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RIP, Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (9 July 1933 - 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist and writer. He was Professor of Neurology at New York University

I adore thee, Dr. Sacks. So devastated you are gone before I could study under you, meet you, get your feedback on my thoughts. You are sorely missed. One of the greatest minds of our century. Rest In Peace, Dr. Sacks. Your work will not be forgotten.

One of the brightest human beings to ever live. My hero... Oliver Sacks. So sad the world has lost you.

We are all living in one true hallucination.

I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder because of hallucinations id have only while falling asleep. Id float out my body or sink into my bed. Sometimes thered be unintelligible whispers in my ear. Sometimes when trying to sleep, my minds eye doesnt seem to work properly. Lets say i’m trying to picture my dog. That picture of my dog would distort/stretch/melt and if i opened my eyes, that image would appear in real life, but only really shortly before it disintegrates. I dont have schizoaffective disorder. This video brought me much closer to figuring out whats going on though and i feel very comforted because of it.

This man is amazing. The fact that he separates schizophrenic hallucinations from all other forms of hallucinations tells me he truly understands more on this subjects than anyone else I know from my studies and sources of information. His experiences with pharmaceutical launch pads has opened his mind to a greater reality of himself and all around him. Too see clearly and articulate his thoughts and experiences to others. A part of his mind is at light speed while another part organizes and compartmentalizes , then another delivers that information coherently.

Before seeing this, I had never heard of this brilliant and entertaining gentleman. He's SO fascinating. I could listen to his stories, perspectives, and hypotheses all day. Sadly, I discovered him too late. BTW- awesome seeing Dr. Tyson in attendance.

As someone with narcolepsy it is interesting to hear people intellectually speaking of these hallucinations we experience. Personally I was glad to be medicated for a while that allowed them to go away, but the more I learn about energy, frequency and vibrations the more I feel that it is more like a connection I to the subconscious and inner self than it is a side effect of the disability. My most recent though was of an ugly leprechaun in which I threw a blanket over him and said not tonight I'm tired. 🤷‍♀️ lol I am the troll seer out there they asked about.

Mr Oliver sacks I'm 64 years old born and raised in Manhattan when I was younger I used to experiment with LSD and my hallucinations were incredible I used to be able to talk to someone that was five blocks away from me I seen buildings melt right in front of my eyes when I threw up Stars Little Stars used to come out when it hit the ground I throw up hit the ground Stars used to come bouncing back I had a lot of interesting hallucinations what I loved about it was that I was hoping to control my hallucinations if we can learn how to control our hallucinations then we got something going anyway I find you super interesting and I find you to be the Einstein of our time thank you for your intellect sharing

John Hockenberry that was intense introduction to this discussion.

Dat intro.

Dr. Sacks is so patient with the man who is interviewing him.

you will be missed Dr. Sacks. Brilliant mind.

At first, I thought it might be a bit boring. Don't let that stop you from whatching this excellent talk. I was sad when it ended so soon. I'm going to read his book. Thank you very much World Science Festival.

The interviewer describes a near death experience at the start and attributes it to a hallucination, to my mind.

I cried when Dr Sacks died. I had just been diagnosed with Epilepsy. I had developed Charles Bonnet syndrome after my vision was obscured by a cataract, I only have vision in my left eye. And that not beyond Three feet or so. I was never frightened of these. I somehow knew it was only my brain seeking the stimulus of what residual vision I had resulting from premature birth at 26 weeks that affects my hearing as well. I had had several seizures as a small child, but have no recollection of these events. My EEGs always showed up normal, so I was originally diagnosed with a mental disorder Called Psychogenic non epileptic seizures. The criteria for these were not anything that was observed by others. A neurologist who did not accept my insurance took me as a patient and took the situation seriously. They are mostly controlled now but after the first ones I was so frightened. Dismissed I became depressed and understandably overcome with anxiety. I had read Musicophelia which has caught my attention because of my love for music. After seeing the neurologist who diagnosed me with Epilepsy, I looked for more titles by him. He made my situation less frightening, he made me feel understood as my neurologist has. I was reassured that no, I wasn't loosing my mind or subconsciously expressing trauma or anxiety. I had absolutely no memory until after the events, I would wake from them exhausted and completely disoriented. Sometimes terrified at the feeling. Other times fine and just in a haze called a Post ictal state,, which just means after the seizure period. The feeling is something that truly defies description. Even though I never knew him personally, head a profound effect on me. I felt heard, understood and comforted by the knowledge that I was not alone and what I was experiencing was the affects of my disease and not a misunderstood psychological disorder. May you rest in peace Dr. Sacks. I cannot thank you enough for sharing your patients experiences with the world. You were never seeking recognition as some of your detractors claim, but bringing empathy and understanding to a curious medicine. Thank you for all you have done for the world, your patients and myself. Our world needs many more souls like yours.

Wonderful talk. Thank you.

Absolutely fascinating, good questions asked too.

What a glorious lecture! What couldn't I have been there? Awesome, awesome.

Quite fascinating work from Dr Oliver Sacks. I've been waiting to hear more on this TOPIC hallucinations especially with the field of nursing and geriatrics.

Why is everyone compelled to laugh whenever drug experiences are mentioned; are we THAT repressed?

thank you oliver sacks I love you

Very interesting show.thanks I enjoyed watching.

Wonderful!

superb content!....as usual....1 of the best channels going imo....fan of Discovery, BBC, PBS/Nova & TLC(the old) etc....now such "Networks" have some serious competition from a yt chan....& thats a good thing....this needs 2 be supported

A truly ingenious mind.

My brother has Lewy's Body disease and as he says when describing "lilliputin" hallucinations, he sees mischievious "wee people", we are of Irish descent. It is a little un-nerving to think of, but less so after watching this.

allways excelent! tks

Thank you for this video! You have a new subscriber here! Cheers from Germany!

Brilliant man 😊❤️

This guy was an absolute beast.

Beautiful

Love it!

Love u guys, love hosts, amazing idea.

When James took Nitrous, he said that for a moment, Hegelianism seemed immediately true. This is very funny, if you know Hegel's wafflings on "immediacy". MDMA gave me direct insight into what Socrates, Aristotle, Buddha and Nietzsche were on about with regards to wellbeing. All the "Oughts" and "Shoulds" (especially "Thou shalt") melted away and I just SAW the "good" for what it is.

Don't mix lsd and cocaine, I did that one time and it was torture . I'm glad I survived my drug period too many of my friends also didn't .

Wonderful discussion

I'm so glad the background music had finally stopped!! I was worried I won't be able to watch. Thank you.

Ah, the smell of green thunder. I'm going to smoke some :)

Reality is learned and we eventually more or less agree on what reality is as we do on, say, how the English language works. If a newborn was immediately put into a black box and fed intravenously and then released, say, at age 15. Would his view of reality bear any resemblance to anyone else's? Of course not. It takes years and years to socialize us.

Very good information, I have had NLP it works so have now done a couple of courses in this and other modalities. 😍👏

I can explain it all!!! It's anecdotal.

I wish Joe Rogan had had Dr Sacks on before his passing. Joe: 'Ever done psychadelics?' Oliver: 'Before you was born young paddawan'

I want to Hallucinate. If you have something that you really want in your life, spend lots of time thinking about it. The more you think the more ideas will pop up the more creative your gonna start to get. Your subconscious mind doesn't care if your vision is crazy. It doesnt care if you dont know how to do it. When you see a thing clearly in your mind, your creative "success mechanism" within you takes over and does the job much better than you could do it by conscious effort or willpower. A different psychedelic from a different planet every nanosecond. All sorts of dreams are possible. The human nervous system cannot tell the difference between an "actual" experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail. Synthesize "experience," to literally create experience, and control it, in the laboratory of our minds. A vision is a very emotional image, the most powerful image that you can come up with for yourself at this time. This vision will become like a hallucination in other peoples mind and this could be the cause of them creating extraordinary things.

"pharmacological launching pad.....". I thought of that when i did my first DAB.

Keeping u from the pain.

Great interface love to all

what an amazing talk

my hallucinations have been about the same... a visual field effect like textures rippling off and moving onto other objects like carpet on peoples faces. do not give a 4 year old lsd duck tape them to the wall for an hour and let their balance and depth perception become permanent skewed. I was the unfortunate four year old on the wall. mycopia for me is like randomly the air turning into water when I walk around nervously. imagine every moment of your life that goes wrong, you also get a dose of powerful psychdelics at same time you must face any major problem? against your will, hallucinate as if you were on a bad trip every time something bad happens. I use to think as a child when everyone cried they would, too, see angels and dancing lights, until it stopped around 11 for brief moment. at this point in my life convincing me my hallucinations aren't real is impossible task. I have seen them since I had cognition. I would tell you angels are real because of how real the appearances looked I would tell you color is an illusion of the mind because i've seen it bend as much as you've seen it sit still. I would tell you all of what im saying is true, but you'd call me an insane person; despite the fact this is some recursive effect of childhood abuse.

Loved this ❤️‍🔥🌈🙏🏻 I met Timothy Leary. Shook hands and stuff. He was a swell guy. But I could definitely see that doing too much or relying on it too heavily is not good. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND doing LSD specifically more than any other hallucinogen. At one point I actually thought it would be extremely beneficial to humanity if they implemented programs in high schools where you took LSD in a class on other ways of thinking and perceiving and the tendency of brains to focus and narrow. Also in the context of psychology and individual differences and intercultural communication and understanding. I still think it’s a good idea. Maybe one of the best ideas, but I would qualify it on 2 counts. 1) low dose just enough to show you the difference 2) psychological tests and personality test to understand how the LSD will interact specifically with your personality type. (Also to keep those already prone to disorder from participating). If we had been allowed in this free country to do systematic experiments in regard to these things, we could by now possibly have recommendations by personality type of dosage and maybe other hallucinogens like mushrooms, or Ayahuasca. For example for me, Ayahuasca was very helpful but very different from LSD. More lasting-mood changes, more intellectually deep things that only later you begin to understand. LSD can be more mind-expanding in general in my experience. Whereas Ayahuasca was more personality and task specific to me. Psilocybin had no effect. By that I mean I felt more of what I normally am like… ? Marijuana had a much larger effect on me. I still definitely want to know why. Why am I different? It’s definitely a unique thing… So By comparison no effect. I even grew my own and also grew philosopher stones Atlantean and no effect. I didn’t hallucinate on any of these except I definitely did on Salvia Divinorum-like the visual field went infinite like moving cards in the old solitaire program in windows. Millions of edges fanned out from the “Civilization 2” game I was playing. Still vividly remember it because it was the very first time I ever hallucinated visually. I ate a ton of mushrooms and a maybe 300mcg dose of LSD and a fresh batch of Ayahuasca and never actually hallucinated. I tried morning glory seeds and the world went blue-tinted… so I don’t know if that counts. Morning glory seeds seemed to be the most intense emotionally because it goes straight to the “shadow” or traumas and things you are in denial of and puts them totally in your face. It seems like it is a road to those things and definitely helped me integrate them. But it took like 20 years and a big reframe to finally understand when I did the intense study and microdose thing. -which is why I don’t recommend them. It was an “underworld” experience. Most people are not that committed to self improvement and are not self-objective personality wise. I am by psychological testing and it took me 20 years Lol. I did crack once. Just because as a psychologist researching drug abuse and personality I wanted to see what it was like. It was so good, I knew right then I could never do it again ever because it was too much and I knew I could get dependent on it. I knew it was bad for your brain too. So I never did again, but I understand definitely why people get so addicted. Anyway I think doing a gamut of different titration of neurotransmitters is EXTREMELY educational and helpful as long as you are thoughtful about it and do not keep doing it. Most personality differences boil down to differences in neurotransmitter systems underlying motivations and tendencies. So yeah you get real insight into how differently people can see the world. Definitely extremely valuable. I did some microdose LSD and MDMA decades after doing those other things to “boost” my ability to get over trauma and completely start over in my life after a divorce and leaving a job, and it worked amazingly. Did it for like a week after studying for a year a ton of stuff on self-help and mindset-and I did all that stuff intensively during that week and it was one of the most significant weeks of my entire life. My background is in evolutionary psychology and behavioral neuroscience and I spent 4 years in a PhD joint program with the medical school program so I was very informed about it and thoughtful. So I don’t recommend this to just anyone. The LSD and the MDMA along with the “Course in Miracles” audiobook is an excellent practice regardless because of the way trauma can affect your whole world view. The plasticity of the brain is enhanced and the MDMA alone helps PTSD so together after studying the “Course in Miracles” re-framing of interpersonal reality is absolutely amazing. I did a lot of other stuff like mirror affirmations too, and imagining the world as friendly and open etc. feeling it. In case you are curious. The “one drug one problem” approach is largely due to drug patents and competition but I think together different things work better like low-dose MDMA and low-dose LSD with audio and or worldview training and taking responsibility for everything that happens to you etc. Thanks for this amazing talk. ❤️‍🔥🙏🏻👍🏻

I had an out of body experience from sleep paralysis. It was an incredible situation

He said that hallucinations are not imagined? Maybe because there are hallucinations that looks real. This could explain the lucid dream and the out of body experiences that people have. I have many lucid dreams and out of body experiences myself and they look so real to me cuz I can smell, touch and hear. This topic about the brain fascinates me so much, I wish that more scientists study this more deeply.

Watching a 21st century neurologist speculating (that's all he's doing) about the nature of hallucinations is very much like watching a medieval cleric speculating about the causes of diseases: he's venturing into a field he's completely inequiped to deal with. As someone who has experienced what you would label a 'psychosis', I feel that what I say about it is more than mere speculation. It is a reality to me, but you would call me an unrealiable narrator, because the only relevant fact to you is that what I saw was not really there. Let me tell you that it was really there, and it was an intrinsically ordered, intrinsically intelligent, meaningful experience that went way beyond the capacities of the ordinary conscious mind, by which I mean imagination and intellect: I couldn't possibly, given a thousand years, invent that which came spontaneously within the phenomenon you call a psychosis. This proved instantly two fact very pertinant to a serious neurologist: that the experience is something orchistrated by an intelligence greater then the conscious mind (imagination + intellect), and that it is an ordered, intellgient happening. So there are two obvious possibilities that could explain these facts. 1, that the human mind/brain is far more intelligent then the mere conscious mind, which may be a narrow, functional happening that exists as a wave on the great ocean of the actual mind - or 2, that the happening we call 'psychosis' is governed by something beyond the known, which is to say beyond the mind. Unfortunately, even these two rudimentary, obvious insights into psychosis are not available to scientists, because a) they call those experiencing them 'unreliable narrators', and b) consciousness (or 'awareness') - which is the only true fact of existence and cannot be doubted and can always be verified - is regarded by science as merely subjective phenomenon that cannot be the subject of an objective science - even though the 'objective world' is nothing but an inference into the subjective world, which is to say the only world we will ever know and can ever say exists. It is meaningless, actually, to speak of an objective world appart from the subjective, because if there is no subject to see it, it does not exist to anyone or anything and therefore, for all intents and purposes, does not exist at all. The 'objective world' is a rational inference into the fact that in my subjective world, there are moments ('people') who report a subjective world similar to my own, and in their subjective world they describe an outer world similar to my outer world - therefore, because two subjects see the same outer world, it must be real ('objective'). Little does this reasoning account for the fact that all our brains are but branches of one trea, and all our brains are essentially the same things in different places, that our eyes and ears are other brances of the one trea, that the 'objective world' is but a leaf of this branch of this trea, and is derived and dependent on the subjective. There is only a subjective world that we can vouch for, be sure exists. What meaning is there in talking of an objective world appart from the subjective? At best, it's a hypothesis - but in truth, it's a terrible prejudice and arrogant assumption based on our collectivist, subjective constructions we call language, reason and 'truth'. I put 'truth' in inverted commas because actually, when a scientist or ordinary person speaks of truth, all we mean is collectively agreed standards or conventions or experiences. The ONLY real Truth we can speak of is the fact that there is this thing called 'awareness' or 'consciousness', something that is impossible for an aware or conscious person to deny - that is the only irrevocable truth. This truth should be the basis of any true science, and ends up becoming fundamental even within the paradigm of existing science because the observer and observed cannot be seperated ('the double slit experiment'): the universe is one, indivisible whole, and this whole is includes what we call the 'subjective' and 'objective world' - even though, in truth, we can only speak of the subjective world and would need something that transends subjectivity in order to guarantee another world, which we can say nothing about at all and would have no sensory qualities, because the senses imply subjective sensory organs which imply translation of the objective which implies subjective. It's a philosophical and linguistic and intellectual riddle, but there is another means of apprehension and that is through the one single true fact - that 'I' am (although we don't know what, if anything, the 'I' is besides the convinction that 'I' AM).

very good reading of the Hallucination book on Audible (not an add, just a fan). very very good book

I like this guy

I had a similar experience when I had a major stroke...

I have the visual migraine, the same symptom Mr Sacks describes. I thought it was a unique symptom, along with the agony in the head.

Brilliant mind this man had. I will definitely give his books a look over.

I saw a ghost but I can't explain the recorded audio compression wave that is my home address, my DOB equated with Phi, Euler's Constant, my DOB times it self, Plank & FSC, & Speed of Light. and more on Archangel Feast Day. I was born on Archangel Gabriel's Synesis. What Fun the code been to doodle. All about me from me.

What is the book they are referring to when they say Dr. Sacks’ book? I know this must be a tour for some released book at the time I just cannot find the title in the video or description.

Man that plane took forever.

what is the classical piece at the intro of the video?

someone please share the title of the intro track!

I rescued this book from a Texas Thrift Store.

Does anyone know what song the name of that first piano riff is from?

When I was around 7 yrs old, lying in my mother and fathers bed. My dad had gone downstairs and my mother had moved over for me to get into her side of the bed. I wasn't tired. I watched a small ( about2 foot high) little man with a pointy hat on. He appeared at my dads side of the bed and slowly walked around the bed, coming to my side. My face half covered in a blanket, I watched ( strangely not fearful just curious) as this little man, picked up one of the ornaments from the bedside table next to my head. He used his sleeve to polish the ornament and put it back, exactly where it had been. Then someone from downstairs shouted up to my mum and me to get up............. and this little man just vanished as quickly as he had appeared. I have never told anyone publicly about this but every few years, the older I get, the more I believe my brain was showing me something. I was too young to understand at the time what the whole experience meant. I was very quiet for a few days after that. My mind told me that it was something from my brain. no one else saw. By the way I was born in 1961. I am a Christian and never dismiss anything with my own conclusions because if it's a portent from God, He will show me again. Kind regards, Confused for 54 years' . I'm a writer and am open to any visions, some from good, some from bad. I'm 'Swtizerland' with no indoctrinated mindset.

Cool

I never knew epilepsy caused hallucinations. How scary it must be for epilepsy sufferers. That’s very sad.

can someone please share the title of the intro track?

I wish i could find someone like Oliver Sacks, to tell my experience and try to grasp what it was. If I would tell, i fear i would be put in one of those tiny boxes like sprirituality, science, medicine or religion. There is something distinct in those abstraction. I want to explore it rather than labeling to forget. What if it can be rembered?

Very interesting. Indigo is in the Old testament with refers to heaven and therefore used as dye for a Jewish religious garment called: Techeleth. And the benzene he refers to as snakes swilling each other at 43:00 is also similar to Moses snakes swilling the Pharaoh's snakes.

Oliver Sacks, a renowned neurologist and author, described himself as "strongly atheist by disposition" 1 . However, he was open to exploring spiritual and religious experiences, often from a scientific perspective. Sacks recognized the depth of human longing for spiritual and transcendent experiences, including a deep hunger for God, but he attributed these experiences to the brain's workings 1 . In his book "Hallucinations," Sacks discussed the relationship between drugs, religion, and hallucinations, acknowledging the intriguing connection between these phenomena 4 . He believed that there was always a brain basis for various religious states, but this did not diminish the meaning or value of such experiences 3 . Sacks maintained that hallucinations and other altered states of consciousness were an essential part of the human condition and could provide insights into the workings of the mind 3 . Overall, while Sacks was an atheist, he was open to exploring the spiritual and religious aspects of human experience, often from a scientific perspective. He believed that these experiences could reveal truths about our own psyches and the human condition, but he attributed them to the brain's workings rather than to a divine or transcendent reality 1 3 .

I did half a hit of lsd the other week and wowy lol I was like "please make it stop make it stop" thank my agnostic god I only took half .

Such a funny story about his LSD induced 'quest' to find the perfect shade of indigo.

A brilliant man he died less than a year after he spoke here a huge loss to the world.

does anyone know the what the name of that amazing piano intro music?

First I wanted to know the date of this video. Seven years ago. 2014. Before I started to watch this. So one can take into account the amount and kind of Wokeness within the science of that moment.

How can I comment before I have even seen it? LeT me listen!

There is a type of hallucination he didn't mention but that I have frequently. I wonder if anyone out there has experienced this. I'm a mechanical engineer and it is frequently a thing that I need to take a reading from a scale of some sort. When I try to do this, I can't see how many lines are between the point of the reading and the next available numbered division without using my finger or a pointer and counting them one by one.

I just listened to this entire speech on a dissociative anaesthetic... nitrous oxide. This drug is beautiful

I love You

21:00 a girl like that was at my high school, she went through four by the age of 18, her father was an atheist and teached philosophy at that school xD last time i saw her she was buddhist...i guess in the end she can at least say "hey, i tried it. could have given me a better sign man"

We are so convinced that we live in a physical existance. We are even convinced that we are a "we." But what if we are wrong? I cant honestly say that my intelligence didnt make you up, and I'm guessing that if your honest, you cant know if your intelligence didnt make me up. What if we are in a hallucination. Can we prove we are not. It seems as thought thought comes before all things, but because we are told that it comes from a something we labeled a brain, we havent gone further and explored that idea. It seems as though as soon as we label something, it becomes unquestionable. But why is that? Since I have done a deep dive into exploring projection, the whole world looks quite different to me. What I would have labeled crazy, doesnt seem crazy at all under a microscope. What is crazy anyway but a reality far from acceptance. Yet doesnt truth go through the total denial process before it becomes excepted as reality? Why not revisit or question absolutely every hypothesis of reality. Science has not proven that we live in a physical world. We have not proven that we are not infinite. Since we've discovered that absolutely everything vibrates, shouldn't infinity be put back on the table by now? Just having open minded discussions about seemingly impossible things has put many things on the table for me. The old idea that we should buy everything that science has projected has already moved us into better exploration of the mind.

i wannawatch this while tripping so bad at some point

I hope there is one for skitso effecto.

I'm Hallucinating that I'm commenting on Hallucinations............help

I heart hallucinogenics

This host guy is at his best when hes a nerd happy to be there and at his worst when he thinks hes being super witty

God I miss him.

Wow over 100.000 views. I didn't realize there were that many smart people in the world, Of course this was 2014, which might explain it.

But how do you sign a copy of a hallucination? /S

We need more hallucinations to over come trauma! Hence the need for such natural chemicals as psilocybin, cannabinoids! As well as MDMA, as well as LSD-25! Without hallucinations we are doomed! Do your homework!

Brian, however much you paid for that intro, you need to send that artist an expensive fruit basket and say "thanks again" because that is incredible

not to nitpick. why is this a 1080p upload when there is no quality difference from 480. this looks like it was originally a DV camera

Who else here read Hallucinations with olive snacks?

272 comments on this wonderful talk but tens of thousands of comments on Trump news stories. Tells me a whole lot about Americans and probably the world.

Anyone have information regarding pediatric schizophrenia?

@ 34:00 man killed it

astral projection and hallucinations are not the same