Chasing Consciousness

• MOOD FOOD: TREATING MENTAL HEALTH WITH DIET - Felice Jacka PhD #70

  How much can a change in diet influence symptoms of mental health disorders? Why are a diversity of plants and whole foods so important to include, and ultra processed foods so important to remove? Why are inflammation and microbe diversity in the gut so key to this question? What does this research mean for the life-style medicine movement and to world food policy?In this episode we have the exploding new field of nutritional psychiatry to get to grips with, that is the way our diet can influence and even treat mental health conditions. We’re going to be discussing the historical separation of mind and body by science, which has led to scepticism that diet could influence mental health outcomes; the new understanding of the importance of diversity in our microbiome and inflammation to our mood and mental state; our main topic which is going to be the radical results of recent trials showing large changes in cognitive and mental health outcomes when diet is altered; we’ll get into the foods that can bring about that change and why they work; and we’re going to be getting into the reasons for the broken industrialised food environment that has contributed to the current mental health epidemic in the west.Fortunately, to understand this complex new field, our guest today is the very scientist that risked her reputation to conduct the first trials, facing considerable pushback, only to shift the consensus remarkably quickly with some top science, Felice Jacka. She is the Deakin University Distinguished Professor of Nutritional Psychiatry in Melbourne, the founder and director of the Food & Mood Centre, and of the International Society of Nutritional Psychiatry; She has been cited in over 100 institutional directives for food policy including the World Health Organization and UNICEF; and she is also the author of two books on this for the general public, the children’s book “There’s a Zoo in my Poo” and for adults “Brain Changer: How diet can save your mental health” which we’ll be covering today. Her impact has been so high on public health that in 2021 she was awarded the Order of Australia for her services to nutritional psychiatry.What we discuss:00:00 Intro08:50 The historic separation between mental and physical health. 10:35 People with mental health die about 20 years earlier. 13:30 The connection between the immune system and mental health. 16:20 New microbiome & chronic inflammation research’s influence on psychiatry. 20:00 Epigenetics, mitochondria (energy generation) & neurotransmitter influences. 21:15 Gut brain axis & oxidative stress response.33:30 The SMILES trial results and their integration into the consensus. 38:30 Using the Press to shorten the usual 20 year gap between results and policy change. 43:00 Industrialised food is the leading cause of chronic disease & biodiversity loss. 45:00 ‘We’re not going to tell people what to eat’: the food lobby’s ‘nanny state’ argument. 50:00 Soil depletion and the soil microbiome. 50:50 The life-style psychiatry movement: Diet, sleep and exercise. 01:05:30 Take out ultra-processed foods - even the nutritionally balanced ones. 01:12:30 Cognitive ability and memory reduced by processed foods. 01:14:45 Nutritional and energetic equivalent foods have totally different outcomes for the microbiome. 01:19:15 Put in a variety of plants - 30 a week. 01:20:20 The mediterranean diet. 01:24:50 Polyphenol science so far. 01:27:00 Emulsifiers and artificial sugars - the mucosal lining of the gut. 01:30:15 Fermented foods - the waste products of the bacteria are beneficial. References:Felice Jacka, “Brain Changer: The Good Mental Health Diet”Felice Jacka, “There’s a Zoo in my Poo”Melissa Lane et al, ‘Ultra‐Processed Food Consumption and Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Observational Studies’ paperFelice Jacka’ et al, ‘A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the 'SMILES' trial)’ Paper

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• EMBODIED COGNITION MEETS BUDDHISM - Evan Thompson PhD #69

  What is the relationship between our cognition and our bodies in the natural environment? How do we reconcile the presence of mind in life without splitting them into a dualism? What are the similarities between cognitive science and the buddhist view of the mind? How can we resist the bifurcation of nature into subjective and objective?In this episode we have the important topic of embodied cognition to raise our awareness about, that is the importance of our biologically lived experience to our perspective of world. So we get into the biologist and neuroscientist Francisco Varela’s concept of Autopoiesis, literally ‘self creation’ from the Greek, which describes the extraordinary tenacity of self-organising living systems to create and sustain themselves; we discuss the meeting point of buddhism, meditation, asian philosophy and modern cognitive science which may have become overstated in recent decades; and we get into the deep continuity between body and mind, and the importance of the artificial separation of the objective and subjective in the history of science, that has led us to the dominant position of reductionist materialism.To face these diverse topics, we have as our guest the hugely influential philosopher, cognitive scientist and Asian philosophy scholar Evan Thompson. Evan is Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and an Associate Member of the Department of Asian Studies and the Department of Psychology (Cognitive Science Group). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author of many books, collected works, and papers, including “The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience”, “Mind in Life”, “Why I’m not a buddhist” and “The Blind Spot, why science cannot ignore human experience”.What we discuss:00:00 Intro.06:30 Francisco Varela and the “Embodied Mind” book.11:00 Embodied experience, embedded in the environment.13:15 Chalmers and Clarke: Extended mind.15:30 Autopoiesis - Self-creation. Maturana.21.25 Autonomy and enactive self-organising systems.24:30 Neither Inside out, nor outside in, rather relational.26:00 The Enactive relationship between organism and environment.29:00 Mind is a distributed systemic process in connection with the environment.34:00 Neurophenomenology - you need an investigation from within.38:40 Mind in life & Deep Continuity.40.00 Sense making and cognition are proto-mind.41:30 Whitehead and the bifurcation of nature into subjective and objective.44:45 Bottom up/ parts VS top down/ wholes.47:00 Reductionism: the surreptitious substitution.53:45 Buddhism & The Mind and Life Institute.01:03:30 Buddhist exceptionalism.01:05:00 Neuroscience & Buddhism on self.01:09:45 The commercialisation of meditation - spiritual narcissism.01:12:15 The benefits of mindfulness to treat mental heath.01:13:30 De-individualisation of spiritual practices - social practice for social problems.01:15:45 Ritualisation of practice for positive transformation.01:18:30 Dependent Origination and the Self.01:26:15 Dying: Our ultimate transformation. References:Evan Thompson, “The Blind Spot”Evan Thompson,“Mind In Life”Evan Thompson,“Why I’m not a buddhist”Evan Thompson, “Waking, Dreaming, Being”Alfred Lord Whitehead - The Bifurcation of nature articleDavid Bohm - “Wholeness and the Implicate Order”Evan Thompson quote from the episode:“Mind is a systemic property or process. It’s not in the head”

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  1:36:29
• MEMORY - A NEW PERSPECTIVE - Charan Ranganath PhD #68

  Why and how do we store certain memories and not others? What lifestyle elements influence memory for better or worse? Can traumatic memories be reframed and lead to reduction in symptoms?In this episode we get into the most recent research into memory. So, how we store memory; the different types; the way we actively construct it rather than simply receiving it; it’s importance to our sense of self and framing of the world; to our attention and motivation; to our openness and updating our beliefs; and to Deja Vu. We talk about the influence of screen time and multi-tasking on memory; some unexpected life style factors that influence the quality of memory function and how they can feed into memory disorders; and we discuss traumatic memories and how we can reframe them, and the psychedelic research on that too.Fortunately, our guest is one of the world’s most fun and knowledgeable authorities on memory, psychologist, neuroscientist, and head of the dynamic memory lab at The University of California Davis, Dr. Charan Ranganath. He’s the author of over 120 scientific papers on memory and has recently released a fascinating book for the general public on all this, “Why We Remember”. Charan is also a rock guitarist with several bands so a man of many talents. What we discuss:00:00 intro. 07:20 The remembering self vs experiencing self. 09:30 We forget a lot, we’re supposed to.11:00 Autobiographic memory.13:30 Episodic memory.14:20 Emotional intensity brings attention, which is linked to motivation.18:20 Association, cue and prompts, and the hippocampus.20:30 Memory athletes and training memory.21:51 Storifcation, mental schemas and ‘scaffolding’ new memories with old blueprints.24:40 Preconceptions, bias and prejudice is baked into new memories.27:00 Imagining the past (re-membering) and imagining the future are very similar in the brain.29:15 The brain is not linear, rather a global network of dynamic interaction between brain regions simultaneously.31:29 Prediction error, goals, and memory enhancement.37:00 Dopamine drives our attention, interest and curiosity, multiplying remembering.43:20 Mental flexibility, youthful neuroplasticity, and openness to new experience.46::00 The ‘Stage of Life’ theory of memory.49:00 The young brain needs to struggle to get the information they’re curious about.50:15 Deja Vu research and familiarity.54:20 The environmental and social components of memory. 58:15 The act of remembering can change that memory.01:00:00 Collective memory - shared memories support sense of self.01:01:20 Life style factors: good for the body = good for the brain, so good for memory.01:02:00 The importance of vascular health and inflammation.01:06:30 Depression inversely correlates with memory.01:08:45 Screen time, focus and memory.01:10:20 Multi taking is actually switching, and leads to fragmented memories.01:12:30 Traumatic memories and reframing them.01:19:20 Psychedelic reframing of memories. 01:20:20 Extinction learning - learning to suppress memory prompts and re-write them.References:Charan Ranganth, “Why We Remember” Daniel Kahneman, “Thinking Fast and Slow”Hermann Ebbinghaus, “Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology” 1885Endel Tulving, ‘Mental time travel’Frederic Bartlett, 1930 ‘Imagining the past and constructing the future’Mathias Gruber and Charan Ranganath, “How Curiosity Enhances Hippocampus-Dependent Memory: The Prediction, Appraisal, Curiosity, and Exploration (PACE) Framework” PaperAnne Cleary, Deja Vu experiments article

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  1:22:41
• PLANT INTELLIGENCE, MEMORY & COMMUNICATION - Monica Gagliano PHD #67

  How do plants communicate using sound? How do they remember previous stimuli that have proven not to be threat, when at first they seemed like one? Where is the memory encoded considering they have no brain? What are the implications for biology of plant memory? In this episode we cover the ground breaking topics in plant cognition studies of: plant intelligence, behaviour, memory and communication. The type of experiments presented here have never really been done before, because there has always been an assumption in plant science that the cellular cognition that all living cells have, relies solely on light, touch or chemical interactions; so it doesn’t really permit for plant behaviour, memory and consciousness. So with my guest today, the first scientist to bypass the assumptions and try these tests, we’re going to discuss her experiments with plants; that clearly show not only basic memory and the corresponding updated behaviour based on that memory, but even pavlovian memory, i.e. associative memory that requires arbitrary stimuli to take on meaning to the plant. Obviously all of this has massive implications for distributed memory and memory beyond brains. We’re also going to get into plant medicine and other indigenous approaches to connecting with plant consciousness; and what plant communication and biophilia in general might do for our relationship to the natural world as we face imminent biosphere collapse. My guest is of course, the research associate professor of Evolutionary Ecology at several universities in Australia, Monica Gagliano. She’s published over 60 scientific papers, across the fields of Ecology, Plant Cognition, Plant Communications and Marine Ecology. She is also the author of the books “The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy and Literature”,  and the highly celebrated,“Thus Spoke the Plant, A remarkable Journey of Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries and Personal Encounters”. What we discuss: 00:00  Intro 05:00 The consensus on Plant intelligence & communication. 09:20 The difference between reacting and responding in cognition. 10:00 Bio-acoustic communication between plants. 21:07 Possible methods for plants to percieve sound. 22:00 Response to gravity may be similar. 23:30 Her plant memory experiment with Mimosa. 27:15 ‘Habituation’ learning: screening out non-useful stimuli. 32:15 The connection between hardship and accelerated adaptive learning. 37:50 Her ‘Pavlovian’ associative memory experiment with peas. 46:10 The Implications of plant memory for modern biology.  49:25 Where is memory stored without a nervous system? 52:30 Monica’s ethical crisis in animal studies. 01:00:00 ‘Pavlovian’ associative memory experiment with peas. 01:01:30 ‘Dieta’, amazonian plant communication practice. 01:05:00 Shamanic interface with plant wisdom, particularly for healing. 01:08:00 Reductionist materialist pushback is representative of the colonial history of abuse of nature. 01:11:00 Indigenous science and a new book in the making. References: Monica Gagliano, “Thus Spoke the Plant, A remarkable Journey of Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries and Personal Encounters”. Gagliano, Manusco & Robert, “Towards Understanding Plant Bioacoustics” paper

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  1:20:39
• MORPHIC RESONANCE, NATURE'S MEMORY & EXTENDED MIND - Rupert Sheldrake PHD #66

  Where is nature’s memory of its evolution encoded? Is there evidence for extended mind occurring beyond individual brains? How possible is it that the sun is conscious? In this episode we’re going to get up to date on Rupert Sheldrake’s extraordinary theory of Morphic resonance: so Morphic fields, the unfolding of nature’s ‘habits’ and the ‘memory of nature’. We’ll examine the possibility of levels of consciousness larger than our own brains - scaling up in a hierarchy from cellular consciousness right up to planetary and perhaps even stellar consciousness! We’re also going to get into examples of consciousness beyond the brain like ‘the sensation of being stared at’ (clearly a useful skill to evolve) and other phenomena Rupert has reported in his experiments.  Rupert Sheldrake is a Cambridge PHD developmental Biologist whose published over 100 papers on topics as wide as Cellular Biology, telepathy, Pets who know when their owners are coming home, and after-death communications. He is also the author of many books like “A new science of life”, “Science set free”, and “Ways of going Beyond”, among many others. What were discuss: 00:00 Intro. 06:10 Morphic resonance explained. 08:15 Polar Auxin - death in the midst of life. 09:15 Genes make proteins, morphogenetic fields determine form. 11:30 Nature’s “memory” spread across time. 13:25 Something that has happened before is more likely to happen again. 14:15 Collective memory, like Jung’s collective unconscious. 17:15 His scientific education engrained materialism and atheism in him.. 18:15 Asian philosophy, psychedelics, Neo-platonism and Christianity. 20:30 Questioning of scientific dogma came before his faith. 22:00 Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm change, an analogy for him breaking with science. 23:50 Rupert’s work denounced as ‘Heresy’ by the editor of Nature in 1981.  26:30 Measuring Morphic fields in experiments. 28:30 IQ tests have got easier for people over time, The Flynn Effect 30:00 Video games have to make new versions harder each time.  32:10 Is subtle energy field research beyond science? 37:00 Bioelectric morphogenetic fields & Michael Levin.  41:20 Bioelectric fields are the interface not the explanation. 42:30 Where are morphic fields recorded in nature? 44:50 Platonism doesn’t explain evolution and change over time. 47:00 Different levels of collective consciousness, up to planetary, stellar and even cosmic consciousness. 56:40 The feeling of being stared at: examples of extended mind. 01:02:55 Mystical experience - being part of a greater consciousness. 01:09:40 Are spiritual & scientific insight compatible? References: Rupert Sheldrake, “A New Science of life”. Michael Levin - Bio-electric morphogenetic fields CC interview The Sheldrake.org Staring App. Polar Auxin  QUOTE: “Morphic resonance leaps across time and space, It’s not stored anywhere it’s a direct connection with the past.”

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  1:17:47

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