Hi!
I’m a senior lecturer (US: associate professor) in cognitive science and computational neuroscience. I’m also a meditation teacher in the Vipassanā tradition (in lineage more than in practice), with a long history in Zen Buddhism.
These essays are a way to share directly what I think is most important. It’s a creative outlet that’s more free-flowing and authentic than what’s possible within the bounds of academia. Sometimes I share stories or experiences and other times I share specific insights from our research. It’s pretty unpolished and raw. Stuff that my gut obliges me to write.
If you’d like to know more about me personally, check out my website. You’ll see that I’ve published many papers in leading scientific journals (including the Nature Collection) on topics like meditation, insight, psychedelics, and artificial intelligence. My work has also been featured in the New York Times, TIME, TEDx, Vice, VOX, Aeon, New Scientist, and many other places.
My most well-known scientific work is perhaps a unifying theory of meditation, a study revealing that meditators can turn off their consciousness, an active inference theory of consciousness called “a beautiful loop”, and a bunch of work on psychedelics and false insights. I’m also an ex-professional Muay Thai Kickboxer, an average surfer, and I engage with the mystery through a bit of poetry.
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A quick note to new and potential paid subscribers: I’m really touched that you would want to encourage me to write here with your hard-earned cash. I had no such expectation when I started on Substack. I don’t have much to offer in return. I’d like to keep this free. But I do feel more drawn to write by your support and I thank you for that. I may occasionally make posts for paid subscribers if I feel it’s a bit too personal for the wider public, but we shall see.
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Much love,
Ruben
