John Lilly
Born	January 6, 1915  St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Died	September 30, 2001  Los Angeles, California, USA

John Cunningham Lilly (January 6, 1915 – September 30, 2001) was an American physician, psychoanalyst and writer. Uploaded from The Official Obituary of John Cunningham Lilly, M.D. at http://mindprod. ... is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... State capitol building in Saint Paul Saint Paul is the capital and second-largest city of the state of Minnesota in the United States of America. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Nickname: Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: , State County Settled 1781 Incorporated April 4, 1850 Government  - Type Mayor-Council  - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa  - City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo  - Governing body City Council Area  - City  498. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Doctor. ... Psychoanalysis is the revelation of unconscious relations, in a systematic way through an associative process. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ...

He was a pioneer researcher into the nature of consciousness using as his principal tools the isolation tank, dolphin communication and psychedelic drugs, sometimes in combination. He was a prominent member of the Californian counterculture of scientists, mystics and thinkers that arose in the late 1960s and early 70s. Albert Hofmann, Gregory Bateson, Ram Dass, Timothy Leary, Werner Erhard, and Richard Feynman were all frequent visitors to his home. Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... An isolation tank is (ideally) a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water (denser than the human body) at skin temperature. ... Cetacean intelligence denotes the cognitive capabilities of the cetacean order of mammals and especially the various species of dolphin. ... This entry pertains to the word psychedelic, its origin and uses. ... In sociology, counterculture is a term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. ... Dr. Dr. Albert Hofmann (born January 11, 1906) is a prominent Swiss scientist best known as the father of LSD. He was born in Baden, Switzerland, and studied chemistry at the University of Zürich. ... Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904–4 July 1980) was a British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. ... Ram Dass teaching, Hawaii Dr. Richard Alpert (born April 5, 1931), also known as Baba Ram Dass, is a contemporary spiritual teacher and noted bisexual. ... Timothy Francis Leary, (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American writer, psychologist, modern pioneer and advocate of psychedelic drug research and use, and one of the first people whose remains have been sent into space. ... Werner Hans Erhard (born John “Jack” Paul Rosenberg on September 5, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), [11] became arguably best known to the general public for the programs he set up: the “est Training” (1971 – 1981) and the “Forum” (1981 – 1991). ... This article is about the physicist. ...

Career summary

Lilly was a qualified physician and psychoanalyst. He made contributions in the fields of biophysics, neurophysiology, electronics, computer science, and neuroanatomy. He invented and promoted the use of the isolation tank as a means of sensory deprivation. He was also a pioneer in attempting interspecies communication between humans and dolphins. For other uses, see Doctor. ... Psychoanalysis is the revelation of unconscious relations, in a systematic way through an associative process. ... Biophysics (also biological physics) is an interdisciplinary science that applies the theories and methods of physics, to questions of biology. ... Neurophysiology is a part of physiology as a science, which is concerned with the study of the nervous system. ... This article is about the engineering discipline. ... Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... Neuroanatomy is the anatomy of the nervous system. ... An isolation tank is (ideally) a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water (denser than the human body) at skin temperature. ... Sensory deprivation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. ... Interspecies communication is research into creating communication dialogues between different species of animals and plants. ... Genera See article below. ...

His eclectic career began as a conventional scientist doing research for universities and government. But as he followed his own inquiries, Lilly delved into what mainstream science considers fringe areas. An able publicist, he published many books and had two Hollywood movies based loosely on his work. His reputation enabled him to attract private funding for his more unconventional later work. ...

He progressed ethically during his career from conventional and often invasive research (in which the mind under study was seen as a complex object), into an increasingly consensual peer to peer interactions with other beings, especially dolphins.

Career history

John Lilly was born on Jan. 6, 1915, in Saint Paul, Minnesota and showed an early interest in scientific experiment. Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For an overview of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, see Minneapolis-Saint Paul. ...

He studied physics and biology at the California Institute of Technology, graduating in 1938. He studied medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942. The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech)[1] is a private, coeducational research university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Dartmouth Medical School is the medical school of Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire. ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Early research

During World War II, he researched the physiology of high-altitude flying and invented instruments for measuring gas pressure.

After the war he trained in psychoanalysis and at the University of Pennsylvania he began researching the physical structures of the brain and of its consciousness. In 1951 he published a paper showing how he could display patterns of brain electrical activity on a cathode ray display screen using electrodes he specially devised for insertion into a living brain. For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and John C. Lilly in 1991

Image File history File linksMetadata Ginsberg-leary-lilly. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Ginsberg-leary-lilly. ... Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet. ... Timothy Francis Leary, (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American writer, psychologist, modern pioneer and advocate of psychedelic drug research and use, and one of the first people whose remains have been sent into space. ...

Development of the sensory deprivation tank

In 1953, he took a post studying neurophysiology with the US Public Health Service Commissioned Officers Corps. In 1954, following the desire to strip away outside stimuli from the mind/brain, he devised the first isolation tank, a dark soundproof tank of warm salt water in which subjects could float for long periods in sensory isolation. Dr. Lilly himself and a research colleague were the first to act as subjects in this research. Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Neurophysiology is a part of physiology as a science, which is concerned with the study of the nervous system. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... An isolation tank is (ideally) a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water (denser than the human body) at skin temperature. ...

His quest next took him to ask questions about the minds of other large-brained mammals and in the late 1950s he established a centre devoted to fostering human-dolphin communication; the Communication Research Institute on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. In the early 1960s, Dr. Lilly and co-workers published several papers reporting that dolphins could mimic human speech patterns. Subsequent investigations of dolphin cognition have generally, however, found it difficult to replicate his results. Genera See article below. ...

Exploration of human consciousness

In the early sixties he was introduced to psychedelics like LSD and ketamine and began a series of experiments in which he took the psychedelic in an isolation tank and/or in the company of dolphins. These events are described in his books Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer: Theory and Experiments and The Centre of the Cyclone, both published in 1972. Psychedelic drugs are psychoactive drugs whose primary action is to alter the thought processes of the brain. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ... Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic for use in human and veterinary medicine. ... The Human Biocomputer coined by John C. Lilly, refers literally to the hardware of the human anatomy. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Later career

His career then took the turn of becoming something of a mix between scientist, mystic and writer, publishing 19 books in all, including notably The Centre of the Cyclone which describes his own LSD experiences and Man and Dolphin and The Mind of the Dolphin which describe his work with dolphins.

In the mid and late 1970s he was an adviser to the then up and coming film maker George Lucas. George Walton Lucas, Jr. ...

In the 1980s he led a project which attempted to teach dolphins a computer-synthesised language. Dr. Lilly laid out the design for a future "communications laboratory" that would be a floating living room where humans and dolphins could chat as equals and where they would find a common language.

He envisioned a time when all killing of whales and dolphins would cease, "not from a law being passed, but from each human understanding innately that these are ancient, sentient earth residents, with tremendous intelligence and enormous life force. Not someone to kill, but someone to learn from." ^[1] In the 1990s Lilly moved to the island of Maui in Hawaii, where he lived most of the remainder of his life. His website johnclilly.com was designed during this time by the New York based graphic artist, BigTwin. For other uses, see Maui (disambiguation). ... Official language(s) English, Hawaiian Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area  Ranked 43rd  - Total 10,931 sq mi (29,311 km²)  - Width n/a miles (n/a km)  - Length 1,522 miles (2,450 km)  - % water 41. ...

His literary rights and scientific discoveries were housed within Human Software, Inc., while his philanthropic endeavors were channelled through the Human Dolphin Foundation. His legacy continues through the John C. Lilly Research Institute, Inc.

Solid State Intelligence

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Solid State Intelligence is a malevolent entity described by John C. Lilly. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

Cultural references

Lilly's work, particularly his development of the sensory deprivation tank, is referenced explicitly or implicitly in numerous film, music and television productions.

• Lilly's work inspired two films made without his direct involvement, The Day of the Dolphin, in 1973, in which the US Navy turns the animals into weapons, and Altered States, in 1980, in which scientists combining drugs and isolation tanks see reality dangerously unravel.

• Lilly and his tools on consciousness (isolation tank, dolphin communication, drugs) are mentioned in the anime Serial Experiments Lain.

• Lilly was also referenced in the 2001 song "Oz is Ever-Floating" by the eclectic rock group, Oysterhead, as well as British rock group, Kasabian, in their song, Cut Off on their self-titled album (2004).

• Lilly's sensory deprivation tank is also mentioned in The Simpson's episode Make Room for Lisa, where Homer and Lisa have a float session, as well as the Treehouse of Horror segment that has dolphins taking over Earth.

• Also, although not credited, in the short story Johnny Mnemonic (and the eponymous movie), there is a dolphin on drugs in a tank that communicates with the Lo-Teks and performs a sort of mind-meld with the main character Johnny at the end of the film.

• In the film Minority Report, twins with precognition (pre cogs) float in a dimly lit holding tank. Although no explicit reference to Lilly's sensory deprivation tank is made, Lilly notes the wide array of non-ordinary states of consciousness experienced through sensory deprivation in several of his publications.

• In the film I Love Huckabees, protagonist Albert Markovski is placed in a body bag by his "existential detective" in order to, "help shut down your everyday perceptions and give up your usual identity that you think separates you from everything." Within the bag, Markovski experiences visions relevant to his existential crisis. In the following scene, Markovski is shown wearing an eyemask and immersed in his bathtub, a practice that may be considered to be the "poor man's floatation tank".

• Lilly is referenced in a song by Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects called Vitamin K Experience (A Homage To The Scientist/John Lilly) on the CD Sol Niger Within

• Laurie Anderson's CD The Ugly One with the Jewels features a song about Lilly: "John Lilly, the guy who says he can talk to dolphins, said he was in an aquarium and he was talking to a big whale who was swimming around and around in his tank. And the whale kept asking him questions telepathically. And one of the questions the whale kept asking was: do all oceans have walls?"

• Lilly's work with dolphins may have inspired the Ecco the Dolphin games for the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis. Lilly coined the acronym Earth Co-incidence Control Office (ECCO), which refers to his belief that non-physical entities arrange for the occurrence of meaningful coincidences (synchronicities) in order to co-ordinate the physical and spiritual development of individuals on planet Earth.

• Roy Scheider's character, Captain Nathan Hale Bridger, on the 1993-1996 television show Seaquest DSV was based on Lilly.

The Day of the Dolphin is a science fiction, thriller film released in 1973. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Altered States is the name of both a novel (ISBN 0060107278) and a film adaptation of that novel, both written by Paddy Chayefsky. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Original run July 6, 1998 – September 28, 1998 No. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Oysterhead is a rock band featuring guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish, bassist Les Claypool of Primus, and drummer Stewart Copeland of The Police. ... For other uses, see Rock music (disambiguation). ... Kasabian are an English rock band from Leicestershire, formed by Tom Meighan (vocals), Sergio Pizzorno (guitar and vocals), Chris Edwards (bass) and Chris Karloff (guitar and keyboards). ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Homer, a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, is a generally well-meaning buffoon whose short attention span often draws him into outrageous schemes and adventures. ... Make Room for Lisa is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons tenth season. ... Johnny Mnemonic is a short story by William Gibson, and a movie loosely based on the short story. ... Vulcans are a humanoid species in the fictional Star Trek universe who reside on the planet Vulcan and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic. ... Minority Report is a 2002 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story of the same name. ... Precognition (from the Latin præ-, “prior to,” + cognitio, “a getting to know”) denotes a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person is able to perceive information about places or events before they happen through paranormal means. ... Promotional poster for I ♥ Huckabees I ♥ Huckabees (pronounced I Heart Huckabees) is a film released in 2004. ... Fredrik Thordendal (* February 11, 1970) is the lead guitarist and a founding member of the Swedish metal band Meshuggah. ... Sol Niger Within is the first and only solo release by Meshuggah guitarist Fredrik Thordendal. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... This section has been identified as trivia. ...

Quotations

See also

• cetacean intelligence
• consciousness
• Louis Herman
• hallucination
• hallucinations in the sane
• isolation tank
• ketamine
• LSD
• neuroscience
• schizotypy
• Origin of the Universe by Energy Systems (According to John Lilly)

Cetacean intelligence denotes the cognitive capabilities of the cetacean order of mammals and especially the various species of dolphin. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Louis Herman is a researcher in of dolphin sensory abilities, dolphin cognition, and humpback whales. ... A hallucination is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ... An hallucination may occur to a normal person in state of good mental and physical health, even in the apparent absence of a transient trigger factor such as fatigue, intoxication or sensory deprivation. ... An isolation tank is (ideally) a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water (denser than the human body) at skin temperature. ... Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic for use in human and veterinary medicine. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ... Drawing of the cells in the chicken cerebellum by S. Ramón y Cajal Neuroscience is a field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. ... Schizotypy is a psychological concept which describes a continuum of personality characteristics and experiences related to psychosis and in particular, schizophrenia. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

Citations

Books by John C Lilly

• Man and Dolphin ; Gollancz; ISBN 0-575-01054-1 (1962)
• The Mind of the Dolphin (also entitled The Mind of the Dolphin: A Nonhuman Intelligence); Doubleday; ISBN 0-385-02543-2 (1967)
• Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer: Theory and Experiments; ISBN 0-517-52757-X (reprinted 1987 of 1972 original)
• The Centre of the Cyclone; Marion Boyars Publishers; ISBN 1-84230-004-0 (reprinted 2001 of 1973 original, first published 1972)
• Dyadic Cyclone (1976, ISBN 0-671-22218-X)
• The Deep Self (1976, ASIN B0006CP8ZO, reissued 1981, ISBN 0-446-33023-X, to be reissued in 2006, ISBN 0-89556-116-6)
• The Scientist (1978 ISBN 0-397-01274-8, updated in 1988 and reissued in 1996, ISBN 0-914171-72-0)
• Simulations of God: The Science of Belief; ISBN 0-671-21981-2 (1975)
• John C. Lilly with Antonietta Lilly;The Dyadic Cyclone; Paladin ; ISBN 0-586-08276-X (1978)
• John C. Lilly with E.J. Gold; Tanks for the Memories: Floatation Tank Talks.

External links

• John C. Lilly Homepage (Another version)
• Earth coincidence control officer
• "Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer" - full online text (unofficial)
• "The Deep Self: Profound Relaxation and the Tank Isolation Technique" - full pdf text (unofficial)
• Interview by David Jay Brown
• Association of Cultural Evolution Biography of John C. Lilly
• John C Lilly Page at Future Hi
• John C. Lilly's 80th Birthday Party by Michael Dare
• Official Obituary copy at the Internet archive