Further Reading
Ideas
Consciousness is localized, not generated
The brain as aperture or filter for a non-local field, with the isolated self as a useful illusion.
Matter is standing-wave interference
Particles as phase-locked nodes in one continuous medium; no empty space.
Natural language is a perceptual cage
Linguistic relativity. Strong form rejected, weak form supported.
Human history is cyclical, not linear
Cyclical history is a real tradition; lost acoustic-tech civilizations are not supported by evidence.
Consciousness is localized, not generated
- Why Materialism Is BaloneySpeculative
Bernardo Kastrup (2014) 路 Book
Accessible case for analytic idealism: individual minds as dissociated parts of one universal consciousness.
- Human ImmortalityEstablished
William James (1898) 路 Essay
Short lecture where James lays out the transmission theory of the brain. The origin point for the aperture idea.
- Being YouEstablished
Anil Seth (2021) 路 Book
Counterpoint. The strongest current neuroscience account of consciousness as brain-generated prediction.
- The Doors of PerceptionEstablished
Aldous Huxley (1954) 路 Book
Source of the "reducing valve" metaphor for the brain. A classic, read as philosophy and literature.
- Irreducible MindSpeculative
Edward F. Kelly et al. (2007) 路 Book
The most serious academic case for the filter model. Dense and long. Skim the Myers and James chapters.
- Galileo's ErrorSerious but contested
Philip Goff (2019) 路 Book
Clear, careful case for panpsychism by an academic philosopher. Good bridge between mainstream and the aperture view.
- The Ego TunnelSerious but contested
Thomas Metzinger (2009) 路 Book
The self as a model the brain builds. Agrees the self is a construction, disagrees about any field behind it.
Matter is standing-wave interference
- Reality Is Not What It SeemsEstablished
Carlo Rovelli (2016) 路 Book
Lyrical history of physics ending in a relational, granular view of space. A different answer to the same question.
- The Lightness of BeingEstablished
Frank Wilczek (2008) 路 Book
Nobel physicist on "the Grid": empty space as a seething medium and mass as mostly field energy. The real version of the claim.
- Wholeness and the Implicate OrderSerious but contested
David Bohm (1980) 路 Book
A real physicist arguing for undivided wholeness, with matter and mind unfolding from a deeper order. Closest legitimate source to the wave-medium idea.
Natural language is a perceptual cage
- Language, Thought, and RealitySerious but contested
Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956) 路 Book
The original essays, including the Hopi time argument. Worth reading in the source even though parts were later disputed.
- The Master and His EmissarySerious but contested
Iain McGilchrist (2009) 路 Book
Two modes of attention: sequential and analytic versus whole and simultaneous. Close to the image's point about fracturing reality.
- How Language Shapes ThoughtEstablished
Lera Boroditsky (Scientific American, 2011) 路 Essay
Short summary of the experimental evidence for the weak form of linguistic relativity.
- Through the Language GlassEstablished
Guy Deutscher (2010) 路 Book
The best balanced book on what language does and does not do to perception. Funny, too.
Human history is cyclical, not linear
- Fingerprints of the GodsFringe
Graham Hancock (1995) 路 Book
The popular source of the lost-civilization idea. Read as a primary text, alongside a critic.
- The Dawn of EverythingSerious but contested
David Graeber & David Wengrow (2021) 路 Book
Rigorous challenge to the linear story of progress, using real archaeology. Scratches the same itch without the fringe.
- Frauds, Myths, and MysteriesEstablished
Kenneth L. Feder 路 Book
Counterpoint. An archaeologist on how to evaluate lost-civilization and ancient-tech claims.
- The New ScienceEstablished
Giambattista Vico (1725) 路 Book
The founding text of cyclical history: ages of gods, heroes and men, then return. Hard going; a good translation helps.