John c lilly website
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John Cunningham Lilly (January 6, 1915 – September 30, 2001) was an American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher and writer.
He was a researcher of the nature of consciousness using mainly isolation tanks,[1]dolphin communication, and psychedelic drugs, sometimes in combination.
Career summary[]
Lilly was a physician and psychoanalyst. He made contributions in the fields of biophysics, neurophysiology, electronics, computer science, and neuroanatomy. He invented and promoted the use of an isolation tank as a means of sensory deprivation.[2] He also attempted interspecies communication between humans and dolphins. His work helped the creation of the United States Marine Mammal Protection Act.
His eclectic career began as a conventional scientist doing research for universities and government. However, he gradually began researching unconventional topics. He published several books and had two Hollywood movies based partly on his work.
Career history[]
John Lilly was born on January 6, 1915, in Saint Paul, Minnesota
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The Scientist: A Novel Autobiography
This book is fascinating not least because Lilly lived a very unusual life, but also because it is an expression of a self-confessed ketamine addict, and of a schizophrenic (Lilly was, at least, schizotypal).
Lilly went to med school, and thereafter pursued research in electrical stimulation of the brain. He describes a particular line of work in which electrodes were implanted into the brain of a mule (I think?), and could be used to control the direction of movement of the animal. The CIA took interest in this work, and planned to use this technology to remote-control mules so that they would traverse remote mountain ranges.
Lilly went on to work at the National Institutes of Mental Health in Bethesda. It was there that he began to experiment with lysergic acid diethylamide, and began to develop the floatation tank to achieve heightened psychedelic experiences through sensory deprivation
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From January 6 1915 until his death on September 30 2001, John Cunningham Lilly pushed scientific boundaries and explored what he believed was the limitless potential of the mind.
His career spanned the worlds of physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher, writer and inventor, at times being praised by the scientific and medical community as a pioneer and at others being ostracised by them as an eccentric.
For example, he was the first person to map pain and pleasure pathways in the brain and devised pain-free methods for introducing electrodes deep in an animal’s cortex, allowing for groundbreaking research.
Despite his eccentric methods, his work in the study of dolphins and inter-species communication encouraged a generation of scientists to study marine mammals and raised awareness and respect for the animals.
Yet it was his work in sensory deprivation that has perhaps been his greatest legacy.
In 1954 he invented the world’s first floatation tank, an enclosed saline bath designed for intensive study of human consciousness when deprived of as much
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