Qualia Research Institute
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2021–2023
1:06:15 · 1.4M views · Oct 5, 2019
Andres Gomez Emilsson of the Qualia Research Institute presents a model of DMT experiences using hyperbolic geometry and dynamical systems theory. He describes how different intoxication levels correspond to changing curvature and information content of experience.
HN commenters point to it as an interesting lecture related to psychedelics, brain geometry and hyperbolic space, with a good intro to hyperbolic geometry.
4 comments from Hacker News
You’re adding another dimension. Sort of a “half” dimension. If you want a distance function in a space that’s non-Euclidean, you’re likely (always?) going to have something you can represent as hyperbolic geometry. Check out metric spaces and measures on Wikipedia. For a “vibes” intro, The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT experiences has a good intro in the beginning. this video I’m no expert on hyperbolic geometry. These things just helped me “get it” in the sense of “I get why that’s a thing”. Also, seeing it for yourself doesn’t hurt.
Here is interesting study lecture and article, maybe somewhat related. The Geometry and objects of things you see in typical to DMT experiences are hyperbolic. Lecture this video The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT Experiences: Symmetries, Sheets, and Saddled Scenes [LINK]
You might enjoy "The Hyperbolic Geometry of DMT Experiences (@Harvard Science of Psychedelics Club)", this video
Hello! I'm the author of this article. I stand by it and I think comments are failing to engaging with the actual models, phenomenological observations, and synthesis provided. I suspect people here have not actually payed attention to these experiences and may have epistemological assumptions that make them think it's impossible to bring useful information back. In particular, I'll say that the article's analysis assumes indirect realism about perception (it's all "in your head"), it focuses on structural features of the experience (phenomenal character rather than intentional content - I'm not interested in what the machine elves told you, I'm interested in what were the wallpaper symmetry groups that were covering their garments!), and tries to do what we named "algorithmic reductions" (i.e. identifying simple processes or effects that when stacked together might generate enormous emergent complexity - as in chemistry and physics, the rules are simple yet the emergent effects can have incredible complexity). In other words, this is a first attempt at a scientific and algorithmic understanding of the rich phenomenology of DMT without either (a) ignoring the facts, or (b) taking the semantic content of the experience at face value. I hope you enjoy it! :) Admittedly, the article is a little old (2016) - but I have yet to see anyone go much further than it. I look forward to rational, scientifically-minded, and smart psychonauts actually engage with the content. In the meanti