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Old 05-17-2007   #1 (permalink)
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The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

To whom it may concern,

If machines like BrainGate can get electrical thoughts to operate machines and computers, then why not use it toward out of body experiences.

They already have patients that are doing experiments already, why not take it to the next level?

what if we find out that afterlife, is nothing more than an extension to OBE's.

Please feel free to reply,
Thank you,
Tim
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Old 05-17-2007   #2 (permalink)
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Wonderful promise in this technology, but let's stay grounded

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Brewer View Post
To whom it may concern,

If machines like BrainGate can get electrical thoughts to operate machines and computers,
For those who may not be aware of the technology to which Tim refers, BrainGate is a neural interface that has broken a lot of ground, allowing paralyzed patients to impact the environment through thought alone. The majority of experiments about which I am aware were "mouse-like" movements, where a very basic computer "game" was fashioned and the patient was asked to move the "pong-like" bars by thought alone.

The research has also been done (prior to human tests) on monkeys with similar results, and the US Air Force has put funding into the technology as well, showing that pilots can fly a plane with no physical inputs... just thought (and significant training beforehand).

This WIRED magazine article is a good primer on the technology:

Wired 13.03: Mind Control
Quote:
The BrainGate Neural Interface creates a direct link between a person's brain and a computer, translating neural activity into action. Matthew Nagle, without use of his limbs but fitted with a BrainGate, can now play a videogame or change channels on TV using only his mind. Here's how it works...
With greater detail available at the following Brown University website regarding the researcher and their work which was presented in the journal Nature:

06-002 (BrainGate)
Quote:
  • movement signals persist in the primary motor cortex, the area of the brain responsible for movement, long after a spinal cord injury;
  • spiking from many neurons – the language of the brain – can be recorded and routed outside the human brain and decoded into command signals;
  • paralyzed humans can directly and successfully control external devices, such as a computer cursor and robotic limb, using these neural command signals.
As interesting and promising as this technology is for patients with various physical disorders, it is also promising for telepresence and mechanically assisted telekinesis. However, I am not sure I can follow Tim's logic when he states:

Quote:
..then why not use it toward out of body experiences.
I agree with Tim's point that much more can be done with this technology than has been achieved thus far, and that the possibilities offered with this technology are only limited by the imagination. Tim makes a similar statement when he wrote:

Quote:
They already have patients that are doing experiments already, why not take it to the next level?
However, I do take issue with the assumptions that are implied here,
Quote:
what if we find out that afterlife, is nothing more than an extension to OBE's.
...and would like some further information on both his meaning and intent for the claims regarding out of body experience and afterlife. I struggle to understand how those two very unscientific concepts apply to this promising technology.



Since this is very real science, and exciting in what it involves, you might find interest in the Nature article referenced above:

Is this the bionic man? : Article : Nature

Quote:
The prototype implant has wires that penetrate the skull and skin, but this carries a risk of infection. Wireless signal transmission will at some stage address that particular issue.

A more truculent problem may be the observed tendency for the ability of microelectrodes recording from neurons to fall off over time, for reasons unknown. Individual responses to the implants also vary sharply: a second patient in Donoghue's experiment was unable to achieve the same degree of control as the first. And there are further issues to be faced: if scientists were to succeed in restoring limb function, they would have to work out how the body tells the brain where its limbs are positioned in space, through a little-understood sense called proprioception (see page 125).

A sign of how far the science of neuroprosthetics has come is that most of these difficulties are now engineering challenges, rather than problems of principle. In applauding this valuable work, it is worth noting that it was made possible by two of the bętes noires of modern biology: commercial interests and animal research.

Last edited by InfiniteNow; 05-17-2007 at 09:09 PM..
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Old 05-17-2007   #3 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

I would be up for trying out a computer interface to allow out of the body trips. I used to work al night and sleep in the day time. I did this for 25 years and when I slept during the day I often had out of the body type experiences. I could get up and look back at my body laying in bed and walk through closed doors and float around the town where I lived. Several times I saw people I knew and when I would see them in the real world I would ask them if they had been at a particular place and often I would be right even down to describing the clothes they were wearing. When I went through a door it felt cold as I passed through it. I have to also say I wasn't always right about seeing people so it is possible it was just a dream and I simply guessed correctly about the people I had seen but it certainly felt real. In case you are curious, no I have never been abducted by aliens or anything like that. I have wondered why since OBE is often associated with seeing aliens. I am not completely sure if the experiences were real but I did have some startlingly accurate observations while I was out of my body.

Michael
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Old 05-17-2007   #4 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

dear InfiniteNow, Thank you so very much in how you how well you did your reply, I find comfort in the presence of professionals.

I am only as good as what I have to work with, so I welcome your help with my topic.

Please feel free to inform me on what you know about out of body experiences and near death experiences?

Please fill free to look my topic up on the Internet, if you want to find more questions to ask me.


I would love to be a part of that engineering challenge!!!

Thank you,
Tim
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Old 05-17-2007   #5 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

Dear Moontanman,

when did the experience feel real?
While you were coming out of your body, going back into your body, or waking up outside of your body?

Did your thought feel like they were working, just like they are now, or did you fee you were more into your right brain or left brain, did you other out of body people, could you hear?

Please feel free to respond if you like.

Thank you,
Tim
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Old 05-17-2007   #6 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

Hey tim I like your style.

I've quite a bit of experience with dream travel. I like to induce sleep paralysis on a regular basis. There's an algorithm...do you know about it?
Sleep 4-6 hours, wake up, go back to sleep [anywhere between immediately and an hour (sometimes if youre lucky longer)] you can lay there and your body will freeze up and you'll be left just a mind, with infinite possibilities....

Although there are always things already being played out.
All of the time.
It is our own will that decides whether or not we want to play.

This is really one of my favorite topics!
I kind of believe that this soul//mind//energybody thing that we're slowly starting to realize and control
is our next ascension.

I wonder if it is possible for the human to step out of the body.
How is consciousness going to evolve?

Oh, and also.
I believe that all of this is tied in with DMT.
Entering sleep paralysis is as intense as a mild rush of DMT.
(Loud, Clear, Unpredictable)

One thing is certain:
Psychedelics force awareness.

I believe that DMT has been implemented in our bodies/brains to force us to see the truth. (And of course, everywhere else in nature)

At high doses....many people say they see other beings...resembling elves, and aliens.

That explains alien abduction.

When I was a child I swear I always felt the presence of aliens...
Some nights I swear I saw them and would draw them and show my momr she just never believed me so I didn't believe me but

how all of this ties in

weaves in and out

is truly fascinating.

I could go on and on I am obsessed with the mystery.


----------------
"Rome falls nine times an hour"
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Old 05-18-2007   #7 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

Dear Orbsycli,

Please feel free to go on and on about it, because that is what this topic is there for. I'm just glad to see that I ain't the only person who could go on and on about it.

Thank you,
Tim
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Old 05-19-2007   #8 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Brewer View Post
Dear Moontanman,

when did the experience feel real?
While you were coming out of your body, going back into your body, or waking up outside of your body?

Did your thought feel like they were working, just like they are now, or did you fee you were more into your right brain or left brain, did you other out of body people, could you hear?

Please feel free to respond if you like.

Thank you,
Tim
The experiences felt quite real from stto finish, of course that doesn't make them real. I made some astonishing hits while floating around out side my body but i also made some real misses as well. Also as I said i did this when I was young sleep, deprived, and working night shifts. I'm not sure I can bring abotu the same conditions today.

michael
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Old 05-19-2007   #9 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

Were you still having normal thoughts?

did they just happened every time. or did you try and help them become a reality?

could you remember if you could hear or not?

How would you describe the form of your body?

Do you remember if you were scared?

If afterlife was like that, do you see a need to try and communicate with them, or at least give them the best tools to try and communicate with us?

Thank you for feeling free to talk about it,
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Old 05-20-2007   #10 (permalink)
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Re: The Department of Positive Out of Body Possibilities

[QUOTE=Tim Brewer;175104]Were you still having normal thoughts?

I'm not sure i understand what you mean by normal thoughts. It seemed ok other than the bazarre nature of ther experience.

did they just happened every time. or did you try and help them become a reality?

I had to help them become a reality

could you remember if you could hear or not?

No sound, complete quiet.

How would you describe the form of your body?

I looked the same as far as I could tell, but when you are awake how much of your body are you aware of? I could see or detect no more no less than normal of myself. the fact I could float or fly didn't seem to make me feel any difference.

Do you remember if you were scared?

No completly confident.

If afterlife was like that, do you see a need to try and communicate with them, or at least give them the best tools to try and communicate with us?

No apparent dead people, just the living at that current time and places.
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