Biocentrism: Robert Lanza’s Controversial View of the Universe

The ‘biocentric universe’, also known as ‘biocentrism’, was a concept proposed in 2007 by Dr Robert Lanza, who works in the fields of regenerative medicine and biology. The biocentric hypothesis states that life and consciousness are fundamental to the nature of the universe – life creates the universe and not the other way around. From…

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Sheep Marketplace Rises and Silk Road Returns

Since Silk Road got shut down by the FBI over a month ago, alternative online black marketplaces have arisen. The two most well known have been Black Market Reloaded and Sheep Marketplace, although the latter appears to be the most popular at the moment. Black Market Reloaded had a bit of a hiccup when an…

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Warning Labels for Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Junk Food: Is There Any Point?

John Stuart Mill in On Liberty argued that individuals should have the personal liberty to harm themselves, so long as their actions did not harm others. He was all for the free availability of harmful substances, such as alcohol and other drugs, but urged for the “labelling the drug with some word of expressive of…

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Ancient Motifs in Psychedelic Experiences

People commonly report a distinct cultural theme to the visual aspect of their psychedelic experience. Based on the patterns and images seen (either with eyes open or closed), people may compare them to the art and style of many ancient cultures: Egyptian, Aztec, Indian, Native American, African and Islamic. Particular ancient cultural motifs may also…

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The Implications of Fully Immersive Virtual Reality

The whole concept of virtual reality – especially full immersion in a virtual, artificial world – has been a favourite topic of many science fiction writers. The idea has also featured in many speculative and philosophical questions, such as: What is reality? How do we distinguish reality from illusion? And so on. Loosely defined, virtual…

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