Blog

The history of magic and the mind

4 min read
Magic is undoubtedly an ancient art. The earliest reported magic trick (the ‘cup and balls’ trick) is almost 5,000 years old (2,700 BC) by Dedi in ancient Egypt. The same trick was performed over 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome. The cup and ball trick has been used for centuries…
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Review of ‘You are not a gadget’ by Jaron Lanier

4 min read
A few years ago the technology commentator Kevin Kelly published an interesting book called ‘New Rules for the new economy’ which argued that the internet has brought in new economic rules which trump the old foundation of our economy: scarcity. Through its ability to disseminate information, Kelly argued that suddenly…
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Did the ancients see the same colours as us?

3 min read
One of the mysteries of consciousness is colour perception. For example, science can never prove whether I experienceexactly the same thing as you when I see the colour red (for example). The colours we can perceive are our brain’s wayof categorising different frequencies of light that are within the range…
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Our ‘brain-tech’ future

6 min read
Imagine technologies that would allow anyone to have a profound spiritual experience, give you a photographic memory, meditate like a monk, or even tell your IQ from reading your brainwaves… all at the touch of a button! Surprisingly, these technologies already exist. During the past decade we have learned more about the workings of the…
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Lost Languages

3 min read
There are currently between six and seven thousand languages in the world, but some linguists have estimated by the end of this century up to half of them will be lost. Why? Well, for one thing, the spread of the Internet, global trade and mass media enable communication across cultures…
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