Insight or illusion?

If you’ve had a psychedelic experience, you might have arrived at profound realisations about how to live, your identity or the nature of the Universe. Where do these insights come from, and how do you know if you can trust them? Join neuropsychopharmacologist Manoj Doss in an exploration of what underpins that strong sense of understanding, and how he interrogates psychedelic insights through the study of the brain’s memory system, feelings of familiarity and novelty, and déjà vu. You will be accompanied on your journey into the science of altered states by the celestial musician and composer Laraaji.

Students use code SCSTUDENT for $13 tickets.

What’s it like at the Sophia Club? You’ll experience spirited conversation between the guest speaker and host alongside captivating artistic performances. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, with food, drink and conversation.

Manoj Doss

Speaker

Manoj Doss is a cognitive neuropsychopharmacologist in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy at the University of Texas. He is broadly interested in the cognitive, emotional and neural mechanisms of psychedelic drugs. He completed his doctorate at the University of Chicago investigating the effects of psychoactive drugs on memory. He then worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where his research involved looking at the effects of psychedelic drugs on cognition and brain function. Manoj utilises complex cognitive paradigms, neuroimaging and computational modelling to explore what makes psychedelic drugs unique.

Manoj can be found on twitter at @ManojDoss

Laraaji

Artist

Pioneering musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist and spiritualist Laraaji has been a mind-expanding force in music for over four decades. After studying composition and piano at Howard University in the 1970s, he moved to New York where he studied Eastern mysticism and experimented with the autoharp, piano and zither in a series of now legendary ambient recordings. In 1979 he commenced a collaboration with producer and composer Brian Eno, who went on to produce his most widely recognised release, Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, in 1980. Since then he has released a long discography of revered works, his most recent being 2023’s Segue to Infinity, which has further cemented him for new generations of listeners as one of ambient electronic and new-age music’s most fabled artists. In addition to his music, he is well-known for his Laughter Meditation Workshops.

Laraaji can be found on instagram at @laraaji_official and twitter at @edwardlgordon

Shayla Love

Host

Shayla Love is a journalist based in Brooklyn, and a staff writer at Psyche and The Guardian. She writes primarily about science, health and psychology, and she is interested in the moments when history, culture and philosophy interact with present day research. She has a master’s degree in science journalism from Columbia University, and her work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Scientific American, Vice, The New Republic, Harper’s, Wired and more.