Hossenfelder Rejects Hoffman Paper Linking DMT Trips to Alien Minds

Sabine Hossenfelder

Donald Hoffman's mathematical framework fails to prove DMT encounters connect to real alien entities because relabeling standard probability transitions as consciousness is unfalsifiable and physically empty.

AI-assisted summary of Psychedelics Allow Alien Communication, Scientists Claim — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2026-07-16

Key ideas

Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman and his collaborators published 'Traces of the Other', proposing that recurring DMT entity encounters may represent genuine, imperceptible conscious minds rather than mere hallucinations. (0:00)
An analysis of over 3,000 DMT trip reports reveals that conscious entities appear in roughly 45% of sessions, featuring specific recurring archetypes like feminine beings (24%), deities (17%), aliens (16%), and machine elves (8%). (0:00)
Hoffman's mathematical framework relies on Markov kernels to define conscious agents, which Sabine Hossenfelder criticizes as arbitrary labeling devoid of physical content and 'not even wrong'. (1:48)
While dismissing the alien communication theory and its proposed unfalsifiable tests, Hossenfelder acknowledges that DMT's ability to consistently generate identical entity types remains an unexplained neuroscientific mystery. (3:55)

Detailed notes

## Background Published on YouTube by Sabine Hossenfelder on July 16, 2026, this video evaluates recent scientific claims regarding psychedelic experiences. The description highlights how a new paper uses mathematical modeling to argue that alien entities encountered by DMT users might be real, prompting an investigation into whether scientists are mistaking abstract math for reality.

## TL;DR Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman and his collaborators propose that recurring alien entities encountered during DMT experiences could be genuine, independent conscious minds perceived through an altered sensory interface, mathematically represented via Markov kernels. Sabine Hossenfelder deconstructs this framework, arguing that Markov kernels are merely routine probabilistic tools that do not inherently model subjective experience or consciousness. She highlights that the authors' proposed experimental tests are functionally unfalsifiable because negative results can easily be excused by claiming the entities chose not to cooperate. Ultimately, while Hossenfelder acknowledges that the consistent nature of DMT hallucinations is a genuine neuroscientific mystery worth exploring, she concludes there is zero empirical or mathematical evidence that psychedelics facilitate alien communication.

## Atmosphere & style The presentation carries Hossenfelder’s signature blend of deadpan humor, sharp skepticism, and intellectual rigor. It opens with an earnest attempt to treat the researchers' ideas with good faith before transitioning into an exasperated, no-nonsense dismantling of mathematical overreach. Watching it feels like a brisk, grounded reality check, enlivened by dry wit and candid dismissals—such as awarding the paper a '10 out of 10 on the bullshit meter'—that pierce through high-concept philosophical pretensions.

## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=0s) Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman and his collaborators published 'Traces of the Other', proposing that recurring DMT entity encounters may represent genuine, imperceptible conscious minds rather than mere hallucinations. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=0s) An analysis of over 3,000 DMT trip reports reveals that conscious entities appear in roughly 45% of sessions, featuring specific recurring archetypes like feminine beings (24%), deities (17%), aliens (16%), and machine elves (8%). - [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Hoffman's mathematical framework relies on Markov kernels to define conscious agents, which Sabine Hossenfelder criticizes as arbitrary labeling devoid of physical content and 'not even wrong'. - [03:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=235s) While dismissing the alien communication theory and its proposed unfalsifiable tests, Hossenfelder acknowledges that DMT's ability to consistently generate identical entity types remains an unexplained neuroscientific mystery.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=0s) For over fifty years, DMT users have consistently reported encounters with autonomous alien entities acting as guides, messengers, or teachers. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=0s) In 'Traces of the Other', Donald Hoffman argues that DMT entities may be independently existing conscious agents that human perception normally filters out. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=0s) A dataset of over 3,000 DMT experiences shows conscious entities manifest in about 45% of reports, with specific archetypes recurring across different users. - [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Hoffman's interface theory of perception asserts that human sensory systems evolved like desktop computer icons—optimized for survival utility rather than presenting objective reality. - [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Hoffman extends this interface philosophy to claim that behind physical appearances lies nothing except an interconnected network of conscious agents. - [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) The authors define conscious minds using Markov kernels, standard probabilistic tools that map current states to future probability distributions. - [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Markov kernels are standard tools used in mundane applications like stock market analysis and weather forecasting, carrying no inherent mechanism for subjective experience or qualia. - [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Unlike Integrated Information Theory (IIT), which calculates consciousness from physical system connectivity, Hoffman's formulation merely renames mathematical probability equations as consciousness. - [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Hossenfelder labels the paper's mathematical framework as 'not even wrong' due to its lack of testable, concrete physical content. - [03:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=235s) Proposed validation experiments, such as reading monitor colors in adjacent rooms via entities, are easily rationalized away upon failure, rendering them unfalsifiable. - [03:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=235s) Unlike dreams or psychosis, which recombine familiar personal memories, DMT trips reliably construct hyper-specific alien archetypes across unrelated individuals, representing a genuine scientific puzzle.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=0s) DMT Entities and Donald Hoffman’s Theory of Reality

For more than fifty years, individuals taking the psychedelic compound DMT (dimethyltryptamine) have consistently reported dramatic encounters with alien entities. These beings frequently present themselves in recurring roles such as messengers, guides, or teachers. While the standard neuroscientific view has long treated these experiences purely as drug-induced hallucinations, cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman and his collaborators argue in a new paper, titled *Traces of the Other*, that researchers have dismissed the phenomenon too quickly. They propose that these entities might represent genuine, independently existing minds, and that psychedelics act as a mechanism opening human perception to their presence.

DMT is an extraordinarily fast-acting and potent psychedelic: when smoked, its effects begin within seconds and last only around ten minutes, yet users rarely experience the trip alone. In an analysis of over 3,000 trip reports, conscious entities appear roughly 45% of the time, and the roster of figures is oddly specific across different users: - 24% encounter a feminine being - 17% report meeting a deity - 16% encounter an alien - 8% encounter a "machine elf"

Hoffman and his co-authors contend that these encounters point toward a novel science of reality where consciousness, rather than matter, forms the fundamental substrate of the universe. Addressing the credibility of the research, Sabine Hossenfelder notes: “I'll do my best to try and take this seriously because the people behind it are not obviously cranks. But it's a perfect example of a problem I worry about a lot. What happens when scientists mistake maths for reality?”

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Hoffman's Conscious Agent Model vs Perception accDescr: Flowchart illustrating how fundamental reality of interacting minds maps through perception to subjective experience.

subgraph GroundReality["Fundamental Reality"] A["Network of Interacting Minds<br/>(Conscious Agents)"] B["Imperceptible Minds / 'Aliens'"] end

subgraph InterfaceLayer["Perceptual Filter"] C["Evolutionary Desktop Interface<br/>(Sensory Perception)"] D["Altered State<br/>(DMT / Psychedelics)"] end

subgraph Experience["Experienced Phenomenon"] E["Standard Reality Perception"] F["Encounter with 'Alien' Entities"] end

A --> C C --> E B --> D D --> F ```

[01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Interface Perception, Markov Kernels, and the Math Critique

The philosophical bedrock of Hoffman’s framework traces back to Immanuel Kant: human beings do not perceive reality as it truly is, but only through a practical, evolutionary filter. Hoffman previously popularized this concept in his 2019 book, *The Case Against Reality*, using the metaphor of computer desktop icons. A desktop trash icon does not resemble the underlying physical circuitry, voltage shifts, or memory registers of a computer; it simply serves as a convenient interface for deleting files. Evolution shapes human sensory organs for reproductive survival rather than metaphysical truth. While critics generally view this interface premise as conventional wisdom rephrased in modern metaphors, Hoffman takes a more radical step: he argues that physical reality contains nothing behind the interface except for conscious agents. In this view, existence is purely a network of interacting minds, and human perception captures only an infinitesimal slice of it.

In *Traces of the Other*, the authors propose: “Some DMT entities might correspond to traces of conscious agents that are normally imperceptible.” To give this claim a rigorous mathematical foundation, they define a conscious mind using a Markov kernel—a standard probabilistic tool that maps a current state to the probability distribution of a subsequent state (analogous to reading options from a restaurant menu and calculating the likelihood of ordering chicken).

Hossenfelder argues that using Markov kernels fails to ground the theory in genuine neuroscience or physics: - Markov kernels are mundane, standard mathematics routinely employed in stock market modeling and weather forecasting. - Nothing inherent in the mathematical structure of a Markov kernel models awareness, subjective experience, or qualia; consciousness is merely an arbitrary label manually assigned to the equations. - Unlike Integrated Information Theory (IIT)—which, despite its own flaws, attempts to compute consciousness directly from a physical system's wiring—Hoffman's approach merely renames an abstract probability transition. - Borrowing Wolfgang Pauli's famous phrase, Hossenfelder emphasizes that the formulation is “not even wrong” because it lacks concrete physical content that could be tested or falsified.

[03:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=235s) Flawed Experiments, Genuine Mysteries, and Incogni

Hoffman and his collaborators attempt to rescue their thesis from pure philosophy by suggesting experimental tests. They propose investigating whether subjects under the influence of DMT can identify colors shown on a computer monitor in an adjacent room via the alien entity's observation, or testing whether multiple subjects can simultaneously detect and share the identical alien presence. Hossenfelder criticizes these proposals as unfalsifiable evasions in waiting. If an experiment yields null results, proponents can simply rationalize the failure by claiming the alien chose not to cooperate, or that these non-human conscious agents operate under entirely foreign concepts of space and time: “It's a 10 out of 10 on the bullshit meter. It's fancy words decorated with useless maths.”

Despite dismissing the mathematics and the extraterrestrial interpretation, Hossenfelder acknowledges that DMT presents a genuine, unsolved scientific puzzle. Ordinary dreams and psychosis almost exclusively recombine familiar fragments of waking memory—known acquaintances, visited places, or videos seen online. DMT trips, by contrast, reliably generate independent encounters with hyper-specific alien entities across unrelated subjects: “In conclusion, the phenomenon is real and worth studying, but the maths is nonsense, and I'm sorry to report there's no evidence of alien consciousnesses attempting to communicate through psychedelics.”

The broadcast concludes with a sponsor message for data-privacy service Incogni: - Personal data and phone numbers are frequently gathered when visiting websites, which firms subsequently monetize by selling to data brokers, resulting in persistent spam calls. - While privacy regulations grant citizens the legal right to demand deletion of their personal records, managing these requests manually is excessively tedious. - Incogni automates data removal by issuing repeated deletion requests to data brokers, sending regular user progress reports, and offering a custom removal tool for specific offending websites. - A promotional discount of 60% is offered for the first 100 viewers using the code SABINE.

## Notable quotes > [01:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=108s) Some DMT entities might correspond to traces of conscious agents that are normally imperceptible. — Donald Hoffman

> [03:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI&t=235s) In conclusion, the phenomenon is real and worth studying, but the maths is nonsense, and I'm sorry to report there's no evidence of alien consciousnesses attempting to communicate through psychedelics. — Sabine Hossenfelder

## Mentioned DMT, Donald Hoffman, Traces of the Other, Sabine Hossenfelder, Immanuel Kant, The Case Against Reality, Markov kernel, Integrated Information Theory (IIT), Wolfgang Pauli, Incogni

## Video description Take back your personal data with Incogni! Use code Sabine at the link below and get 60% off annual plans: https://incogni.com/sabine

For over half a century, people taking the psychedelic drug DMT have reported meeting alien beings. Now a scientist says these aliens might be real, and that he has the mathematics to prove it. Forget string theory and extra dimensions; here come aliens and psychedelics. Let's take a look.

Paper: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8qvgy_v2

#science #sciencenews #physics #aliens #mind #neuroscience

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[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3px9R9HnTeI)

中文简报

霍森菲尔德驳斥霍夫曼将DMT体验与外星心智关联的论文唐纳德·霍夫曼的数学框架未能证明DMT体验中的遭遇连接了真实的外星实体，因为将标准概率转移重新贴上意识标签既不可证伪，也缺乏物理实质。认知科学家唐纳德·霍夫曼及其合作者提出，在DMT体验中反复遭遇的外星实体可能是通过改变后的感官界面感知到的真实、独立意识心智，并在数学上通过马尔可夫核来表示。萨宾·霍森菲尔德对这一框架进行了剖析，指出马尔可夫核仅仅是常规的概率工具，本质上并不模拟主观体验或意识。她强调，作者提出的实验检验在实际操作中是不可证伪的，因为阴性结果很容易被借口解释为实体选择不配合。最终，尽管霍森菲尔德承认DMT致幻体验的一致性是一个值得探索的真正神经科学之谜，但她得出结论，没有任何经验或数学证据表明迷幻药能促进与外星人的交流。认知科学家唐纳德·霍夫曼及其合作者发表了《他者的痕迹》，提出DMT体验中反复出现的实体遭遇可能代表了真实、不可察觉的意识心智，而不仅仅是幻觉。 (0:00) 对3000多份DMT体验报告的分析显示，约45%的体验中会出现有意识的实体，并呈现特定的反复出现的原型，例如女性形象（24%）、神灵（17%）、外星人（16%）和机械精灵（8%）。 (0:00) 霍夫曼的数学框架依赖马尔可夫核来定义意识主体，萨宾·霍森菲尔德批评这种做法是缺乏物理内容的任意贴标签，甚至“连错误都算不上”。 (1:48) 在否定外星交流理论及其提出的不可证伪的检验方法的同时，霍森菲尔德承认，DMT持续生成相同实体类型的能力仍是一个未解的神经科学之谜。 (3:55)

Reading summary

Cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman and his collaborators argue that entities encountered during DMT trips may be genuine, independently existing conscious minds, but physicist Sabine Hossenfelder contends that their supporting mathematical model is unfalsifiable and physically vacuous. Recurring DMT Encounters and Hoffman's Agent Framework (0:00) For more than fifty years, users of the fast-acting psychedelic compound DMT have reported dramatic encounters with autonomous beings acting as guides, teachers, or messengers. An analysis of over 3,000 trip reports reveals that conscious figures appear roughly 45% of the time, exhibiting consistent archetypes across different individuals: 24% encounter a feminine being, 17% a deity, 16% an alien, and 8% a machine elf. While conventional neuroscience treats these experiences as drug-induced hallucinations, Donald Hoffman and his co-authors propose in their paper, *Traces of the Other*, that these entities may be genuine conscious minds. Hoffman argues that human perception evolved not to reveal objective truth, but as a practical evolutionary interface akin to desktop icons that hide underlying computer hardware. Under his framework, physical reality contains nothing behind this sensory interface except a network of interacting conscious agents. Hoffman suggests that DMT alters human perceptual filters to reveal traces of these otherwise imperceptible minds. Misapplying Markov Kernels to Define Subjective Awareness (1:48) To give their conscious agent model mathematical rigor, Hoffman and his collaborators define conscious minds using Markov kernels, which are standard probabilistic tools that map a current state to the probability distribution of a subsequent state. Hossenfelder criticizes this formulation as an example of mistaking mathematical abstractions for physical reality. Because Markov kernels are routine mathematical tools commonly applied to weather forecasting and stock market trends, Hossenfelder emphasizes that their mathematical structure contains nothing inherently related to awareness, subjective experience, or qualia. Unlike Integrated Information Theory, which attempts to calculate consciousness directly from physical wiring, Hoffman merely renames abstract probability transitions as conscious agents. Borrowing Wolfgang Pauli's phrase, Hossenfelder describes the formulation as 'not even wrong' due to its complete absence of testable physical content. Flawed Experimental Designs and Genuine Neuroscientific Questions (3:55) Hoffman suggests experimental tests to validate the theory, such as having DMT users read computer screens in adjacent rooms through an entity's observation, or testing whether multiple users can perceive the exact same entity simultaneously. Hossenfelder rejects these proposals as unfalsifiable, noting that proponents can explain away any negative experimental result by claiming the entity chose not to cooperate or experiences time and space under fundamentally foreign rules. Despite dismissing the alien communication theory, Hossenfelder acknowledges that DMT presents an unsolved scientific puzzle. Unlike ordinary dreams and psychosis, which typically recombine familiar elements of waking memory, DMT reliably generates independent encounters with hyper-specific alien entities across unrelated subjects. She maintains that this cross-user consistency is a real neuroscientific phenomenon worth investigating, even though there is no evidence of extraterrestrial contact. Hossenfelder concludes that while the consistent nature of DMT entity encounters constitutes a legitimate mystery for neuroscience, dressing the phenomenon in standard probability mathematics fails to provide physical proof that psychedelics facilitate communication with alien minds.

精炼阅读摘要

认知科学家Donald Hoffman在一篇新论文中提出，致幻剂DMT诱发的外星实体体验可能是人类感知到了真实存在的独立意识主体；物理学家Sabine Hossenfelder则对此提出尖锐批评，认为该理论将纯粹的概率数学错误地当作现实，缺乏可证伪的物理基础与实证证据。 DMT实体体验与意识实在论假说 (0:00) 致幻剂二甲基色胺（DMT）具有起效迅速、作用强烈的特征，吸食后数秒内即可生效并持续约十分钟。在使用DMT的人群中，半个多世纪以来频繁记录到与异界或外星实体交流的体验，这些实体常以使者、向导或导师等角色出现。根据一项针对3000多份体验报告的分析，约45%的报告中出现了具备意识的实体，且形象分类具有高度特异性：24%的受访者遇到女性实体，17%报告遇见神明，16%遇到外星人，另有8%报告遇到“机械精灵”。主流神经科学通常将此类现象视为药物引起的单纯幻觉。然而，认知科学家Donald Hoffman及其合作者在发表的论文《他者的痕迹》（Traces of the Other）中认为，科学界过快地否定了这一现象。他们主张意识而非物质构成了宇宙的基础底层，物质现实本质上是一个由相互作用的意识构成的网络。依照其理论，DMT等致幻剂充当了一种调节感官机制的工具，使人类能够突破演化赋予的知觉限制，直接接触并感知到平日无法察觉的独立意识主体。界面感知论与马尔可夫核的数学争议 (1:48) Hoffman的理论依托于康德哲学的核心观点，即人类感知的并非现实本身，而是演化出于生存与繁殖目的构建的实用界面。Hoffman在其2019年的著作《对抗现实的理由》（The Case Against Reality）中将此比作电脑桌面图标：桌面上的垃圾桶图标只是为了方便文件删除操作，并不反映计算机底层的物理电路、电压变化或寄存器状态。但Hoffman更进一步推论，物理界面背后除了“意识主体”（Conscious Agents）之外不存在任何其他实体。为了给这一假说建立数学模型，Hoffman等人采用数学中的“马尔可夫核”（Markov kernel）来定义意识心灵，将其描述为从当前状态到下一状态概率分布的映射。Sabine Hossenfelder指出，这种数学形式化完全未能扎根于真实的物理学或神经科学。马尔可夫核是金融股市建模与天气预测中广泛使用的基础概率工具，其结构本身根本不包含主观体验、感知或感受性（qualia）。Hossenfelder认为，该模型只是将现成的抽象概率转移方程人为贴上“意识”的标签，既没有解释意识的物理生成机制，也缺乏物理实质，属于沃尔夫冈·泡利所说的“连错误都算不上”（not even wrong）。实验设计的局限与未解的科学谜题 (3:55) 为了验证该假说，Hoffman及其团队提出了一系列实验设想，包括测试DMT使用者能否借助实体观察邻室电脑屏幕上显示的颜色，或者检验多名受试者是否能在同一时间协同感知到完全相同的实体存在。Hossenfelder批评称，这些实验构想极易陷入不可证伪的推脱：一旦实验未检出阳性结果，支持者随时可以辩称该外星实体拒绝合作，或者宣称非人类意识主体运作于完全不同的人类时空概念之外。她直言这种理论是用复杂的数学外衣包装了空洞的推测，未能提供任何确凿的科学依据。尽管对Hoffman的数学构架和外星人假说持否定态度，Hossenfelder依然承认DMT现象构成了神经科学中一个真实且有价值的未解之谜。与普通梦境或精神病发作时主要重组已知记忆、面孔和生活场景不同，互不相识的DMT使用者能够高度稳定且具特异性地重现类似的外星实体形象。她总结指出，这种跨人群的一致性体验值得进一步严肃研究，但目前没有任何证据能够证明致幻剂开启了人类与地外意识交流的通道。 Sabine Hossenfelder总结强调，DMT体验中高度一致的实体遭遇是一个客观存在且值得深入探索的神经科学谜题；然而，Donald Hoffman试图利用马尔可夫核数学建立的外星意识通信理论既缺乏经验证据，又难以有效证伪，不能被视作可靠的科学解释。

Source quotes

[1:48] Donald Hoffman: Some DMT entities might correspond to traces of conscious agents that are normally imperceptible. [3:55] Sabine Hossenfelder: In conclusion, the phenomenon is real and worth studying, but the maths is nonsense, and I'm sorry to report there's no evidence of alien consciousnesses attempting to communicate through psychedelics.

Original transcript

[0:00] For more than half a century, people who've been taking the psychedelic drug DMT have reported [0:07] encounters with alien beings. These aliens often act as guides, teachers, or messengers. Now, [0:15] a scientist says, "Well, maybe these beings are real and psychedelics are just a way to open human [0:21] perception to their presence." Not only this, he says he's got the mathematics to back up his idea, [0:29] and it's testable, too. Well, wow. Forget about string theory and extra dimensions. Here come [0:34] aliens and psychedelics. Let's have a look. DMT is short for dimethyltryptamine, a fast acting and [0:42] strong drug that causes hallucinations. Smoked, it hits in seconds, lasts about 10 minutes, [0:48] and people rarely stay alone. In a sample of more than 3,000 trip reports, conscious entities show [0:55] up in 45% and the cast is oddly specific. 24% meet a feminine being, 17% a deity, [1:03] 16% an alien, and 8% a machine elf. For about a century, neuroscientists called it hallucinations. [1:11] But cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman and collaborators say we've been too quick. [1:16] In a new paper titled Traces of the Other, they argue these beings might be real. Not only this, [1:22] they say it's a new science of reality where consciousness, not matter, is fundamental. I'll [1:28] do my best to try and take this seriously because the people behind it are not obviously cranks. [1:35] But it's a perfect example of a problem I worry about a lot. What happens when scientists mistake [1:41] maths for reality? That said, the general idea behind the alien hallucination paper goes back [1:48] all the way to Kant. We don't perceive reality as it is, only a useful version of it. Hoffman [1:55] popularized the modern form of this in his 2019 book, "The Case against Reality." The example he [2:01] likes to use is icons on a desktop. The trash icon isn't really the circuitry inside the computer. [2:07] It's just useful to pretend you're deleting your files before remembering you didn't mean to delete [2:12] them. Our senses, Hoffman says, work the same way because evolution rewards survival, not truth. [2:18] That part, I think, is fairly uncontroversial. Critics mostly say it's nothing new, just old [2:24] ideas and fresh language. But Hoffman then goes beyond that. If perception is just an interface, [2:29] he asks what's behind it and his answer is nothing. Conscious agents are the only thing [2:35] that exists. Reality is just that, a network of interacting minds. and we only ever see a thin [2:40] slice of that interacting network of minds. So there could be countless other minds out there [2:45] that we don't know of. In the new paper, they therefore suggest, quote, "Some DMT entities [2:51] might correspond to traces of conscious agents that are normally imperceptible" and they have [2:57] maths, kind of. In their paper, a mind is a symbol for a probabilistic map. This means it's a maths [3:05] thing which takes one state. you're reading off a menu, say, and gives you probabilities [3:11] for the next state. For example, you picking chicken. Mathematicians call it a Markov Kernel. [3:17] It's used for things like weather forecasts and stock prices and really standard math. And that [3:24] is the problem. Nothing in those kernels encodes anything to do with consciousness or experience. [3:31] It's a label they tack on by hand. In integrated information theory, at least they try to calculate [3:38] consciousness from a systems physical structure. It doesn't really work. But hey, at least they're [3:42] trying. In Hoffman's work, consciousness is just a word for maths that could as well describe a stock [3:49] portfolio. As Pauli said, it's not even wrong. There's nothing there to be wrong. But fine, [3:55] who cares about philosophy if there's experiments? They propose several ones. For example, people on [4:02] a DMT trip might be able to see colors on a screen in a different room because their alien is there. [4:09] Or different people might share the same alien presence. And this is all well and good. The [4:15] problem is they're not going to see this. And then they can say, "Okay, but actually the alien didn't [4:22] feel like helping out or actually the aliens have a different notion of space or whatever." [4:28] Not even wrong. As you see, you saw it coming. It's a 10 out of 10 on the bullshit meter. [4:34] It's fancy words decorated with useless maths. But it's not all nonsense. There's something genuinely [4:43] strange going on here. Dreams and psychosis recycle the familiar. People you know, places [4:49] you've been, things you've seen on YouTube and wish you hadn't. DMT serves up aliens. Why? Nobody [4:56] knows. In conclusion, the phenomenon is real and worth studying, but the maths is nonsense, [5:03] and I'm sorry to report there's no evidence of alien consciousnesses attempting to communicate [5:09] through psychedelics. Wow, that was quite a trip. I used to receive a lot of spam calls [5:16] after my cell phone number leaked, probably from some online shops that I used to use. [5:22] This is why I've signed up to Incogni who've been sponsoring this video and who've prevented this [5:28] from happening again. You see, the issue is that each time you open a website, it'll try [5:32] to collect data about who you are and where you are and what other websites you've visited. Many [5:38] firms then make money by selling your private information to data brokers. Most countries have [5:43] laws against that and you can ask for your data to be removed, but doing this takes up a lot of [5:49] time. Incogni automates the process of getting you out of those databases. 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