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October 13, 2005
blast
Wow, a big thanks to the folks at Boing Boing (what did we do without them?) I haven't thought about Brion Gysin for years and years. I really have to get my hands on this book. When I was in high school I was really into a band called Psychic TV, who were heavily influenced by Gysin. (Gysin, Burroughs, Campbell, etc)
Anyway, One of the things that Gysin came up with was something called the 'Dreamachine'. The whole idea is that you sit facing this flicking light with your eyes closed and the light would 'slow the electrical pulse rate of the subject's brain to a state of semiconsciousness known as the alpha state and produce rich dreamlike imagery'. All the fun without the drugs, whoo-hoo! Burroughs was known to say that the Dreamachine would cure his writers block. I've always thought that one could reproduce this with a computer screen instead of using a traditional light, but I digress..
Here is how to build a cheap one...not simple...but cheap.
Have fun kids!
I wonder if the guys at Mythbusters would try to make a Dreamachine....
-gg
Posted by gadgetgirl at October 13, 2005 09:35 PM