States of consciousness and state-specific sciences.

Charles T. Tart not in tenrns of any particular wn'tent of consciousness, or ,specific lbeh,avior or physiological chan,ge, ,but in terms of ' the overall patterning of psychological functioning. An analogy with computer funotioning can clarify this definition. A c m puter has a com'plex program of many subroutines. If we repro,Dam it quite differently, the same sorts of input data may be han,dled in qui,te different ways; we will be able to prediot very little from our knowledge of the old program about the effects of varying the input, even though old anld new programs have some su,brout.ines in common. The new program with its input-output in(teractions mlust be stjudied Blackburn ( I ) recently noted' that and have his antiscientific attitude furin and of itself. AX is many of our most talented young people ther reinforced. It is clear to him that to =hanging temporarily *he program of are ''turned off" to science: as a salnthe scientist has no real understanding a computer. tion, he proposed that we recognize the 'of what marijuana intoxication is all ~ h , A ~ c ' ~ experienced by al,most validity of a more sensuous-intui,tive apabout (3). ordinary people are drealming states proach to nature, treating it as WmMore formally, an increasin'gly and the hypnogogic and hypnopompic plamentary to the classical in.tellect.ua1 significant num~ber of people are experistates, the transi,tional states (&tween approach. menting with ASC's in themselves, and sleeping and waking. M~~~ other I have seen the same rejection of finding the experiences thus gained of experience another A x , alcohol science by many of the brightest extreme i,mportance in their philosophy intoxication. students in California, and the problem and style of life. The conflict between he relatively new (to our cul:ture) is indeed serious. Blaoklburn's analysis experiences in these ASC's and the atASS that are now h,aving rnch an is valid, but not deep enough. A more titudes and intellectual-emotional sysimpact are those produced by mari6