Courtney Brown, Ph.D.
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Public Speaking

I have an interest in speaking publicly, especially with respect to topics related to nonlocal consciousness, the nature of physical reality, and other topics listed below. These topics are suggestions only. If your group wishes to invite me to speak about one of these topics, or perhaps even a different topic, please click on the "Contact" link at the bottom of the navigation bar on the left to make your request. Please include possible dates, your group's web site (if relevant), and other useful details. I have a particular interest to speak in settings that encourage rigorous scientific debate.

Selected Topics Involving Consciousness and Physics

  • Multiple Universes — There is an argument that can be intelligently made that our reality exists simultaneously with a multiplicity of parallel universes. There is also evidence on the quantum and macro levels that supports this hypothesis. Some of the macro evidence involves scientific experiments involving consciousness. Predicting the future is possible only if one controls for a particular universe, since evidence suggests that all futures expand probabilistically across the multiplicity of parallel universes.
  • The Nature of Time and Space — Structured nonphysical perception clearly works transparently through time. It is now possible to conduct fully replicable experiments using exhaustive scientific controls that demonstrate this conclusively. The implications to our understanding of time and space are profound. New cosmological ideas are required that extend well beyond the currently debated theories of time and space in order to account for these experimental results. I discuss these experimental results involving nonphysical perception within the context of a variety of quantum and relativistic theories of physical reality, and I suggest aspects of these theories that would need modification in order to allow for the experimental results.
  • The Case for Generalizing the Theory of Quantum Mechanics — The current scientific paradigm states that the quantum and classical realms are separate: one cannot examine classical physics with the same lens with which one examines quantum mechanics. However, this is a logical inconsistency that begs to be re-evaluated. One cannot escape the fact that all phenomena occurring on the classical (macro) level are based at their core on quantum processes, since all macro things are composed of quantum things. New experimental evidence from the science of consciousness supports the idea that quantum theory must be generalized to the macro level, and that at least some crucial phenomena that have previously been assumed to occur only on the quantum level also occur on the macro level. This leads to an interpretation of macro reality as a consequence only of wave-form interaction as opposed to one involving matter and space.
  • The Psi Wars — There currently are two scientific "psi wars" going on. (1) The first psi war involves the debate about whether nonphysical consciousness actually exists. One side says that consciousness is merely a by-product of the physical brain, and when the brain stops functioning, consciousness ceases to exist. The other side says that says that proof of nonphysical consciousness is clear, if only one will examine the evidence with an open mind. (2) The second psi war involves those who study nonphysical perception and who already agree that current scientific evidence demonstrates unambiguously that psi is a real phenomenon. The questions debated in this war involve how to measure and evaluate nonphysical perception. Competing experimental designs have been used with strikingly dissimilar results. New experimental evidence and theory suggest that the strength of psi phenomena may have been vastly underestimated in the past due to the unwitting use of experimental designs that corrupt psychic functioning. The implications of new research in which the experimental designs are modified to eliminate the corrupting influence morph in the direction of profundity.

Topics Involving Mathematics and Social Science

  • Nonlinearity in Social Phenomena — Most commonly encountered mathematical models of social phenomena are linear in structure. However, nearly all of nature is nonlinear. In this talk I argue in favor of exploiting highly nonlinear modeling approaches in developing theories of social and political phenomena. I address four dominant processes of growth: (1) regular, (2) periodic, (3) chaotic, and (4) catastrophe. I also explain how these processes can work in combination within various specifications of competitive and cooperative dynamical systems.
  • Graph Algebra — Graph algebra is a graphical language originating from the theory of systems that can assist the development of algebraically sophisticated mathematical models of human attitudes and behaviors. Working with both continuous and discrete-time dynamical systems is a great strength of graph algebra. I outline the basics of this language and offer a wide range of examples of its use. This topic is particularly relevant to social science departments wanting to encourage their graduate students to formulate social and political theories that go beyond the linear statistical model.
  • Environmental Destruction as a Consequence of Democratic Governance — It is obvious why authoritarian governments tend to ruin the environment. But do you ever wonder why democratic governments often can't get their act together either with respect to protecting the environment? Modern democracies hold periodic elections. The leadership changes that result from these elections act as an ideologically-conditioned forced oscillator in any long-term process of regulating or protecting the environment. This electorally-based forced oscillator encourages destabilizing and destructive consequences to the environment. In this talk, I present a model of this process, and argue that structural changes in contemporary forms of democratic governance combined with massive efforts to raise the level of public scientific literacy with respect to the environment may be required in order to prevent or reduce environmental decay.

Futurist and Fun Topics

  • Science Fiction and Society — It has long been known that science fiction often predicts scientific and technological development far into the future. But subtle and important commentaries about the development of human politics and society have also been made by many science fiction writers. Science fiction does not simply predict the end of the world! Here I outline the social and political theories of a number of important science fiction writers, and I explain why their ideas are crucially relevant to us today.
  • Politics and Music — Most people are aware that political songs exist. But few are aware of the tremendous scope and diversity of political music as it has evolved over the past few hundred years. In this topic I explain the subject of political musicology, and I trace the development of political music from the time of Beethoven to the present.