Center For Consciousness Studies

Center for Consciousness Studies The University of Arizona

For Immediate Release

Hong Kong Hosts International Multi-Disciplinary Meeting of Minds June 11-14, 2009 TOWARD A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

HOW MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY AND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CONSCIOUSNESS ARE SHAPING THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University has teamed up with The Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona to host an international gathering of the world’s leading scientists and visionaries in the field of consciousness studies: Toward A Science of Consciousness 2009 Hong Kong. An estimated 500 attendees from 48 countries will participate in approx. 100 presentations included in 10 pre-conference workshops, 17 plenary sessions, 15 concurrent talk sessions, 2 poster sessions and special installations and exhibits of interactive art-technology, electronic technology, games and artificial intelligence.

June 2009 will mark the first Asia Consciousness Festival and the 16th international interdisciplinary scientific conference on consciousness, Toward a Science of Consciousness hosting a month of workshops, plenary, concurrent and poster sessions, films, technology, games and robotics demos, performances and art installations, and special sessions with internationally renowned healers and meditation masters to raise the awareness of consciousness trends in Hong Kong and Asia. The events will bring together visionaries and leaders in the field of consciousness, spanning neurosciences, psychology, philosophy, cognitive sciences, education, art, technology and spirituality. The target audience includes researchers, practitioners, and professionals interested in psychology, consciousness, art, educators, and members of the community at large who are interested in the bigger questions in life as well as improving the quality of life.

Keynote speakers include: Susan Greenfield (Oxford Univ), Wolf Singer (Max Planck Institute), Ken Mogi, (Sony Labs), Ovid Tzeng (National Yang Ming Univ), Victor Lamme, (Univ of Amsterdam) Stuart Hameroff (Univ. of Arizona), David Chalmers (Australian National University), Hakwan Lau, (Columbia Univ), Ben Goertzel (Novamente), Gino Yu (Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ.), Jonathan Schooler (UC Santa Barbara), Henrik Ehrsson (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm), Raul Arrabales (Carlos III, Univ of Madrid), Ramesh Manocha, (Univ of New South Wales), Mark Price (BBC), Charles Whitehead (Westminster Univ), Jeff Warren, Author.

Special Performance & Presentation by Martha Curtis, Violinist. Martha Curtis is a concert violinist who learned how to co-exist with epileptic seizures even from the concert stage. Martha has an amazing story of love of music and the determination to be seizure free by convincing a team of doctors to remove much of her right brain. She seized for over thirty years in simple partial, complex partial, and grand mal seizures and went through several levels of impaired consciousness frequently. Simultaneously, however, Martha walked on stage and performed in four different orchestras while co-existing with the seizures. Ultimately surgeons resected half her right temporal lobe and all of her hippocampus and amygdale on the right. This took three surgeries because Martha was the first professional musician worked on in the Cleveland Clinic. After years of taking medication and suffering four grand mal seizures in a single month – three of them while performing on stage – she underwent the first of three major surgeries to stop the neurological storms in 1991 under the care of doctors from the Cleveland Clinic. Putting her music career at risk, she eventually had nearly 50 percent of her right temporal lobe removed. Today Martha is seizure-free and her ability to perform and memorize difficult pieces of music is greater than before the operations. Martha Curtis’ success story has single-handedly changed preconceived theories about brain and memory function. Martha credits music with saving her life, with allowing her to have beauty in her life, not just illness. “I am alive today because I had a violin,” she said. Martha uses a combination of words and music and films of her seizures and discussions with her doctors to communicate her story of courage, determination and passion for life. Her life and work have been profiled by CBS’s 60 Minutes, NBC’s The Today Show, Biography Magazine and Globo TV Brazil. Martha’s participation is supported the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and from a special grant by Enlighten-Action for Epilepsy, Hong Kong. Please contact Abi Montefiore for additional information on Marth Curtis, clips and biographical information. [email protected]

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona The Toward a Science of Consciousness events will serve as a catalyst to increase awareness and stimulate interaction and collaboration. Practical hands-on workshops will also facilitate individuals’ personal explorations of their consciousness with an objective of improving their quality of life. Our goal is to make a regional and international impact in this area. Hong Kong has traditionally served as a bridge between east and west as well as a lifestyle trendsetter for Greater China.

The Tucson Conferences, held in even-numbered years since 1994, will hold its next conference April 12-15, 2010 in Tucson, Arizona. For Additional Information Contact: Abi Montefiore, Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona, 520-621-9317, [email protected]. March-April, 2009 # # #

Kick-Off & Summary of Events

The Asia Festival will kick off with a 3-day conference About Consciousness (June 5-7) whose speakers and themes will bring the best of cutting edge speakers and themes to the wider public followed by a series of in-depth workshops that reveal how consciousness affects our health, happiness and human potential. Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference runs (June 14-17) Finally, the 8th IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Informatics will host their 2 day conference (June 15-17) Cognitive Computing and Semantic Mining. The Exploring Consciousness with Art, Technology, Media and Design exhibition will showcase cutting edge multimedia works and will run throughout the month of June.

T S C C O N F E R E N C E - P R O G R A M (as of 4-10-09) TOWARD A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS HONG KONG 2009 - June 11-14, 2009 http://www.asiaconsciousness.org/TSC

Hong Kong Polytechnical University, Hong Kong, China also sponsored by Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona www.consciousness.arizona.edu

Researchers in the sciences and humanities are invited to Toward a Science of Consciousness 2009. This conference, the 15th in a series of international interdisciplinary conferences on consciousness, will be held in Hong Kong, China from June 11th to 14th, 2009.

An outstanding program has taken shape, including many internationally recognized experts and many strong contributed presentations. The themes include Brain, Mind, and Technology, with emphasis on consciousness and media. The program, which includes Plenary, Concurrent, Poster, Art/Performance, and Workshop sessions, is enclosed below.

For full information including registration, see

http://www.asiaconsciousness.org/TSC/[2

The early registration deadline has been extended to April 30th.

The conference is part of a larger Asia Consciousness Festival, a month-long series of events, including About Consciousness: Science, Health and Happiness (http://www.aboutconsciousness.net) and the IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Informatics (http://www.comp.polyu.edu.hk/conference/icci2009).

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona We look forward to seeing you in Hong Kong.

Conference Chair: Gino Yu Program Chairs: David Chalmers, Stuart Hameroff, Gino Yu Conference Managers: Alex Parkes (HKPU), Abi Montefiore CCS/UA

PROGRAM FOR TOWARD A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS 2009

PLENARY SESSIONS [mornings] Thursday June 11

Brain and Consciousness 1: Susan Greenfield, Hakwan Lau, Ovid Tzeng First Person Approaches: Jonathan Schooler, Ramesh Manocha Friday June 12

Games and Media: Gino Yu, Panel: Marc Price, Gregory Garvey, Jayne Gackenbach, Raul Arrabeles Extended Mind and Extended Body: David Chalmers, Henrik Ehrsson Saturday June 13

Brain and Consciousness 2: Victor Lamme, Stuart Hameroff, Wolf Singer Theoretical Frameworks: Ken Mogi, Jeff Warren Sunday June 14

Machine Consciousness: Ben Goertzel, Panel: Hugo de Garis, Pierre Bonzon

Social Approaches to Consciousness Charles Whitehead, Panel: Imants Barušs, Etzel Cardeña, Joan Y. Chiao,

CONCURRENT SESSIONS [afternoons] Thursday June 11

Materialism and the Explanatory Gap: Dinis, Horowitz, Lau, Shani, Platchias Neuroscience and Perception: Zhang (J), Osaka, Schlee, Santos, Hu (N) Medicine and Psychology:

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona Brown, Chan, Chae, Suntharalingam, Nakamura Evolution of Consciousness: Schafer, Stewart, Huang (W), Abundis, Pernar Social Approaches: McIntyre, Bezdek, Denno, Craik, Whitehead

Friday June 12

Introspection, Attention, Self-Consciousness: Yao, Recanati, Yang (JE),Gottschling, Silins Neurobiological Models and Theories: Lin (Z), Woolf, Vezoli, Willman, Block Decision, Executive Function and Emotion: Qui (J), Tingyong, Hong (L), Charland, Zhang (Q) Physics of Consciousness: Baumann, Roy, Bettinger, Hirafugi, Klonowski Technology, Art and Media: Ascott (R), Awret, Bettinson, Sleutels, Georges Saturday June 13

Ontological and Conceptual Foundations: Inglis, McGann, Wright, Hansen, Saran, Fink First-Person Neuroscience: Chunxiang, Benini, Young, Louchakova, Haworth, Majorek Development of Consciousness: Dolcini, Choi (M), Eby, Huang (L), Zahn, Poissant Phenomenology and Parapsychology: Korotkov, Yakhnis, Shareyko, Ong, Saiter East-West Approaches: Rao, Kaplan, Perrett, Seah, Bothereau, Lucas

EXPLORING CONSCIOUSNESS WITH ART TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN EXHIBITIONS [evenings]

Roy Ascott, Curator Professor of Technoetic Arts at University of Plymouth; President, Planetary Collegium at University of Plymouth

Thursday June 11: Chutiwongpeti, Iribas Rudin, Kanary, Samoila Driesen, Walters

Friday June 12: Ascott, Betts, Gaio, Girao, Graur, Rill, Newby et al

PRECONFERENCE TUTORIAL WORKSHOPS Wednesday June 10

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona Science of Consciousness (Hameroff) Signal Detection Theory (Hakwan Lau) Social Brain and Human Sociability (Craik, Whitehead) Internal World (Schooler) Non-Dual Consciousness (Louchakova, Lucas, Kozhevnikov) Yoga (Bleher) Yoga (Sipp) Rhythm and Consciousness (Mikenas) Power of Music (Curtis, Schooler) Psychedelics (Fadiman)

Special Performances & Presentations by: Saturday June 13 Martha Curtis, V iolinist

Ed Mikenas, Percussionist

POSTERS

Thursday, June 11

Philosophy: Bizarro, Burton, Davies, Evans, Franck, Gill, Ghosh (M), Ghosh (S), Goncalves, Gunathunga, Holbrook, Kato, Kononenko, Krakower, Lin (C), Liu (N), Longinotti, McCarthy, Payne, Poochigian, Powell, Roberts, Sugiyama, Sweis, Veres, Ware, Westcombe, Wilkens, Yang (JA), Zeituny

Neuroscience: Alto, Bergstrom, Biradar, Gordon, Qiang (L), Riofrio, Yi (L)

Cognitive Science and Psychology: Balseiro, Blessin, Chiang (M), Dobson, Li (K), Maddox, Metzger, Murthy, Palmquist, Rodriguez, Sorensen, Wang (X), Yamada, Yan (W)

Physical and Biological Science: Barendregt, Blood, Lanzalaco

Experiential Approaches: Acebedo, Ghosh (G), Hatt, Hengwei, Ihalamulla, Shukri, Steiner

Culture and the Humanities: Cousins, Esrock, Foskett, Fredriksson, Lee (J), Mendez, Salvato

Friday, June 12

Philosophy: Benda, Biradar, Boyle, Chien, Cottam, Fei, Fernandes, Germen, Isaeva, Jing, Katz, Klein, Lee (JY), Li (Q), Lin (Y), Okada,

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona Ossmann, Piercey, Rapparini, Schayer, Suri, Tariq, Voronov, Wallace, Wang (X), Wilkens, Zhu

Neuroscience: Devonshire, Kaivarainen, McVittie, Salari, Ter Meulen, Wang (Q), Wan (Q)

Cognitive Science and Psychology: Anthony, Brazdau, Cerepnalkovska, Chopra, De Pablos, Gontar, Liu (T), Loo, Osinski, Rzepka, Zebrowski

Physical and Biological Science: Cox, Jungleib, Suessenbacher, Thursfield, Yang (Q)

Experiential Approaches: Bajpai, Bleher, Chiang (MY), Fadiman, Leao, Purananon,Suri, Taguchi

Culture and Humanities: Ayiter, Brill, Carrabis, Corazza, Cousins, Esrock, Girao, Iribas Rudin, Keiser, Nakatsu, Napier, Rajendraprasad, Wozniak, Zeiders, Zhang (P)

POSTCONFERENCE WORKSHOP Sunday June 14 [afternoon]

Machine Consciousness: Ben Goertzel,

Amenyo, John-Thones; Arrabales, Raul; Bandyopadhyay, Anirban;

Bonzon, Pierre; Combs, Allan; de Garis, Hugo; Fahn, Paul

Gabora, Liane; Ledezma, Agapito; Li, Qishi; Sanchis, Araceli;

Wallace, John; Wang, Yingwu Zebrowski, Robin; Zhang, Jun

Conference Chair: Gino Yu Program Chairs: David Chalmers, Stuart Hameroff, Gino Yu Conference Managers: Alex Parkes, Abi Montefiore

Program Committee David Chalmers, Australian National University, Stuart Hameroff, University of Arizona Gino Yu, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Roy Ascott, University of Plymouth Richard Davidson, University of Wisconsin Frank Echenhofer, California Institute of Integral Studies Majid Fotuhi, Johns Hopkins University Ben Goertzel, Novamente, Susan Greenfield, Oxford University Allen Houng, National Yang Ming University Shier Ju, Sun Yat-sen University Hakwan Lau, Columbia University

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona Olga Louchakova, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Jefferey Martin, California Institute of Integral Studies, Ryojei Nakatsu, National University of Singapore Yoshio Nakamura, University of Utah School of Medicine Dean Radin, Institute of Noetic Sciences Sraddhalu Ranade, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Matthias Rauterberg, TU Eindhoven Thomas Ray, University of Oklahoma Pamela Rugledge, Media Psychology Research Center Marilyn Schlitz, Institute of Noetic Sciences Dan Siegel, Mindsight Institute Jeff Warren, Author Charles Whitehead, University of Westminster

Hong Kong 2009 - Toward a Science of Consciousness Investigating Inner Experience Brain, Mind, Technology Hong Kong, China, June 11-14, 2009 Abstract Submission/Registration Site: https://sbs.arizona.edu/project/consciousness HKPU-AsiaConsciousness Conference TSC: www.asiaconsciousness.org/TSC CCS-UofA: www.consciousness.arizona.edu Email CCS: [email protected] US media contact: attn: Abi Montefiore, [email protected] HK contact: attn: Alex Parkes, [email protected]

CONFERENCE PRESS CLIPS - a selection South China Morning Post

Organizers: Gino Yu - Hong Kong Polytechnic University, MERECL Stuart Hameroff - University of Arizona David Chalmers - Australian National University

SPEAKER BIOS Speaker Bios/Photos and Updated Full Program: www.consciousness.arizona.edu

SUSAN GREENFIELD - is a research neuroscientist at Oxford University, writer, broadcaster and member of the British House of Lords; Professor, Pharmacology, Oxford University; Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain; Chancellor, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. She has characterized consciousness as continuously variable: the degree of consciousness at any one time will, she argues, be determined by the extent of large scale, sub-second transient coalitions of neurons (‘assemblies’).

KEN MOGI - Senior Researcher, Sony Computer Science Laboratories - Ken Mogi is a physicist and brain researcher at Sony, and host of ‘The Professionals’ on Japanese national television station, NHK. He has researched how human creativity is an adaptation to a world full of contingencies, and the principles of embodied intelligence. Mogi studies how cortical networks support experiential qualia, and our decisions and choices.

OVID TZENG- is Minister without portfolio for the Government of Taiwan, and former Vice President and Fellow of Academia Sinica, the national research academy of Taiwan; Professor , National Yang-Mind University. He is a

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona respected scientist recognized for his work in memory, psycholinguistics, and cognitive neuroscience. He has gained particular recognition for his extensive analysis of reading behaviors across different writing systems, and he is a leading pioneer in the field of cognitive neuroscientific studies of Chinese language. In 1994, he was elected as a fellow academician of Academia Sinica. While working at Academia Sinica, Minister Tzeng devoted himself to the research of cognitive neuroscientific studies of memory and language.

STUART HAMEROFF - The 'Conscious Pilot' is a new model of the neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) consistent with the Orch OR model (Penrose-Hameroff) The basic idea is that spatiotemporal envelopes of dendritic gamma synchrony move through the brain's neuronal networks. The movement is sideways to neurocomputational flow, occurring via dendritic-dendritic gap junction electrical synapses. A conscious pilot moving around an airplane while it flies on auto-pilot is used as a metaphor for dendritic synchrony moving through the brain's neurocomputational networks, conveying conscious experience and choice to otherwise non-conscious cognitive modes. Stuart Hameroff, M.D., is a clinical anesthesiologist, Professor of Anesthesiology and Psychology, and Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Beginning in the early 1970s, Hameroff has studied biomolecular mechanisms underlying consciousness, actions of anesthetic gases and information processing in cytoskeletal microtubules inside living cells. In 1994 Hameroff teamed with British physicist Sir Roger Penrose in the controversial Orch OR theory of consciousness, based on quantum computations in microtubules inside neurons.

WOLF SINGER - Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolf Singer studied Medicine in Munich and Paris, obtained his MD from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, and his PhD from the Technical University in Munich. Since 1981 he is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main. In 2004 he was the founding director of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and in July 2008 he initiated the foundation of the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for cognitive neurosciences. His research is focused on the neuronal substrate of higher cognitive functions, and especially on the “binding problem”. How the distributed sub-processes in the brain are coordinated and bound together in order to give rise to coherent percepts and eventually conscious awareness is a central question of current research. His work was honored with many scientific prizes and two Drs. honoris causa.

DAVID CHALMERS - Professor of Philosophy; Director of the Centre for Consciousness Studies, Australian National University. Chalmers’ book The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory (Oxford University Press, 1996) explores the "hard problem" of consciousness and advocates a nonreductive science of consciousness. As director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona from 1999 to 2004, and as a founder of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, he has played a leading role in establishing the infrastructure for an interdisciplinary scientific approach to consciousness. His article “The Matrix as Metaphysics” can be found on the official “The Matrix” website.

CHARLES WHITEHEAD - is interested in integrating cognitive neuroscience with social anthropology. Following twenty years as Creative Director of an advertising agency, he gained his MSc in Social Anthropology at University College London, followed by a PhD in anthropology and neuroscience in 2003. He has published a number of papers, chapters, and articles on neuroscience, anthropology, and consciousness, and has presented regularly at international conferences on consciousness and related topics. He is a visiting lecturer at Westminster University and has conducted research on role-play and pretend play at the Wellcome Centre for Imaging Neuroscience.

GINO YU is an Associate Professor and Director of Digital Entertainment and Game Development at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he established the Multimedia Innovation Center and MERECL. His recent interests focus on creativity, and the impact of media experiences on the mind, on world-view, and on the body.

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona Interactive media such as video games combined with biofeedback (GSR, EEG, etc) provide a platform for quantitatively exploring intersubjective "second-person" experiences.

HAKWAN LAU, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Columbia University - A native and undergraduate at Hong Kong University, Hakwan Lau went to Oxford as Rhodes scholar to study the brain and consciousness using fMRI and TMS. Now at Columbia University, Lau is known for his work on how conscious choices and decisions are made, particularly in the pre-frontal cortex, and on the neuroscience of conscious vision. He has put forth a theory of consciousness based on Bayesian decision theory and how the brain deals with noisy signals.

HENRIK EHRSSON - Senior Lecturer, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Born in Sweden in 1972, Henrik Ehrsson is a cognitive neuroscientist interested in the problem of how we come to sense that we own our body. He thinks the key to solving this problem is to identify the multisensory mechanisms whereby the central nervous system distinguishes between sensory signals from one's body and from the environment. By clarifying how the normal brain produces a sense of ownership of one’s body, we can learn to project ownership onto artificial bodies and simulated virtual ones; and even make two people have the experience of swapping bodies with one another. This could have important applications in the fields of virtual reality and neuro-prosthetics.

VICTOR LAMME - Professor of Cognitive Neurosciences, The University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, based on his work in animals and human subjects, Victor Lamme is trying to (re)define consciousness in neural terms. In his view, the feed-forward relay of sensory information, even when reaching as far as the prefrontal cortex, is an unconscious process. Only when recurrent cortical interactions arise, conscious sensations emerge. His findings support a divide between phenomenal and access consciousness, and argue for a rich, rather than sparse, sensory landscape. His current goal is to understand why recurrent processing produces consciousness.

JONATHAN SCHOOLER - Professor, Department of Psychology, The University of California, Santa Barbara is a psychologist studying conscious memory, decision-making and the phenomena of 'mind wandering'. Roughly one third of the time our conscious minds are daydreaming, figuratively wandering off as non-conscious auto-pilot functions perceive and control behavior. How is mind wandering mediated in the brain? How does it relate to non- conscious processes? To creativity? Does the neural correlate of a wandering mind correspond with a mobile agent?

RAMESH MANOCHA is a practicing medico and researcher at the School of Women’s and Children’s Health, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia where he also completed his PhD in medicine. He has national prominence as an educator and promoter of women’s children’s health, adolescent wellbeing, complementary and traditional medicine. He is actively involved in professional education and health promotion in both the public and private sectors. He lectures to public and professional audiences internationally on his research, its practical, individual and social ramifications.

GREG GARVEY teaches in the Department of Computer Science and Interactive Digital Design at Quinnipiac University and Chairs the Committee on Service and Service Learning. His interactive computer based installations have been exhibited in the U.S., Canada and Europe and have been written about in publications such as WIRED Magazine, National Geographic Magazine, the London Daily Telegraph and others. From 1999 to 2001 Greg was Visiting Fellow in the Arts at Quinnipiac University and also was an Associate Artist of the Digital Media Center for the Arts at Yale University during 2000-2001. Prior to joining Quinnipiac University he was Chair of the Department of Design Art at Concordia University in Montreal and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Design Institute. Greg Garvey received a Masters of Science in Visual Studies degree from MIT and was a

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT from 1983-85. He also have a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

MARC PRICE is a Senior Engineer at the BBC's Research and Development department. Marc is currently assigned to the 'Audience Experience' research section. His research interests are on personal reality from the perspective of communication, and exploiting theories on this in the development of novel content and interfaces for computer games platforms. Marc has been working in research and development of media technology since 1996. Prior to this, Marc has worked in various fields of Electronics Engineering. Marc received his BEng Electronics Engineering with first class honours from the University of Central England in 1992, and his PhD from the University of London in 1996.

YOSHI NAGAMURA - Dr. Nakamura is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah. Dr. Nakamura’s scientific background includes cognitive psychology (University of California, San Diego), affective science (University of California, Berkeley & University of Wisconsin-Madison), and pain research (University of Washington). He currently has two focal areas of research, a) placebo pain relief supported by his NIH R01 grant and b) an interdisciplinary research program on the studies of somatic awareness and mindfulness in mind-body interactions. He is the Principal Investigator of an NIH R01 grant award titled “A Dynamic Constructivist Model of Placebo Analgesia”. He is also the Principal Investigator of an NIH R21 grant entitled “Utah Center for Exploring Mind-Body Interactions (UCEMBI)” and he serves as Director of the Utah Center for Exploring Mind-Body Interactions (UCEMBI). UCEMBI has two themes. First, UCEMBI focuses on methods that enhance awareness for the transformation of consciousness to increase our understanding of somatic awareness. Second, UCEMBI focuses on chronic illnesses in which awareness of somatic symptoms (pain, fatigue) is a salient feature. The long-term goal of UCEMBI is to explore whether cultivation of awareness (i.e., mindfulness) can ameliorate chronic illness conditions and other mental health conditions that are difficult to treat biomedically. Dr. Nakamura is committed to advancing interdisciplinary research elucidating the nature of consciousness implicated in mind-body interactions by integrating consciousness studies into medicine.

ERIC PEARL - Internationally recognized healer ERIC PEARL has appeared on countless television programs in the US and around the world, spoken by invitation at the United Nations, presented to a full house at Madison Square Garden and his seminars have been featured in various publications including The New York Times. As a doctor, Eric ran a highly successful chiropractic practice for 12 years until one day when patients began reporting that they felt his hands on them – even though he hadn’t physically touched them. For the first couple of months, his palms blistered and bled. Patients soon reported receiving miraculous healings from cancers, AIDS-related diseases, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, birth disfigurements, cerebral palsy and other serious afflictions. All this occurred when Eric simply held his hands near them – and to this day, it continues. His patients’ healings have been documented in six books to date, including Eric’s own international bestseller, The Reconnection: Heal Others, Heal Yourself .

JAYNE GACKENBACH is currently a professor at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. She has taught at the post-secondary level both in the US and in Canada for over 30 years. As well as being a past- president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, she has 7 books, 22 book chapters, and 70+ professional publications primarily on dreams and higher states of consciousness. In recent years her interests have shifted to computer-mediated communications. In this regard she has edited a book from Academic Press (1998; 2007), “Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal Implications” and co-wrote a book called “cyber.rules” for Norton (2007) publishers with examines healthy and unhealthy internet use. Dr. Gackenbach’s research focus combines her dream and technology interests examining the dreams and consciousness of video game players.

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona MARTHA CURTIS - is a concert violinist who learned how to co-exist with epileptic seizures even from the concert stage. Martha has an amazing story of love of music and the determination to be seizure free by convincing a team of doctors to remove much of her right brain. She seized for over thirty years in simple partial, complex partial, and grand mal seizures and went through several levels of impaired consciousness frequently. Simultaneously, however, Martha walked on stage and performed in four different orchestras while co-existing with the seizures. Ultimately surgeons resected half her right temporal lobe and all of her hippocampus and amygdale on the right. This took three surgeries because Martha was the first professional musician worked on in the Cleveland Clinic. After years of taking medication and suffering four grand mal seizures in a single month – three of them while performing on stage – she underwent the first of three major surgeries to stop the neurological storms in 1991 under the care of doctors from the Cleveland Clinic. Putting her music career at risk, she eventually had nearly 50 percent of her right temporal lobe removed. Today Martha is seizure-free and her ability to perform and memorize difficult pieces of music is greater than before the operations. Martha Curtis’ success story has single-handedly changed preconceived theories about brain and memory function. Martha credits music with saving her life, with allowing her to have beauty in her life, not just illness. “I am alive today because I had a violin,” she said. Martha uses a combination of words and music and films of her seizures and discussions with her doctors to communicate her story of courage, determination and passion for life. Her life and work have been profiled by CBS’s 60 Minutes, NBC’s The Today Show, Biography Magazine and Globo TV Brazil.

BEN GOERTZEL is the Director of Research for the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence as well as the CEO of Novamente, a company dedicated to the development of intelligent virtual agents. His work over the last 20 years has been in the area of artificial intelligence and cognitive science. He has authored several books on the subject including Chaotic Logic, Creating Internet Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence, and The Hidden Pattern.

RAUL ARRABALES is a researcher in the area of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), Spain. He is currently working as teaching assistant and pursuing his PhD in Machine Consciousness. He has published over 10 papers on this topic and manages the website www.Conscious- Robots.com dedicated to the scientific dissemination of the Machine Consciousness field. Raul Arrabales is also co- researcher in the project supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation: “Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists detection system: sensor fusion” (TRA-2007-67374-C02-02; 2007/09). He is also collaborating with the company Sigma Data in the application of Artificial Intelligence approaches to Data Quality Management. Prior to joining UC3M, he worked as project manager and IT consultant for several technologically oriented companies. Raul Arrabales holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science and Technology, a B.Sc. in Computer Science, both from UC3M, and a B.Eng. in Computer Engineering from Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM).

ED MIKENAS - will demonstrate theories of leadership, drumming and quantum physics and show us how drumming training can be integrated into human resources development. Mikenas has performed with Skitch Henderson, Esther Phillips, Mundell Lowe, Sonny Fortune, Herb Ellis, Frank Foster, Mercedez Ellington, Chip McNeill, and Martha and the Vandellas (to name a few). He is Co-founder of CLUB CONGA, a Percussive arts ensemble that promotes the development of talent and artistic potential through participation in hand-drumming cultural events and is Creator and Presenter of DRUMS: NOT DRUGS, a Substance Abuse Alternative Treatment Milieu and DRUMMING ON THE EDGE OF LEADERSHIP CLINICS AND WORKSHOPS and serves as Editor and co-founder of SIRENS, a literary magazine from the Manhattan School of Music, NYC

JEFF WARREN is a writer and science journalist, interested in the shifting texture of internal awareness in humans and animals (especially cetaceans). His approach is poppy and multidisciplinary, drawing on imaginative

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona and literary sources as well as first-person experience and neurobiology. He is the author of The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness, a delirious neuro-romp through the sleeping, dreaming and waking mind. Warren is also a freelance radio producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a graduate of McGill University with a degree in literature, a resident of Toronto’s Kensington Market, and an undisciplined reader of the mystic, the cryptic and the scientific. He is currently working on a book about animal consciousness and the evolution of experience, and is putting the finishing touches on a user’s manual for an absolutely bonkers mechanical device called the “Dream Director” that promises to remix the dreaming mind

MASARU EMOTO - The research of Dr. Masaru Emoto captures ice water crystals in photographs that present a glimpse into the mysterious response of water to thoughts, words and pictures. Emoto published a photograph collection, The Message from Water, in June 1999 and has since published numerous books such as The Hidden Messages in Water, which was listed in the New York Times Bestseller List. His books have been translated into 45 languages and published in 70 countries. He continues to conduct seminars throughout the world to share the importance, understanding and appreciation of water. As part of the United Nation’s International Decade for Action: Water for Life, Dr. Emoto wishes to share his discoveries about the responsive nature of water with children around the world. On May 26, 2005, he spoke as a keynote speaker at a conference held in the United Nations Headquarters organized by the Spiritual Dimensions of Science and Consciousness Subcommittee of the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns. There he introduced the idea for Emoto Peace Project.

For additional information contact: Abi Montefiore 520-621-9317 [email protected] Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona