Psychedelic Information Theory
Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes du congrès annuel de l ACSI – February 07, 2025
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Psychedelic experiences fundamentally transform how we process information. A novel exploration delves into information phenomena occurring during altered states of consciousness induced by "magic mushrooms." Drawing from Psychedelic Information Theory, this interdisciplinary inquiry systematically examines "psychedelic information" across four distinct levels: personal, microsocial, macrosocial, and the overarching "meta" perspective of Information Science. This approach bridges insights from Psychology, Computer Science, and Drug Studies, offering a profound understanding of how consciousness shapes our informational landscape.
Abstract
Inspired by the conference theme, Leaps and Stumbles, our panel takes a quantum leap beyond conventional notions of information. We provide a systematic consideration of information phenomena during altered states of consciousness generated by ingestion of “magic mushrooms.” Our exploration is anchored in the book, Psychedelic Information Theory: Shamanism in the Age of Reason (Kent, 2010) and is situated within the information behaviour literature. The session will be systematic for its explicit and balanced treatment of “psychedelic information” on four levels, namely: personal, microsocial, macrosocial, and the “meta” perspective of Information Science (Bates, 1999).