Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The ‘Hyperhuman Techniques and Technologies Database’ addresses the urgent need to reclaim and enhance innate human potential in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and technological augmentation. This initiative compiles and categorizes thousands of consciousness-expanding practices (ranging from meditation and breathwork to psychedelics and neurofeedback) into a centralized, open-source repository. The database supports a shift from temporary “altered states” to enduring “altered traits,” emphasizing long-term personal and societal transformation by bridging scientific research, experiential knowledge, and spiritual traditions. Techniques are classified by validation methods, phenomenological impact, and modality (endo-tech, exo-tech, or entheogens), enabling both practitioners and researchers to assess efficacy and relevance. The database integrates user-generated insights with academic data, creating a dynamic feedback system to evolve best practices. This interdisciplinary framework promotes ethical, embodied, and context-aware approaches to consciousness engineering. The database unites diverse domains including neuroscience and contemplative science alongside indigenous wisdom to provide a scalable tool for building cognitive, emotional and spiritual resilience. This project is designed to create a participatory decentralized system for human flourishing in the 21st century.
Authors: Carl Hayden Smith, Joel Dietz, Lukas Hoeller
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4411914741