Key Words and Phrases:
neuro-lingustic programming | design human engineering
accelerated learning | educational technologies | mind mapping
artificial intelligence | knowledge engineering
hemi-synch | kirlian photography | psychotronics | psi

Cognitive Technologies...

Between 1999 and today, we have been hard at work. Because the field that we now refer to as 'Cognitive Technology' has so many aspects to it.

So...

What is this 'Cognitive Technology'?

And...

Why should you be interested in our work?

The notion of Cognitive Technology is simple. It refers to any technique or technology that can be used to enhance the power of the human mind, or expand the capabilities of the human brain. But this is where the simplicity ends. Over the last decade or so, a huge amount of research activity has been directed toward finding ways to help humans to make more from the mental capacity with which they were born. And our web site is your guide to that research.

It appears that this new century is one in which the inner workings of the human mind, and the innate potentials of the human brain, have become the subject for both intriguing speculation and innovative research. For with the study of Cognitive Technology as your remit, you quickly find yourself having to become a 'specialist in diversity'. For all around the world people are asking the question: 'Is this all?' with regard the capacity of the human mind and brain. And the answers they are finding are intriguing, to say the least.

As an example of this diversity, we have found teachers, trainers, scientists, researchers and gifted amateurs, all making advances, in fields as far ranging as: applied psychology, philosophy, mathematics, business consultancy, computer science, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, educational computing, neuro-physiology, physics, martial arts, complementary medicine and remote viewing. For it appears that in almost every profession there are people trying to find ways to get more 'power' out of the human mind.

And as for the future...

You only have to read a few chapters from our work to realise that we stand on the threshold of a new age of attainment and performance, as an increasing number of people put the techniques and technologies of Cognitive Technology to good use. The only question you need to ask is: Could I do with a little more clarity, innovation and charisma in the way that I think and communicate? If the answer is 'yes', then you have come to the right place...and we encourage you to read on...

The idea for the circle-of-excellence website came into being after we (Dr Peter EH Smee and Ms Linda M. Smee) attended a number of courses in Neuro-Lingustic Programming, Design Human Engineering and Ericksonian Hypnosis, run by Dr Richard Bandler in association with Paul McKenna and Michael Breen, way back in 1999/2000.

At the time, Pete had just finished updating some educational software that he had written as part of his MSc in Artificial Intelligence, and was about to begin the process of upgrading another piece of educational software, which he had designed in order to obtain his PhD in Educational Technology. While Linda was involved in consultancy and running occasional workshops related to Accelerated Learning.

Having completed the software, and having written a number of notes related to the NLP courses that we had attended, we were both getting encouragement to make our work available to a wider audience. And the web provided a natural medium through which we could do just that. Hence the genesis of the site that you now see in front of you.

For those relatively new to the web, this was back in the days when the open source community was in full flow, making ideas and code available on the basis that users would feed comments and ideas back into the 'mix'. The idea being that one person working without access to the resources of a commercial organisation can achieve relatively little, while a group of like minded individuals can achieve rather more, even if working in their spare time, whilst earning a living elsewhere.

So we took the basic 'model' of the open source community, and adapted the model to the kinds of materials that we had to offer. The idea was that we would make our resources, notes and software available, and people would provide us with feedback, so that we might gradually and iteratively improve the quality of our work. Then we became too curious! And we got hooked on the subjects we were researching. Hence, a study that was designed to be a part-time interest...grew...and grew...and evolved...and grew some more.

In the end, we found ourselves authoring around 600,000 words and several pieces of software, which as you can imagine is a time consuming task. (In fact, just proof reading 600,000 words is a marathon!) And we were doing this in addition to our 'day work', so time was limited. But gradually a small community of readers and users and supporters has rallied around to help us to identify the (fortunately, few) software bugs and (unfortunately, slightly more) typographic mistakes that made it past our own proofreading and testing. (Ooops!).

Thus we find ourselves with a rather large portfolio of texts and software, related to the inner workings of the human mind (hence the term 'cognitive') and references to ways to enhance the power of the human mind (hence the use of words like 'techniques' and 'technologies')...

...And we find ourselves with a broadening base of support, with which we hope to progress into the future...

As our work currently stands, you will find a collection of cross disciplinary texts and resources that are unique in scope and content.

Our aim has been to help you make 'connections' between many disparate fields of research, so that you can ramp up the power of your brain, and expand the power of your mind. So that you can find it easier to: focus more rationally in your decision-making, where there is a need to think logically; broaden your creativity, in situations in which you need to think inventively; while deepening your intuition, when you need to access emotional resources, when faced with life's many challenges.

In short, after reading our work and using our software, you will soon be on your way to: accelerating your learning, empowering your decision-making and clarifying your communication. You will also find yourself becoming more elegant and eloquent in your speech, and more charismatic and confident in the delivery of any message that you feel to be 'important'. At the very least you will find a portal into the works of more specialist authors and commentators. More likely, you will find ideas and insights that will unlock your mental potential, and lead you further along your own journey on life's road.

Now, in terms of our own journey...

We anticipate taking the next year or so consolidating and refining the resources that we have on offer. (Although we keep saying this and finding ourselves diverted into 'new' areas of research!)

As part of this consolidation, we only intend to add a couple of small sub sites and articles to the main circle-of-excellence site, rather than the book size tomes that have been our hallmark over the last couple of years.

In particular, we intend to focus on specific subjects that are of current interest to us, and which we only had opportunity to skim in our book-length texts. For example, the effect of nutrition on the health of both mind and body is one topic, while another is to get to grips with the intriguing imagery of kirlian photography. Two other areas of interest include the effects of electromagnetic fields on both mind and body and the intriguing technology of hemi-synch, by which you can alter your state of mind using a hemi-synch cd rom and a pair of stereo earphones. (So if you earn your living in any of these areas, we would be pleased to get into contact with you and to explore potential common points of interest).

At the same time, in our day work, we expect to be leading some training courses in the Plymouth area, under the auspices of the college and the school for which we work. Thus, if you are a business in the southwest (of the UK), who is interested in any of what you read on this site, it would be worth your while getting in touch with Pete (via email) because he may be able to access government grant money (via his college) to enable him to provide you with training / consultancy at a hugely reduced rate, over the course of the next couple of years*.

*Thus far, working with one client under this government sponsored scheme, Pete has helped a small local company to increase sales turnover from around £100,000 a year to around £300,000.

Future Perfect...

As we move forward into the future, we would both like to build on the diversity of techniques and technologies about which we have learned.

As a serving teacher, Linda is keen to work with colleagues who are interested to mesh a wide range of accelerated learning techniques and technologies with the practical day-to-day needs of staff and students in the secondary school system, in the UK.

While, as a tutor/researcher/developer in Higher Education, Pete is keen to explore the use of various cognitive techniques and technologies as a way in which to model human emotion and access human intuition.

So, if anyone has any money or expertise to help get some serious research and development in these areas 'off the ground', please get in touch. There are plenty of very commercial applications. But while we are pleased to share most of our work, and some of our ideas, we have also decided we do need to keep a little back, in order that we can find sponsors for the future...

And if you have no money of your own, we would also be very thankful for positive feedback, comments and quotes that we can post on our website, because these help us attract grants and funding from a range of government and commercial sources...which then helps us to continue making all these materials available for free...so send your comments, along with a brief description of who you are, by emailing us...and we will be very thankful!