Books

Spirit Tech

Spirit Tech: The Brave New World of Consciousness Hacking and Enlightenment Engineering is a forthcoming book by CMAC researchers Dr. Wesley Wildman and Kate Stockly, which introduces and evaluates, from the perspective of two scholars who have decades of research on religion and spirituality behind them, several new spiritual technologies within what they call the “scattered supermarket of special spiritual services.”

The book explores the next and potentially most transformative revolution: the potential for a cyborg spirituality—in which brain-based technological advancements are harnessed to enhance and facilitate spiritual experiences from achieving Nirvana to meeting God to communing telepathically with fellow believers.

Human Simulation

Human Simulation: Perspectives, Insights, and Applications is edited by CMAC Director Saikou Diallo, Executive Director Wesley J. Wildman, and Research Associates LeRon Shults and Andreas Tolk. Chapters compiled by 18 active and experienced researchers* provide a holistic perspective regarding modeling through the lens of human simulation as a way to portray the humanities concepts in a clear and calculated manner.

This uniquely inspirational and practical book explores human simulation, which is the application of computational modeling and simulation to research subjects in the humanities disciplines. It delves into the fascinating process of collaboration among experts who usually don’t have much to do with one another – computer engineers and humanities scholars – from the perspective of the humanities scholars. It also explains the process of developing models and simulations in these interdisciplinary teams.

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Wildman

CMAC’s approach is innovative, it’s risky and ultimately it might not work. But this approach does promise breakthrough change, allowing us to test before we invest in new interventions. We use these techniques routinely when we design cars, bridges and factories. And speaking for myself, a change skeptic, I finally feel I’m telling myself the truth about real-world change. I’ll keep up the rhythm of small-change activities. And I’ll make a very precise, limited and deliberate move on the big-change stage through CMAC.

Wesley Wildman
Executive Director

Teehan

After two (intense) days with the people at CMAC, going through the process of translating my hypothesis about religion and empathy into the language of computer modeling, it all began to make sense … Because of this method, we will actually be able to bring some data into a debate that would otherwise remain largely in speculation … It forced me to formulate my ideas in such precise and concrete terms (so they could be coded for) that I came away with a better understanding of my own theory.

John Teehan, Ph.D.
Hofstra University

Bacon

CMAC is a great environment when you are in a transitional stage of your early career and deciding what type of career path to pursue. There is such a wide variety of projects going on at one time, and even if you are assigned to primarily work on just one, there is frequently the opportunity to contribute to multiple projects. And in doing so, you get to use your skillset in areas outside your area of expertise, and also expand your skillset within your main area with an interdisciplinary team.

Rachel Bacon
Postdoctoral Fellow

Gore

Each member of the team was capable of synthesizing that multi-disciplinary knowledge into a single response to a complex problem statement. The realization was humbling and reshaped my view of what interdisciplinary work can be and how I pursue it.

Ross Gore, Ph.D.
Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center