Welcome to my personal home page. It is mostly about my philosophical writings, which are largely in the fields of consciousness and parapsychology, but also touching on my other area of interest, the history of subway maps.
For most of my career, I have worked as a software developer (mostly in Fortran), but outside the day-job, I have for many years being studying -- and, since the 1990s publishing -- in the unrelated subject of the philosophy of mind. Since the late 1990s, I have been collecting historical maps of underground railway networks, and from 2005 have been involved in writing and publishing in this area too.
Philosophy - writing projects: In the early 1990s, I published some articles on the mind-body problem and ethics in the popular philosophy magazine Philosophy Now and in 1999, I self-published two books on consciousness, paranormal phenomena, and George Berkeley's theory of mental monism. (This is the theory that the ultimate nature of reality is consciousness.) I sold about 300 copies via the internet and at conferences, but big bookshops are very resistant to self-published books. In 2005, I had a long chapter (forty-four pages) on mental monism published in an academic book edited by Alexander Batthyany and Avshalom Elitzur. Unfortunately the publisher (Ontos Verlag) over-priced the book and didn't market it with any vigour. As it's probably no longer in print, I have uploaded my chapter as a PDF here. Meanwhile, BenBella Books in Texas published a series of essays I wrote on philosophical aspects of popular science fiction and fantasy (see below).
Philosophy - video & conference projects: In 2006, frustrated by the difficulty of reaching a large audience in print, I embarked on the Metatopia project to build a library of video interviews with people working in the field of consciousness. This got off to a good start and in 2007 morphed into a large conference (Metageum '07) in which I brought together 75 speakers and practitioners around the theme of Neolithic consciousness. This went well as an event but was a disaster financially, so I had to go back to my day-job in software development, where I am still working to pay off the debts incurred by Metageum. A much smaller follow-up event (Metageum 09) was held in Treadwell's Bookshop in London in March 2009. This had some excellent contributions and explorations, but will almost certainly be the last Metageum.
Maps: I have always loved maps, but did not pay attention to underground maps until 1997, when a colleague gave me a 1957 London Tube map, patched up with Sellotape. I was immediately hooked and over the coming years have built up a substantial collection of maps the great transit systems of London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Tokyo, and Moscow, and numerous maps from other cities. In August 2001, I gave a talk at the London Underground Railway Society, where I met up with Mark Ovenden, and began a collaboration that led to the first ever history of the Paris Metro map Paris Style: Map and Station Design, published in the UK in 2008, and by Penguin in the US in 2009. From 2004, I have been working on the first history of the New York Subway map. This is due for completion in 2011. Meanwhile: Blog entries pertaining to transit maps: The 1979 New York City Subway Map: A Question of Authorship, Part I and Part II in Paul Shaw's blog, Blue Pencil.
Recent:
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Mental Monism Considered as a Solution to the Mind-Body Problem (PDF, 2005)
This is my best attempt at a clear and concise argument for the theory that consciousnes is the ultimate reality.
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Application of Mental Monism to Parapsychology (PDF, 2005)
If mental monism is correct, what implications does it have for explaining how psi phenomena work? In this essay, I apply mental monism to parapsychology, and argue that it provides the only serious pointer so far to an explanatory framework for psi.
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Berkeleian model of psi phenomena
On using Berkeley's immaterialist philosophy as a framework for understanding paranormal phenomena.
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Berkeleian Ontology as a Fundamental Approach to Consciousness
This paper presents a modernised version of Berkeley's semantic argument for mental monism, and examines the implications of this ontology for the foundations of parapsychology.
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Berkeley Revisited: The Hard Problem Considered Easy
What Chalmers calls the 'hard problem' of consciousness, which is the Cartesian mind-body problem, admits of an easy solution with Berkeley's mental monism, which also makes possible a rational account of psi phenomena.
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Discussion of Amit Goswami's Science Within Consciousness
A short and informal discussion of Goswami's concept of consciousness and its relation to physics. I argue that Goswami's use of the term 'consciousness' is very different from its use in mainstream consciousness studies, as exemplified by David Chalmers' writings.
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I have started an experimental series of podcasts on philosophical topics. To subscribe, right-click the RSS logo, copy the link, and paste it into your RSS feed. To play individual recordings now, click the speaker icon.
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Chapters written by Peter B Lloyd, published elsewhere ... |
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Mental Monism Considered as a Solution to the Mind-Body Problem
This essay was commissioned by Alexander Batthyany and is a concise statement and defence of Berkeleyan mental monism.
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Books written by Peter B Lloyd, published by Whole-Being Books, London ... |
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Exegesis of the Matrix
An in-depth analysis of the first two Matrix films. This evolved from two essays: the "Glitches in the Matrix" commissioned by Glenn Yeffeth of BenBella Books, and the "Glitches Reloaded" essay commissioned by the editor of Ray Kurzweil's web site.
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Consciousness and Berkeley's Metaphysics.
An intensive defence of George Berkeley's theory of immaterialism, in the context of the mind-body problem and modern consciousness studies.
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Paranormal Phenomena and Berkeley's Metaphysics
Taking Berkeley's theory of mental monism, or immaterialism as he called it,this book examines ways of understanding a range of paranormal phenomena. This is a follow-on from the previous book.
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Chapters written by Peter B Lloyd, in anthologies published by BenBella Books |
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Military Use of Artificial Consciousness: Special Interest Group Briefing.
A discussion of the consciousness of Cylon humanoids in the first two seasons of the new Battlestar Galactica television series.
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Superman's Moral Evolution, This essay examines Superman's attitude to violence and the rule of law in the early years of the 'Golden Era' of Superman Comics (1938-1943), and contrasts this with his more nuanced modern stance.
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Glitches in the Matrix ... and How to Fix Them
This essay was commissioned by Glenn Yeffeth and analyses scientific questions about how the universal virtual reality of the Matrix might work. It also touches on the supposed consciousness of the Agents.
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Book edited by Peter B Lloyd, published by Whole-Being Books ... |
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I'm Afraid of Hypnosis but I Don't Know Why
Written by Deborah Marshall-Warren A critique of common misapprehension and fear about hypnosis. Reassures people who are thinking about undergoing hypnotherapy, by explaining what goes on in a hypnotherapy session, and addresses the specific concerns that people commonly have.
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Interviews published on the Matrix DVD boxed set by Warner Brothers. | |
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The Hard Problem: The Science behind the Fiction and
Return to Source: Philosophy and 'The Matrix' These interviews were recorded by Josh Oreck in London. They cover aspects of the allusions to science, philosophy. and religion found in the Matrix trilogy.
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All above material Copyright © 2007 Peter B Lloyd.