The Ouroboros Effect

25th century humanity has colonized space and achieved technological immortality through advances in medical science and nanotechnology. After a war with sentient artificial persons, a treaty has made it illegal to force them into service for any reason. As a result, this extremely risk-averse and fragile society is faced with a dilemma that had long been absent: some must give up their immortality so that others may live. To answer this call, volunteers create an elite all-human rescue team to handle emergencies and disasters both planetside and in deep space. The story follows that team's leader, Commander John Mitchell, a man who struggles with a rare condition - The Ouroboros Effect - triggered by the trauma of losing his wife and daughter in a failed rescue attempt. John believes that his technology and training can keep him alive, but he will come to find that his greatest dangers lie within.

Will the abyss between mind and matter ever be bridged? How can configurations of matter ever give rise to consciousness? This is the greatest enigma that puzzles the scientific world, also known as "the hard problem." How do the objective and subjective dimensions relate to each other? It is here that scientists and spiritual seekers appear irreconcilable. Yet the number of scientists calling into question the hegemony of reductive materialism is steadily on the rise. As Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology and Transhumanism make us rapidly approach the era of the Technological Singularity, the borders between the physical and the metaphysical appear to fade into oblivion, by virtue of the all-encompassing umbrella of Information Technology. Indeed, to wonder whether we might be living in a kind of computer simulation has become a legitimate question.It is exactly here, that the building blocks for the bridge between science and spirituality might be found. What if our reality experience is the product of a code? Could such a code provide a subjective experience? What are the characteristics of such a code? Embark on a mind-boggling quest into this deepest alchemical secret. Prepare yourself for a Tsunami of mind-altering concepts. Let yourself be drawn into the vortex of the Pansentience hypothesis. Learn how reality may digitally self-simulate by becoming the map and the territory simultaneously. And let yourself be seduced by Eris' apple of confusion to transcend your inner strife. As you bite in your own tail, you will discover, you are no one else than the mighty Ouroboros. Discover how Yoneda's Lemma shows us that material manifestations are mere fossils of sensing. Sail through the perilous uncharted seas of the unknown, such as AI hermeneutics, where intelligence has not found ways yet to map safe maritime routes and routines. And examine for yourself in the light of evidence from entropy, information, algorithms and pattern recognition, whether this voyage into the realm of Consciousness will guide you to be wrecked in woo or to be docked in the harbor of wisdom. This forbidden fruit is the gateway to the Eschaton, the luminous Omega Hypercomputer at the end of time. The guide to the non-dual essence of being. This is the recipe to perform the Magnum Opus. The recursive self-modifying Ouroboros code to experience the ecstasy of Kundalini's Techno-transcendentalism, where All is One and we are God. A must read for scientific spiritualists and spiritual scientists.

The unprecedented challenges of today—a world-wide pandemic, climate disruption on a global scale, and an economic instability that knows no boundaries—require a leadership grounded in a profound and unflinching awareness of our interconnectedness and the existential stakes before us. The Path to Authentic Leadership frames the dilemmas of leadership within the insights provided by the Ouroboros, the mythic snake willing to destroy parts of itself so that it can be renewed. Like the Ouroboros, today’s leaders must be prepared to enter into a dynamic, uncertain, and ever-changing environment with the capacity to reflect, adapt, let go of what is no longer working, and create solutions that are not only renewing, but sustainable. Drawing from his decades of training in psychoanalysis and the systems-psychodynamic method, Kets de Vries discusses the effects of the pandemic in the context of the seven deadly sins, the impact of shame, evil, the lure of charisma and even the perils of procrastination. Also, he explores the inner theatre of white-collar criminals and the super-rich. He comments on the role of magic in management and the paradoxical role of koans, serving as catalysts for change. From there, he goes on to outline a path toward organizational transformation, turning again to the self-renewing process presented by the Ouroboros. This dynamic is applied to his 7C sequence for organizational transformation—Context, Confrontation, Clarification, Crystallization, Cascading, Consolidation, and Continuity. Its enactment is brought to life through the story of a troubled CEO and the careful, step-by-step advice offered by an experienced executive consultant. Throughout, Kets de Vries reminds us that the path to authentic leadership will be meaningless unless it is guided by a deeply held commitment to serve as a force for good.

Proceedings of a conference held in Athens in 2017, this volume presents 34 fresh and original papers (plus 2 abstracts) on ancient Egyptian religion, environment and the cosmos. Papers connect many interdisciplinary approaches including Egyptology, archaeology, archaeoastronomy, geography, botany, zoology, ornithology, theology and history.

"The Worm Ouroboros" by Eric Rücker Eddison is a classic fantasy novel that transports readers to the enchanting world of Mercury, where two rival kingdoms, Witchland and Demonland, engage in a timeless struggle for power and supremacy. Set against a backdrop of epic battles, intricate political intrigues, and mythical creatures, the novel follows the adventures of heroes and villains alike as they navigate a landscape fraught with magic and danger. Eddison's rich prose and vivid imagination create a captivating tale that explores themes of honor, loyalty, and the eternal conflict between good and evil. A timeless masterpiece of fantasy literature, "The Worm Ouroboros" continues to enchant readers with its immersive world-building and compelling storytelling.

In Mizgarz, the battle continues. The Twelve Heavenly Stars, the Seven Heroes, and the Sei’s party join forces to confront Sol, an avatar of an ouroboros and one of the Seven Luminaries. In modern Japan, where Lufas’s avatar existed, she recovered Dina, who was actually the Thirteenth Heavenly Star, the Snake. Now, Lufas remembers everything. All of the Twelve Heavenly Stars have finally been gathered, and the board is set. The final battle for the survival of Mizgarz has begun! The enemy (last boss)? The Goddess Alovenus, who created the world. Meanwhile, Dina and a very familiar golem are manipulated by the Goddess. It was clear the two would be used as enemies eventually, so instead of being surprised, Lufas is filled with determination. She isn’t going to kindly ask the Goddess for their safe return. She’ll just steal them back!

The software profession has a problem, widely recognized but which nobody seems willing to do anything about; a variant of the well known ""telephone game"", where some trivial rumor is repeated from one person to the next until it has become distorted beyond recognition and blown up out of all proportion. Unfortunately, the objects of this telephone game are generally considered cornerstone truths of the discipline, to the point that their acceptance now seems to hinder further progress. This book takes a look at some of those ""ground truths"" the claimed 10x variation in productivity between developers; the ""software crisis""; the cost-of-change curve; the ""cone of uncertainty""; and more. It assesses the real weight of the evidence behind these ideas - and confronts the scary prospect of moving the state of the art forward in a discipline that has had the ground kicked from under it.

Cate Bramble has devoted her career to highlighting the differences between 'feng shui-lite' as a fashionable pursuit in contrast to the original intentions of the Chinese masters. Here she presents the authentic principles in a technical, no-nonsense pocket book specifically for architects. As clients become more demanding and the competition for projects heats up, the architect is well advised to have many strings to their bow. This practical guide includes line illustrations that present the principles of feng shui, the Chinese art or practice in which a structure or site is chosen or configured so as to harmonize with the spiritual forces that inhabit it, and their application in architecture through planning principles, services, building elements and materials, in an accessible, easy reference format. The feng shui-savvy architect can also benefit from feng shui's ability to match structures and land, and the peculiar capacity of authentic feng shui to forecast development-related concerns including cost overruns, quality issues - even worker injuries and trade disputes! The author explains feng shui from archaeological sources and evidence of practice in the east, contrasting it with what passes for feng shui in the west. She analyses the practice in terms of such concepts as western systems theory, viewshed, space syntax and the 'pattern landscape' theory of urban planning. For the first time, the Sustainable implications of feng shui design are explained with reference to the latest developments in behavioural and cognitve sciences, evolutionary biology and other western viewpoints.