Brainforest Café

Dennis McKenna sits down with scholar, lawyer, and philosopher Tam Hunt (UC Santa Barbara’s META Lab) to dive deep into the mysteries of consciousness, psychedelics, and the existential crossroads of artificial intelligence.

Tam shares his unconventional journey, from growing up in a 1970s counterculture commune to transformative, high-dose LSD journeys in Waimea Canyon, and how these experiences led him to co-develop the General Resonance Theory (GRT) with Jonathan Schooler. Together, Dennis and Tam explore panpsychism, Whiteheadian process philosophy, the limits of reductionist neuroscience, plant intelligence, and whether future AI built on electromagnetic "field computing" could become conscious. They conclude with a candid discussion on AI safety, existential risk, the approaching 2030 Singularity, and why the principle of stewardship as love is essential for humanity's survival.
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Jonathan Dickinson, CEO and co-founder of Ambio Life Sciences and author of Ibogaine and the Bicameral Mind, returns to the Brainforest Café for part two of his conversation with Dr. Dennis McKenna. Where part one followed the personal journey, this one goes into the machinery: what ibogaine is actually doing to the mind and to the cell.

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Jonathan Dickinson, co-founder and CEO of Ambio Life Sciences and
founder of Terragnosis, joins Dr. Dennis McKenna on the Brainforest Café
for a conversation about ibogaine, iboga, and the Bwiti tradition of
Gabon.

A Mexico-licensed psychologist and former executive director of
the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance, Jonathan helped develop the
field's foundational safety guidelines and completed the first
Nagoya-compliant export of Tabernanthe iboga root. In part one of a
two-part conversation, he traces the path from harm reduction work in
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to initiation in Gabon, and explains why
ibogaine refuses to behave like a pharmaceutical. It does not reduce
symptoms. It opens a door, and the person has to walk through it.
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Jonathan Dickinson, co-founder and CEO of Ambio Life Sciences and
founder of Terragnosis, joins Dr. Dennis McKenna on the Brainforest Café
for a conversation about ibogaine, iboga, and the Bwiti tradition of
Gabon.

- - -

Jonathan Dickinson, a Mexico-licensed psychologist and former executive director of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance, Jonathan helped develop the field's foundational safety guidelines and completed the first
Nagoya-compliant export of Tabernanthe iboga root. In part one of a
two-part conversation, he traces the path from harm reduction work in
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to initiation in Gabon, and explains why
ibogaine refuses to behave like a pharmaceutical. It does not reduce
symptoms. It opens a door, and the person has to walk through it.
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What if the future of ayahuasca isn’t in the hype cycle, but in safety, tradition, and real transformation? In this conversation, Sam Believ and Dennis McKenna explore Colombia’s overlooked ayahuasca lineage, the importance of set and setting, and why plant medicine may hold a key to healing both people and culture.

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Sam Believ is the founder of LaWayra Ayahuasca Retreat and host of the Ayahuasca Podcast.

​A former offshore engineer turned modern bridge-builder, Sam is dedicated to making traditional Amazonian medicine accessible, safe, and grounded for the modern world.

He build LaWayra - currently the biggest Ayahuasca retreat in Colombia, while raising 3 small kids all in 2 foreign languages and without any business background.

At LaWayra he has guided close to 3000 people through their Ayahuasca experience.
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In this conversation, Patricia Eastman and Dennis McKenna explore the deeper meaning of psychedelic healing through the lens of ancestral wisdom, initiation, and nature-based practice. Patricia shares the story behind her book Seeding Consciousness and her vision for Hu Azores, a retreat center in Portugal designed as a healing space that integrates architecture, ritual, and circadian-aware design. The discussion moves beyond symptom treatment and into a bigger question: how psychedelics can support creativity, integration, and a more connected human experience.

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Patricia Eastman, Initiated is a Bwiti Traditional Practitioner for over 11 years and founder of the nonprofit Ancestral Heart, has curated transformative retreats with plant medicines worldwide as well as facilitated the psychospiritual program with ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT at Crossroads Treatment Center in Mexico. A renowned speaker, artist, and writer, Eastman has engaged with audiences at Stanford University, the World Economic Forum, and on Gaia TV's Psychedelica. Eastman is the author of Seeding Consciousness: Plant Medicine, Ancestral Wisdom, and Psychedelic Initiation.
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