Scott MacLeod's Anthropology of Information Technology & Counterculture: American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea): Restorative Yoga class on Saturdays (and as we may live to 150 and well beyond:)?

Thursday, August 13, 2026

American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea): Restorative Yoga class on Saturdays (and as we may live to 150 and well beyond:)?

Dear Yoga friends, family in their 80s and 90s' ~ Ma/Janie, and Alden (Briscoe - who went to Quaker George School in Philadelphia before Harvard college), & Quakertarian & Veterinarian & cousin Annie (Brown in NE Oregon) in her 60s, Dick (Robb MD, possibly posthumously, also an ophthalmology professor in Harvard Medical School - and might you Dick have helped develop the ongoing clinical trials for ER-100, epigenetic reprogramming for open-angle Glaucoma, and one other Glaucoma condition?, and see - https://share.google/aimode/uWGl5Ms0ZBrwk3sx6), and George (Church) and Maitreyi (Mazumdar MD - both professors in Harvard Medical School too), MacLeod kin or family, Peter (Norvig, Stanford AI), Doortje (Van Kooten, and Angela and your father Victor, and please forward), Valerie & Ed Smyth MDs, & & Marlynn Wei MD JD (co-author of "The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga: 8 Weeks to Strength, Awareness, and Flexibility," 2017, Harvard Press), Pin/Sid Mazumdar HHS, David Chalmers, philosopher of mind body and consciousness questions at NYU who revolutionized the philosophy of mind by formulating the "hard problem of consciousness" - https://share.google/aimode/Rd0GEQIuZORE72vXq - (& professor of philosophy and neural science at New York University (NYU), as well as co-director of NYU's Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness), all,

Yoga greetings for the Restorative Yoga explorations on Saturday August 15, 2026 (and as we may live to 150 and well beyond:) ... around 8 am your time (until again I can start streaming some Yoga explorations from the shop, and in an iterating realistic virtual earth for Yoga, at 670 Ridgecrest Rd Canyon 94516) ... & Happy restorative Yoga explorations ... & potentially re independence or liberation or freedom due to extreme longevity and aging reversal genetic drug therapies emerging, FDA approved - and regarding the divine?? too??? - and with a physical-digital #RealisticVirtualEarth a #RealisticVirtualEarthForYogaAsana, a #RealisticVirtualEarthForGenetics, a #RealisticVirtualEarthForQuantum, and a #RealisticVirtualEarthForAgingReversal (accessible in the US and around the world too, potentially from home too) ... and interoperating with our #AvataraAgentElectronicHealthRecords (emerging from #GPegman in #GStreetView) in one physical~digital #RealisticVirtualEarth and (and think Google Street View with time slider) at the #GCell, #GMolecule, #GAtom, AND #GQubit - #Hashtags on #TwitterX and some on #Linkedin (and with the Google Quantum Computer at UCSB) view levels ...

Restorative Chair Yoga explorations to begin ...

I'm glad to write my 91 year old mother Jane (above) is exploring Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Raised Hands) to age reverse her hunching over (and where she also thinks that using walking sticks in seeking to walk ~2 miles per day with a step counter on her iPhone too ... helps her to stand upright)...

Again, shall we explore

Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Raised Hands) in a Chair ...

then

Urdhva Hastasana standing ... from Tadasana (Mountain pose) ... and potentially at a wall ...

Vrksasana (Tree pose) at a wall, lifting up your foot to your inner thigh on both sides, finding your balance, and streaming your inner arms up toward the sky in Urdhva Hastasana ...

and then Urdhva Hastasana lying flat on your back on the ground too (head on a folded blanket if helpful)

extending your arms first up to the ceiling, and then describing an arc with your fingertips as you extend your arms long and toward the floor ... streaming your your inner arms in your mind out through your outer arms as you describe this arc bringing you arms toward the floor ...

The still on your back, try Vrksasana (Tree pose) on the floor, reaching up to bring your right foot into your left inner thigh, skin to skin helps with traction, and then your left foot into your right inner thigh, releasing the bent knee and leg down toward the floor as you also release the straight leg's thigh bone in particular down to the floor

Then Savasana (Corpse pose), head on a blanket, and covering yourself for warmth ... release your legs and arms completely into the floor, releasing the marrow of your leg and arm bones down too ... and which can lead to an exploration of a kind of releasing Prana inside your arms and legs as you continue to release them, say with the relaxation response too - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2008/09/arc-steps-to-elicit-relaxation-response.html - and for about 10 minutes of Savasana explorations too ...

As a kind of Yoga too, I found this amazing interview of Eric Nguyen - https://x.com/mariogabriele/status/2084610303673934104 - COMBINES - or joins Yoga-wise even? DNA as a language (from about 13:00 mins to 16:15 especially) - with DNA as structures in the form of images, potentially in a realistic virtual earth for biology - in a realistic virtual earth for Yoga asana too (with GPegman becoming our Avatar Agents for learning with, with our avatar agent electronic health records), with an emerging General Biological Intelligence AI, so both modalities, DNA as a language, and DNA as image structures ... and explore so so much more an emerging General Biological Intelligence AI, with implications for extreme longevity genetics too

G !

and Yoga re-explore ...

Saturday, August 8, 2026
Pine Hill Flannelbush: Restorative Yoga class on Saturdays (and as we may live to 150 and well beyond:)? * E General Biological Intelligence AI - #GeneralBiologicalIntelligenceAI - This amazing interview of Eric Nguyen - https://x.com/mariogabriele/status/2084610303673934104 - combines - or joins Yoga-wise even? (from about 13:00 mins to 16:15 especially) - both potentially the language of DNA and re #TextInTheSideBar #TextInTheSideBarForDNA (think GStreetView with G Time Slider) ... with images for an emerging General Biological Intelligence AI, so both modalities, and so much more ... re World University and Schools' seeking to develop further a #RealisticVirtualEarthForAgingReversal,a #RealisticVirtualEarthForExtremeLongevity, a #RealisticVirtualEarthForDNA #RealisticVirtualEarthForYogaAsana ... but it doesn't mention either Aging Reversal or consciousness emerging from biology (and see PS)

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2026/08/pine-hill-flannelbush.html

Also, I just added all of these email restorative Yoga explorations' classes since December 2025 to this blog post today - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2026/08/lotus-maculatus-restorative-yoga.html

for your further explorations ...

Thursday, August 13, 2026

Lotus maculatus: Restorative Yoga explorations' classes' Blog posts since December 2025 with 'Yoga' blog label too here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2026/08/lotus-maculatus-restorative-yoga.html & https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/Yoga ~

https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2026/08/lotus-maculatus-restorative-yoga.html

Yogically (as in 8 limbs of Yoga) re uniting seeing with seer envisioning - wise, Desiderata prose poem greetings (https://www.desiderata.com/desiderata.html), Namaste (the light within salutes the light within you), warm regards,

Scott

For your consideration and re yoga consciousness & the philosophy of consciousness -

searched on

david chalmers, philosophy of consciousness and mind body questions & yoga consciousness

David Chalmers bridges Western analytic philosophy and Eastern yogic philosophy by arguing that consciousness is a fundamental, irreducible building block of reality. While Western science traditionally views consciousness as an "accidental byproduct" of brain tissue, both Chalmers' non-reductive metaphysics and ancient Yoga systems treat it as a foundational layer of the universe. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

David Chalmers and the Mind-Body Problem

Chalmers revolutionized contemporary philosophy of mind by formally splitting the study of consciousness into two distinct categories: [1, 2, 3]

                  ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
                  │      THE PROBLEMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS     │
                  └───────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                                      │
           ┌──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┐
           ▼                                                     ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐               ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│          THE "EASY" PROBLEMS        │               │          THE "HARD" PROBLEM         │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤               ├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Objective brain functions         │               │ • Subjective experience (Qualia)    │
│ • Information processing            │               │ • The inner "movie" of the mind     │
│ • Motor control and behavior        │               │ • Why physical matter feels like    │
│ • Cognitive discrimination          │               │   anything at all from the inside   │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘               └─────────────────────────────────────┘

The "Easy" Problems: These are cognitive and neurobiological functions. They include how the brain integrates sensory information, focuses attention, or controls behavior. They are called "easy" (tongue-in-cheek) because they can be solved eventually using standard mechanistic and scientific methods. [1, 2, 3]
The "Hard" Problem: Coined by Chalmers, this asks why and how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective experience. Why is information processing accompanied by an inner life? Why do we experience the vivid "qualia" of a deep blue sky or the sharp sting of pain, rather than processing it like an unfeeling computer? [1, 2, 3]
The Philosophical Zombie Thought Experiment: To prove that materialism (the idea that only physical matter exists) is incomplete, Chalmers asks us to imagine a "philosophical zombie". This is a creature physically identical to a human that behaves exactly like us, but possesses zero internal awareness or subjective experiences. Because zombies are logically conceivable, Chalmers argues that consciousness cannot be fully reduced to just physical atoms. [1, 2, 4, 5]

Connecting Chalmers to Yoga Consciousness

Though Chalmers writes within the Western analytic tradition, his proposed solutions heavily mirror the concepts found in classical Yoga philosophy (primarily rooted in Samkhya and Advaita Vedanta). [, 2]

1. Consciousness as Fundamental (Russellian Monism & Panpsychism) [1, 2, 3]

Because Chalmers argues that consciousness cannot be explained by smaller physical parts, he suggests it must be a fundamental property of the universe, just like mass, space, time, or electric charge. This aligns with Panpsychism, the view that all fundamental matter contains some element of consciousness. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Yoga Parallel: This directly matches the yogic view of Purusha (pure consciousness) or Brahman (universal awareness). In Yoga, consciousness is not generated by the brain; rather, the brain acts like a physical antenna or mirror reflecting a universal, pre-existing consciousness. [, 2, 3]

2. The Nature of the Mind vs. Pure Awareness

Chalmers distinguishes between psychological consciousness (brain mechanisms and behavioral states) and phenomenal consciousness (the raw experience of being). [1]

The Yoga Parallel: This maps perfectly to the core dualism of Yoga philosophy:
- Chitta / Prakriti (The Mind/Matter): The thoughts, emotions, memories, and neural pathways. This maps to Chalmers' "easy problems" and psychological states.
- Drashtha / Purusha (The Seer): The silent, unchanging witness that observes the mind. This is Chalmers' "hard problem" of phenomenal experience—the entity that actually witnesses the inner movie. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

3. Where They Diverge: Thought vs. Realized Practice

While their core metaphysics are similar, their methodologies are drastically different:

Chalmers' Approach: Purely conceptual, linguistic, and analytical. He uses logic, thought experiments, and mathematical models to understand consciousness from the outside. [1, 2, 3]
The Yogic Approach: Purely experiential and practical. Yoga views the mind-body problem not as an intellectual riddle to solve, but as a limitation to transcend through meditation (Dhyana), breathwork (Pranayama), and direct self-realization. [1]

Quick Comparison: Western Analytic vs. Yogic Mind-Body Views

Feature	David Chalmers' Property Dualism	Classical Yoga Philosophy (Samkhya)
Primary Framework	Analytical logic & philosophy of mind	Experiential practice & metaphysics
The Physical Brain	Organizes functional data (The "Easy" Problem)	Form of subtle matter (Prakriti) that reflects consciousness
Subjective Reality	Fundamental property of nature (The "Hard" Problem)	Ultimate Reality (Purusha / Pure Awareness)
Ultimate Goal	Find a fundamental scientific law of consciousness	Transcend the physical body to achieve liberation (Kaivalya)

If you want to dive deeper into this crossover, let me know:

Would you like to explore how Quantum Physics attempts to bridge these two views?
Are you interested in a specific yogic school, like Advaita Vedanta or Kashmir Shaivism?
Do you want to explore Chalmers' latest thoughts on AI and digital consciousness?