John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office
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We know that dolphins can communicate with each other and solve complex puzzles. This raises many additional questions, the most important being probably: do they also have consciousness? Do they think like us? Utopian scientist John Lilly believed that studying dolphin intelligence would be a gateway to understanding human consciousness and the thinking process of the brain.
Courtney Stephens and Michael Almereyda’s archival film paints a picture of the versatile Lilly, who was a physicist, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher, writer and inventor. The essayistic film follows Lilly’s research, which at times reaches into psychedelic dimensions and connects into psychology, psychoanalysis and animal rights. At the same time, the work raises broader questions about the nature of consciousness.
Lilly’s theories and experiments become increasingly unconventional and controversial. Ultimately, he believed that the human subconscious could be found in a water tank, where normal sensory stimuli is excluded. Lilly’s research has also had an impact on popular culture, and served as a model for, for example, Ken Russell’s cult film Altered States.
Were Lilly’s experiments really about science or just the drug-fueled experiments of acidheads? Lilly’s results are being weighed by, for example, film director and psychomagician Alejandro Jodorowsky. The film doesn’t provide easy answers: it’s better to approach the journey to the core of the mind with an open mind.
Paavo Ihalainen (translated by Kati Kivieniemi)
