Everyone's hacking their brains. Is anybody happy?
- Mind-hacking is misunderstood, in some cases pretty serious, and it leads to levitating chairs. Updated Jan 6, 2017 ago
- In case you've been thinking of dabbling in "nootropics," Josh Dean already did the hard work (and it doesn't sound all that great).
- Ayelet Waldman isn't the first person to attempt to mainstream micro-dosing.
Mind-hacking is happening, misunderstood, in some cases pretty serious, and it leads to levitating chairs
Mind-hacking: everyone's doing it. Of course, being Americans, it's not enough for us to just do drugs for pleasure or escape—we want to be more productive, more efficient, better workers. More American.
Silicon Valley's overstuffed with gadgets to "upgrade" your mind, and the coders behind the products are stuffed themselves with modafinil, or tiny hits of LSD, or short sessions with their hypnosis apps. Maybe it's magic. Or maybe it's all Palo Alto New Age wackadoo.
Nellie Bowles's "An Evening With the Consciousness Hackers," from 2015, is probably the most fun introduction, if only because it digs into "telekinesis," courtesy of the co-founder of InteraXon, makers of the Muse meditative headband.
“You can make your phone vibrate from a distance. We’ve made thought-control toasters,” she said. “There’s a thought-control beer tap in our office. I have a levitating chair, and you close your eyes and relax and it goes back down.”
Jan 5, 2017I would like to tell you that after I nervously downed that mug of acid-laced water, I wrote some of the best and most creative prose of my life. But I'm afraid that's not true.
↩︎ GQ
Jan 5, 2017When you knock on someone's door and listen to them and talk about both views, people will talk, and will express uncertainty—most average people will.
↩︎ Vice
The Editors' Longreads Picks
- An excellent essay on poverty and writing by Starr Davis. Updated May 31, 2022
- Novelist Héctor Tobar tries to understand the 1992 Los Angeles riots through the experiences of a single high school.
- Steven Johnson with a long assessment of the current state of A.I. and language. (The illusion has gotten very good.)
Welcome to The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2017 edition.
- Our championship match is decided in the Tournament of Books, with news of a Rooster surprise debuting this summer. Updated Mar 31, 2017
- In Thursday's action, Reyhan Harmanci sets up a colossal final.
- The Zombie round opens with Buzzfeed's Isaac Fitzgerald reading The Nix and The Underground Railroad.
Все ваши Белый дом принадлежит нам.
- "Will Putin expose the failings of American democracy or will he inadvertently expose the strength of American democracy?" Updated Mar 3, 2017
- Wilbur Ross just wanted to make some money in ethically gray areas (that should've prevented him from taking office).
- Jeff Sessions's spokeswoman can't help but continue to lie.
The oceans are under assault, and not just from the White House and friends.
- Trump's assault on the environment begins with American headwaters. Updated Mar 1, 2017
- Don't just blame the oil companies for destroying the oceans—blame sushi restaurants.
- Nothing escapes the deepest trenches of the ocean floor. Not light, not nutrients, not pollutants.