Till Holzafpel is an engineer, programmer, consciousness researcher, and hardware psychonaut who designs virtual reality systems that can evoke the transcendent components of psychedelics… without requiring the consumption any substances. Much of his work is based on fact that there appears to be a massive component of psychedelic experiences that comes from sensory feedback, like sounds, patterns in the visual field, and the tactile components of the environment. Even something as simple as a flashing light can induce mystical experiences in a significant fraction of the population, and plenty of research suggests that there’s a visual component to the healing properties of nature. As Till works on fitting those discoveries into an entirely new class of VR programs, we sat down for a conversation about how our sensory systems can be treated and tweaked to induce altered states of consciousness, the value of making this kind of experience widely accessible, and the shortcomings of a purely biochemical approach to understanding the impact of psychedelics on the human psyche. The video also includes a demo of Brain Candy, his augmented reality program for exploring consciousness through audio-visual patterns (https://braincandyapp.com/). MAKE HISTORY WITH US THIS SUMMER: https://demystifysci.com/demysticon-2025 PATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysci PARADIGM DRIFT https://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show #psychedelicresearch , #consciousness , #neuroscience , #mysticalexperiences , #ego , #mindexpansion , #brainhealth , #fractaldesign , #integration, #selfdiscovery, #neuroplasticity , #philosophypodcast , #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast ABOUS US: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. PATREON: get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/all AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98 DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD SUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci BLOG: http://DemystifySci.com/blog RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss MAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671