staging of Cosmic Trigger: the Play. 

Research scientist and UK sociologist Tehseen Noorani talks about hearing voices, pharmacological biases, studying psilocybin studies, and the importance of trickster teachers. His talk at Psychedelic Science is available here.

Artist, author, and educator John Cussans talks about zombie cinema, revolutionary transgression, the politics of race, and his new book Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex.

Musician, sound artist, and 78 collector Robert Millis talks about hunting for records in India, the spectral mysteries of 78 records, Sublime Frequencies, and the sacred universe of Indian classical music. https://robertmillis.net