The Future of Spirituality: Are Synthetic Psychedelics and Consciousness Hacking the New Meditation?

Synthetic psychedelics? Magnetic brain stimulation? How will technology’s ability to measure, augment, or even radically alter our brains shape the future of spirituality? Join Lauren from the Science and Innovation unit at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, based in San Francisco. Her work focuses on mobility, urban agtech, crypto, and precision mental health. She will be joined by Jess Northend, also working at the intersection of next generation tech and leadership, and Liana Gillooly for this fascinating discussion you won’t want to miss.

This salon is part of a new ten-part series called The Future Of where we’re bringing together a broad and diverse community of people with an interest in shaping an optimistic future enabled by technology. In each salon, we take a deep dive into what is possible and propose that we get together to visualise the Future of the Internet, Cities, Food, Education, and many more.

It wasn’t going to be too long before the realm of the spiritual would be subjected to the technology revolution. Introducing spirit tech! 

Spirit tech is a new wave of brain-based technology meant to enhance, accelerate, modify or measure the spiritual experience. Ever get frustrated trying to meditate? There’s now a brain-sensing headband for that; it uses neurofeedback to guide your brain into a meditative state.  

This, and many more technologies—such as transcranial magnetic brain stimulation—are sprouting with the promise of elevating intense spiritual experiences that can otherwise take years to attain.  

Similarly, other tech are promising to democratize spirituality—such as church in the metaverse, psychedelic-like experiences in virtual reality, and synthetic psychedelics (no trip required). But skeptics question whether using tech to achieve these experiences is authentic and safe.  

The big question is, what is the potential for spirit tech to change human spirituality?  

What would a tech-enabled spiritual experience look like for you and me? And how do you feel about an aspect of our very personal lives and experiences being infiltrated by tech? 

Spirituality should not be reserved for the few. How can we ensure that this tech is disseminated widely, safely, and equitably?  

What lessons can we learn from organized religion, which has often led to violence, repression, and shame? What lessons can we learn from new-age spirituality, which has been co-opted and commodified by a multi-billion dollar wellness industry?  

Suggested reading 

• In Ten Years, Brain Wearables May Be as Ubiquitous as FitBits 
• Episode 124: Spirit Tech, Consciousness Hacking, and Enlightenment Engineering  
• We Will Call it PALA 
• Equanimity On Demand: Can Brain. Stimulation technology Mimic the Effects of Meditation?

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