Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What do you all mean by 'mind machines?'
- A: The phrase "mind machines" covers a whole
range of technologies that work directly or indirectly on your mind.
In broad categories, this includes HemiSynch tapes, light and sound
mind machines, TENS and CES electrical stimulation hardware, biocircuits,
lucid dreaming machinery, consciousness alteration software, and
of course the old classic sensory deprivation tanks.
Q: What is a HemiSynch tape?
- A: HemiSynch and similar tapes are cassette tapes, meant
to be played over headphones, that play different things into each
ear, sometimes to create a binaural beat frequency. Some use different
synthesized frequencies, and the new Paraliminal tapes use an odd
technique of telling two different stories at the same time, one
into each ear, to work directly onto your subconscious by confusing
your conscious mind. And of course, there are the old classic hypnotic
suggestion tapes and subliminal programming tapes.
Q: What is a binaural beat frequency?
- A: The makers of these tapes want to play sounds into
your head that are exactly at the frequencies they want to entrain
you to. The catch is, there isn't a human being alive or dead who
can hear a 10 hertz "pitch" as one continuous sound. So
they cheat: they play (for example) 450 Hz into one ear and 460
Hz into the other; theoretically this sets up a "beat frequency"
of 10 Hz (460 - 450 = 10).
Q: What is a light and sound mind machine?
- A: These consist of a pair of opaque goggles with built-in
flashing lights, and normally a pair of headphones with synchronized
beeping sounds. Studies have shown that if the flashing lights and
beeping sounds start at something close to your current "dominant
frequency" and then slowly change the "beat frequency,"
it "entrains" your brain to the desired frequency. So
for example, if you entrain to alpha frequencies, you experience
some of the same benefits as experienced meditators. Additionally,
almost all users report some kind of hallucinations from the flashing
lights; mostly colored moire patterns, but some people see detailed
hallucinatory scenes. And, of course, many of the same effects as
hemisynch can be achieved by the sound synthesizers in a light and
sound mind machine. Alternatively, most of the better light and
sound mind machines include sound inputs so you can mix the headphone
synthesizers with your choice of music, environmental, or HemiSynch-like
tapes or compact disks.
Q: What are these 'brain wave frequencies'
you've mentioned?
- A: While only the most science-ignorant fool thinks that
the entire brain pulses in time to one frequency, EEGs show that
at any given time, your brain produces distinct waveforms in four
frequency groupings, called beta waves (14 to 30 Hz, pronounced
hertz, meaning cycles per second), alpha waves (8 to 13 Hz), theta
waves (4 to 7 Hz), and delta waves (1 to 3 Hz). When we say that
you are "in beta state" (which you normally are), what
we're saying is that that's the dominant set of frequencies, the
ones with the highest amplitudes. Beta is associated with alertness,
with the highest frequencies in that range often described as "fight/flight"
mode. Alpha frequencies have long been associated with meditation
and relaxation. Theta waves are considered by some to be associated
with a dreamy, creative states. Delta waves are generally strongest
when you're asleep.
Q: What is the Ganzfield Effect?
- A: The Ganzfield effect is a sort of mini-isolation chamber.
It turns out that the mind reacts better to a blank but steadily-lit
field for sensory deprivation than it does to darkness. Many light
and sound mind machines have a setting to produce the Ganzfield
effect, and at least one, the Tranquilite, is just for the Ganzfield
effect. You can get some of the effects of this, though, with the
cheapest mind-altering technology: cut a ping-pong ball in half,
paint both halves orange or light blue, and tape them over your
eyes, then sit where you can look into a bright light.
Q: What is the Schumann Resonance?
- A: 7.83 Hz. That's the average "resonance" frequency
of the Earth's magnetic field, and some people think that by entraining
your brain to 7.83 Hz, you can be more "in tune with the planet."
Whether or not that's true, it makes sense that it would be a perfectly
good alpha meditation frequency, wouldn't it? The idea started with
TENS (see below) hardware, but many light and sound mind machines
have Schumann resonance entrainment programs.
Q: What is lucid dreaming, and how
do you do it with a machine?
- A: A lucid dream is one in which you know that you are
dreaming, and therefore have full control over what happens to you
in the dream, even though you're still asleep. People who are really
"into" lucid dreaming say that it puts your sleeping hours
to work to enhance your creativity and that it helps you get a feeling
of control over your waking life to have your sleeping life under
control. The Lucidity Institute manufactures several sleep masks
with REM detectors and pulsing LEDs. When it detects the onset of
REM, it flashes a dim LED onto your eyelids. The idea is that you'll
see the light in front of you in your dream, and remember that that's
your cue that you're dreaming.
Q: What do electrical stimulation mind
machines do?
- A: Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation (TENS)
is sort of like "electrical acupuncture." Small voltages
are run across, for example, an aching joint, to stimulate healing
and endorphin release. Cranial Electro-Stimulation (CES) is the
next major step: transmitting even smaller voltages directly across
your brain (via electrodes that clip onto your ear lobes), to stimulate
endorphin release and produce the same kind of brain-wave entrainment
as a light and sound mind machine.
Q: What is a biocircuit?
- A: A biocircuit is made up of copper plates connected
via copper wire to copper plated handles. You arrange them in specially
designed "circuits" and then lie down on them, holding
onto the handles, and it somehow "balances" your body's
electrical fields. Sounds silly to some of us, but there were some
double-blind studies which suggest that they may be able to produce
mind-altering effects. They are also available in silver and in
silk, and some people claim different effects depending on the materials.
Q: What do you mean by consciousness
alteration software?
- A: It varies. Some people stretch this category far enough
to include thinking aids like "idea processors" such as
Idea Generator Plus, Brainstormer, and The Thinking Machine, which
offer up thinking strategies and help you organize your brainstorming
sessions, and non-linear "hypertext" writing systems like
HyperTies and Guide. Then there's "shrink in a box" software
like the old classic Eliza, its modern, hipper incarnation Racter,
PC Guru, and Timothy Leary's (now mostly remaindered) Mind Mirror.
But much closer to the idea of consciousness alteration software
is a little gem for both PCs and Macintoshes called Synchronicity,
which uses vaguely oriental art and digitized nature sounds to aid
you in meditation upon computer-generated I Ching oracles.
Q: What are sensory deprivation tanks?
- A: Mostly the same old classic "flotation tanks"
pioneered by Dr. Lilly and publicized in the book and movie {Altered
States}. A flotation tank is a light-sealed tank of body-temperature
water, mixed with enough Epsom salts to guarantee that you float
in it. After a prolonged period of sensory deprivation, the "floater"
experiences various states of consciousness alteration.
Q: You keep saying 'consciousness alteration'.
Does this have anything to do with drugs?
- A: Not in the sense that you mean it, probably. Some (I
stress that, SOME) researchers claim that they've seen a synergistic
effect from mixing light and sound mind machines with some of the
experimental nootropics such as Piracetam.
Q:So what are 'nootropics'?
- A: Smart drugs are supposed to work in one of two main
ways: either by increasing blood flow to the brain, or boosting
the levels of one or other of the neurotransmitters thought to play
a part in learning and memory. Such drugs are sometimes called 'nootropics',
a term coined by the pharmacologist Cornelius Giurgea in the 1970s
from the Greek meaning acting on the mind. To qualify as a nootropic,
Giurgea argued, a drug had to:
- Enhance learning and memory, especially under conditions
of disturbed neural metabolism resulting from a lack of oxygen,
electroshock or age-related changes Facilitate information flow
between the cerebral hemispheres Enhance the general resistance
of the brain to physical and chemical injuries Be devoid of
any other psychological or physiological effects .
Q: Are all of these things legal?
- A: HemiSynch, hypnotic and subliminal cassette tapes are
entirely legal, though the FDA is considering restricting the advertising
claims that they can make. Light and sound (L/S) machines are unregulated
by the FDA due to the fact that a crude form of this kind of hardware
pre-existed the FDA, and is therefore "grandfathered."
(In 1994 the FDA started to act against some manufacturers of L/S
systems). Biocircuits are currently unregulated. TENS and CES are
considered medical devices, and available only by prescription.
And flotation tanks are perfectly legal, albeit expensive. Nootropics
are perfectly legal.
Q: Well, if the FDA can't regulate
it, is it safe?
- A: Opinions on the list are sharply divided about this.
Some of the oldest "mind spas" have confirmed that approximately
three out of every ten thousand sessions with a light and sound
mind machine have produced mild epileptic seizures ... but that
almost all of those were in known epileptics, the kind of people
to whom strobe lights are dangerous, too, and the others turned
out to be in undiagnosed epileptics. Some list users believe that
these machines may somehow "cause" epilepsy in previously
normal people or possibly worsen epilepsy for undiagnosed epileptics,
but these people have NO research or other evidence on their side.
It was once thought that people with migraine headaches
should avoid light and sound mind machines, on the theory that
bright lights can trigger migraine attacks. In fact, the one real
study so far ended up showing that light and sound mind machines
not only don't cause or trigger migraines, but reduce or eliminate
the pain of migraine attacks in 72% or more of migraine sufferers.
(cf The Futurist, July-August
1991, p. 5)
Makers of TENS and CES electro-stimulation hardware recommend
against using their devices if you have a pacemaker or other built-in
electronics, for the fairly obvious reason that the current might
interfere with your existing circuitry. Also, please remember
that TENS and some CES hardware are supposed to be available in
America only by prescription to persons under a doctor's supervision.
Q: How much will all of this stuff
cost me?
- A: The cassette tapes and CDs are competitive with music
tapes and CDs, mostly, with prices ranging from around $10 to $40
for most of them, with some multi-tape sets running up around $100
or so. There are light and sound machines available for under $150,
and better machines run from $300 to $700. Your basic copper biocircuit
starts at $50. TENS and CES hardware runs from roughly $200 to $1000.
And even a cheap flotation tank will set you back $4000, not counting
all the Epsom salts you have to keep loading into it.
On the other hand, you may be able to find alternatives
to having to buy some of this. Michael Hutchison, whose 1981 tome
MegaBrain kicked off
the current enthusiasm for such hardware, gives a travelling $150
seminar in which participants get to experiment with various kinds
of consciousness hardware, and some cities have permanent "mind
spas" where you can go in and rent time on the hardware.
Q: Are circuit diagrams available in
case I want to build one of my own?
- A: Several list-users have promised to design simple hardware
and upload the plans, but so far none of them have come through.
The list archives do include an Amiga BASIC program to produce HemiSynch-like
tones on the Amiga's audio ports.
Q: If I build one of my own, can I
sell it?
- A: Lots of people are. You can find the complete list
of relevant American patents in the MIND-L archive at ASYLUM.SF.CA.US.
The most important of these is Denis Gorges' patent on the Synchro
Energizer; Gorges insists that every other machine in the field
infringes on his patent, and has been threatening to sue for quite
some time now. So far as we can tell, he hasn't done so yet.
Q: Where can I read more?
- A: The first and foremost is Michael Hutchison's {MegaBrain}
(Ballantine: 1986), a $4.95 paperback which covers a wide range
of hardware. Mike's followup book is MegaBrain Power (Hyperion:
1994} $ 14.95
A little more skeptical is Judith Hooper & Dick Teresi's
{Would the Buddha Wear a Walkman?} (Simon & Schuster, 1990),
for $16.95 in trade paperback. Hutchison also publishes (irregularly)
a newsletter called {The MegaBrain Report}, for $36 per year.
Any other questions?
Mind Machine "Frequently Asked Questions"
- Author: J. Brad Hicks
Release: MM FAQ version 0.1
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1991 21:44:00 -0500
Edited and updated by Edward Courtney: 16 March 1996
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