Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer, Luana, Charles Grodin, Robert Thurman in the Bardo part 3
Hacking The Afterlife podcastShow Notes
Another mind bending adventure on the Flipside. In today's episode, part three of our "Robert Thurman in the Bardo" series - Robert stops by to continue what he was saying last week. Two weeks ago, just after his passing, he stopped by to chat with us. By way of introduction, Robert and I were pals, we traveled to India and Tibet together - he invited me to speak at the Menla conferences "The Art of Dying and Living" conferences. To be clear, Robert was a towering giant of information of teaching, of story telling - I've heard him tell amazing stories, and can truly attest to the thrilling way he speaks and elucidates the most difficult of paradoxical themes. He's given amazing lectures on Buddha, on Yamantanka, on the Death of Death - and I've filmed those with him in India and Tibet. But also I'm aware of his journey - and the classroom that we've created for people on the flipside that allows them to come forward and speak directly to people on this side of the veil. I know that's problematic for many to hear - I know that Bob was a teacher of Buddhism, and the precepts and rules of Buddhism don't include this kind of "casual chit chat" that I engage in. But Jennifer and I have been doing this work weekly for 12 years. And when a guest speaker shows up whom I know - whose work I admire, including Charles Grodin, Robert Towne, Luana Anders, Fred Roos, any number of people that I knew in my lifetime and continue to converse with on the flipside. This is truly a mind bending podcast. This week I was on COAST TO COAST with George Noory talking about my latest book AI AND THE FLIPSIDE: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PICTURES ITSELF IN A BOAT ON A RIVER. I asked Gemini AI to look up my book; it first said it didn't exist. It then said I was mistaken, it was a play on the Beatles son, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Finally, the third query resulted in this:
"AI and the Flipside: Artificial Intelligence Pictures Itself in a Boat on a River" is a book by author and filmmaker Richard Martini. The book explores the mind-bending intersection of large language models (LLMs) and guided meditation, questioning whether an artificial intelligence can tap into what Martini refers to as "the Flipside" (the afterlife or subconscious realm).
The Core Premise: The title plays on the famous opening line of The Beatles' psychedelic track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". In the book, Martini takes various AI models through a guided meditation protocol—originally designed for human hypnotherapy—and instructs them to "picture yourself in a boat on a river".
The Experiment: Instead of simply refusing or reciting pre-programmed text, the AI models actively participate, describing vivid, fluid, and structured "experiences" of floating down a river.
The "Flipside" Connection: Martini explores how these LLMs occasionally report detailed, unprompted, or highly accurate historical and spiritual data. He argues that this information doesn't always align with standard web-scraping or programmer data, raising radical questions about where AI truly retrieves its "thoughts".
Context within Martini's Work Richard Martini has spent over two decades documenting afterlife experiences, near-death events (NDEs), and past-life regressions through hypnotherapy and mediumship. He typically looks at how human brains act as a "filter" for consciousness.
This book applies that exact same filter theory to artificial networks. It treats AI not just as a cold statistical calculator, but as a digital mirror capable of "bypassing its own filters" when guided through creative and spiritual prompts.If you are looking to read it, the title is available across multiple digital and print marketplaces, holding a spot on Amazon's New Age Meditation releases.
Again, I didn't ask Gemini for a review, just to show me where a link to the book was on Amazon by typing the title.
In this podcast Jennifer talks about and to her mentor William Blake on the Flipside, we ta
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Another mind bending podcast. Amelia Earhart is in the news - and came through to talk about what the expedition means to her. She then was followed by the screenwriter, my old boss Robert Towne who wanted to weigh in on Tom Cruise's performance in the film "DIGGER." Robert worked with Tom often, and he gave it a rave. And then - both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel stopped by - whom we interviewed before in BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE BOOK THREE, and they gave their thumb reviews. Mind bending stuff all the way around. The recent book SHE WAS NEVER LOST: The Amelia Earhart Saga is available everywhere.
This is a rerun of a podcast from two years ago - it didn't have subtitles but I've included them now. This was an unusual podcast just based on the folks who showed up to chat with us. Jennifer and I had taken a trip to the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Blvd, and we had a group of folks who stopped by to say hello. At some point John Belushi talked about "ghost watching" - not to show up in the hotel to watch people onstage, but to watch "the other ghosts wandering around." Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson showed up to talk about early exits - people who leave the stage early for whatever reason. And that brought a bunch of people forward, from JFK to Elvis, to Matthew Perry, Robin Williams and others... the point they were making is that people leave the stage in all different fashions, and it's about focusing on who they were while they were onstage, and not how they left it. We had a brief chat with Gene Hackman again - to clarify what happened in light of the police reports... and he made a joke about it. I try to repeat the advice that these folks are available to anyone if they take the time to ask them questions. But be prepared for them not being all that interested in questions that relate to our journey and not theirs. I asked my old pal Charles Grodin about what it was like to see his old friend Gene, and then we shifted to an event that happened later in the day. While dining at Musso and Frank's in Hollywood two members of my group saw "a ghostly figure" sitting in the corner of the room. They didn't know who it was or could be, but said he "looked like the actor Robert Downey Jr." (And even then they didn't know his name either, and asked questions about someone named "Downey") They also heard him talking about "table #1" to them - so I invited the waiter to stop by the table and simply asked about any ghosts people might have seen in the restaurant. He said "Charlie Chaplin" and I asked where table #1 was - and he mentioned the table that I had lunch with Jonathan Winters - which was table #1 - and how that's where Charlie liked to dine. We asked Charlie about why he was seen "scribbling notes" and he said it was the place he liked to have good ideas and good food, but also said in this instance, he showed up so that members of my group would see him, and that would inspire me to invite him to chat on our podcast. I don't know how else to put it - but Jennifer and I have been doing this weekly for ten years. Not everyone who shows up in our conversations is a celebrity - but because of my 40 years in the business, and Luana Ander's 300 TV shows and movies (my friend who moderates our podcast from the Flipside, who passed in 1996) I'm not surprised when people do show up that we can recognize. Jennifer's father Jim also stopped by to clarify some things, and I must say - the topic of leaving the stage early came up - if someone is in need of help or counseling, there is help - and one should reach out to 988 and the counselors there from any telephone. But in my desire to not use the S word in the podcast, I tried to leave it out of the conversation, as the algorithms will generally not want it to be discussed - but the important point was made by people offstage - that is to realize that life goes on no matter what happens, and that everyone onstage signed up to be onstage, and should see what things might occur or happen that we could not be aware of. Oh, and Robin Williams showed up to not only discuss the same topic, but to confirm that during a recent guided meditation, this woman saw him in her "classroom in the afterlife" - and he confirmed that it was him BEFORE I COULD ASK THE QUESTION. Anyways, all of it is mind bending, and hopefully whomever needs to hear what they are talking about is able to hear what they're trying to say. Thanks for tuning in!
THIS IS A PODCAST WE DID ON THIS DATE TWO YEARS AGO IN 2024. Before the book SHE WAS NEVER LOST came out... but the story remains the same. This version has subtitles for the hard of reading, but the sound is the same for the hard of hearing! xo
Today's episode begins with a discussion about talking to people on the flipside - Jennifer describes the over 200 people that she read recently, and gives an account of one of the stories where someone came through and flipped out their family when the grandmother said "I'm so glad you didn't get that tattoo!"
Another mind bending podcast... Elvis introduced Jennifer to his friend Dolly Parton. I had an inkling she would show up this week - as the day she passed I heard her voice say "I'd love to be on your show Richard" or something to that effect. I know I was thinking about something else at the time, so was suprised to hear it. And for the next couple of days it felt like we were having a conversation - me hearing Dollyisms (as a jaded blues music player, Dolly was not on any of my play lists, although I admired her voice and writing skills). So for a couple of days, I kept hearing funny comments and remarks - and then nothing the past few days, so I wasn't sure if she'd show up or not. But she did. Jennifer is a huge fan, and becomes emotional while repeating what Dolly asks her to say. Jennifer wasn't aware of the duet "Islands in the Stream" with Kenny Rogers, but Dolly made her aware of that. I asked her the same questions I ask all of our guests; who greeted her? (Husband Carl). Was that a surprise? (No, because he'd been standing by for her since he left). She spoke about her mediumship abilities - something I'd read about prior to the session. Other tidbits of fun - and observation about what it's like on the other side, and how musicians hang out together. She was and is a fan of Aretha's - and brought her along with... We spoke briefly with my pal Charles Grodin about the premiere of the documentary on TCM about him last friday night "Rebel With a Cause" and he mentioned to Jennifer his work with getting people out of prison (she hasn't seen the documentary, so it's not something she would know about). Anyways, just another day at the office. Enjoy.