Rabbit Hole

We can start pretending, in a vaguely schizoid way, that existence / nature / whatever responds to our overtures, indeed, that the whole container is a 360-degree dance partner keeping time with your every move.

Communications technology is often accused of dissociating us from the natural world. A little thought-experiment that explores how the next generation of “augmented reality” technologies might close this gap, and help us hear like an elephant and think like a squirrel.

Scientists and philosophers have long erected an insurmountable barrier between humans and animals. This seems to be changing. The human imagination is moving outward. The animals are coming. Hide the nuts!

What kind of mind do we need to address climate change and environmental degradation? A mountain eco-laboratory in northern New Mexico looks at four possible answers: a social mind, a creative mind, a receptive mind and an equanimous mind.

Can we know what it’s like to be a non-human animal? Most scientists and philosophers say we cannot. Others disagree. A talk on whales, kinship in nature, and the limits of human empathy and imagination.

Does nature have an interior aspect – as we do – and if so, what is the relationship between that “mind” and ours? Do you have to be high to wonder about this?