Sai

*Schedule time & location is wrong* 1. Sign-up required: https://s.ai/emf/ws 2. *Time varies each day* on on weather, my stamina, etc. I'll call you to coordinate. Call me if I don't contact you by 11am. Lasts ~1–2 hours. 3. Location: *my tent*, near the Hardware Hacking Area, marked with a purple/yellow/black conlang flag. Take a walk with me through camp — blindfolded, with one of my guide canes — and sense the world like I do: using air currents, heat, sound, echolocation, ground texture, wind shadow, and more. It's a unique, permanent sensory upgrade you can still use when sighted. I can handle 4 student participants, 4 assistants, & 5 observers per workshop. Details & what to expect: https://s.ai/emf#workshop Sign up now: https://s.ai/emf/ws

This is a 2 hour applied meditation workshop, outdoors. No signup or experience required. Location TBD on scouting, will announce at end of day 0. Check https://s.ai/emf or Twitter @saizai or ask in person (I'm the one with hat, glasses, and two white canes). We'll discuss — and practice — several very different meditation techniques, such as: • breath • empty mind • parallel concentration / stack overflow † • "inner sanctum" hypnotic induction ‡ • movement • grounding & shielding / energy play † tends to work especially well if you find "emptying your mind" difficult (e.g. due to ADHD) ‡ very simple, with script 100% disclosed beforehand — no silly stage tricks We'll discuss several variants of the basic mechanisms, how to customise to your own preferences, and personal experiences (iff you choose to share) — but no religion, metaphysics, doctrine, or the like. Please: • wear or bring something comfortable for sitting on grass/dirt • bring a drink & snack • pee and stretch beforehand • silence all electronics while at the workshop • do (only) what works for you I use scripts (with included variation suggestions) that work for most people, but not everyone. Please diverge from my instructions if something else feels right. That's common, and kinda the point — particularly for the hypnotic induction, which needs to be tailored to your own experience). Likewise, if something feels uncomfortable or triggering, please switch to a different meditation exercise instead (e.g. the basic breath meditation we start with). What you share is entirely up to you. I won't call on you. If there's something you'd only be comfortable sharing privately, please find and talk with me at another time.

Learn to sense the world without your eyes — hear walls and corridors, sense doorways and ceilings with your hair, feel nearby walls and people on your skin. (Yes, literally.) As a blind person, I do this every day; this is your opportunity to learn how to use sensory input that you already have, but you simply don’t realize or pay attention to. This is specifically focused on blind navigation and sensory experience. I'll also (briefly) cover how and how not to interact with a blind person on the street, cognitive shifts from perceiving the world as a blind person, real vs myth difficulties, etc., but not blindness 101, braille, computers, general life skills, medical/legal issues, or the like. Come in person. This isn't just a talk; in the live audience, you'll directly experience how to use senses you don't know you have, with participatory demonstrations tailored to the physical environment of EMF Camp, based on the skills and stimuli relied on every day by blind people like me. Practice during camp, and you'll sense more — permanently. You'll have a better experience if you wear short sleeves, have your hair uncovered, and come together with someone with whom you're comfortable exchanging brief touch on the cheek, neck, or arm. I will be completely blindfolded for the entire talk. I won't see you nod, shake your head, wave, or the like. Although I might be able to detect that if we're talking one-on-one, I can't do so when you're in a crowd or at stage distance. I still rely on live audience feedback, so please respond audibly, e.g. with words or clapping. Per EMF request, there's no Q&A during talk. Just follow me outside afterwards if you have questions or comments, or join one of the workshops. # Workshops I'll run hands-on workshops each day. By going for a walk with me around the camp — blindfolded, using one of my guide canes — you'll gain qualitative experience you can't get anywhere else. Signup is now open: https://s.ai/emf/ws # Volunteers needed I'll need assistants during the talk (on and off stage). No experience necessary — but brief training beforehand is, preferably Thursday (day 0) evening. Especially helpful if you have experience in aikido or similar martial arts, and are willing to be my on-stage uke during the talk. Details: https://s.ai/emf#volunteer

Learn to see the world without your eyes. Wonder what it's like to navigate while blind? Want to learn to use your everyday senses in ways you don't know you don't know? In this talk, I hack you with permanently enhanced sensory perceptions. This is very participatory, not just "sit and listen", and workshops are even more hands-on (blindfolded w/ cane in hand). Workshop & volunteer signup: https://s.ai/ccc/ws Tag plz: #BlindNavigation @saizai #35c3

Talk

This talk is not the same on video as in person. Come in person if you can.

A few things I'll cover require a cane, but the vast majority are sensory input that you already have, and you simply don’t realize or pay attention to.

This will also (briefly) cover how and how not to interact with a blind person on the street, cognitive shifts from perceiving the world as a blind person, real vs myth difficulties, etc.

This talk is specifically focused on navigation and sensory experience. It won't cover Braille, computers, general life skills, medical/legal issues, or the like.

After you attend, I'd greatly appreciate your feedback: https://s.ai/ccc/fb. If you post about it, I'd appreciate if you use gender neutral pronouns for me, and tag me (saizai) or send me a link.

Participation

The talk is applied and participatory, not just abstract. I want you to actually experience what I discuss, so that you have a genuine qualitative sense of what it is like to navigate the world while blind.

You will have a better experience if you are totally sober, don't have arms or head covered, & have used the toilet beforehand.

Some things you may be asked to do:

• make a single synchronized clap, to generate a sonic ping of the room
• listen carefully to the timing differences of echos
• stand up / sit down
• feel air currents
• put the back of your hand near the face of the person sitting next to you (& vice versa), feeling for heat changes & air currents
• come up to the stage when asking questions, so that you can get on stage if that would be helpful for me to demonstrate an answer for you directly

Participation in these is strictly optional. It's totally OK if you don't want to (e.g. comfort, disability, not wanting to be on camera, etc), and you don't need to justify it. I'll ask for indications of consent or opt-out. However, participating will very significantly improve your experience and how much you'll learn.

Workshops

The talk will try to cover as much as can be done without direct experience. However, there's a huge qualitative difference between simply hearing me talk about it and experiencing it for yourself. Therefore, I am also running hands-on, 1-hour workshops (approx. 2 per day, TBD).

Workshop participants will be blindfolded, given a guide cane, and led through a crash course in how to use and perceive the cues that are discussed in the talk, and an additional Q&A / debriefing session afterwards. This starts from simply walking along a straight path, and quickly escalates to hearing corridors, feeling walls at a (short) distance, etc.

Workshop observers are welcome. I also need several volunteers to make this happen, so if you can, please do.

Workshop & volunteer signup

https://s.ai/ccc/ws

Help wanted!

People

I need volunteers:

1. on stage (general, e.g. as human obstacle, safety, slides-checker, demonstration partner, etc.)
2. on stage (aikido uke)
3. during talk, in audience (to walk and/or bike around the aisles to generate wind currents, hold an open cup of coffee / mate for smell, etc)
4. workshop assistants (requires training, preferably before 35C3 day 0)

If you can, please volunteer. I'll train you on what needs to be done.

Please also contact me if you:

• are blind / visually impaired and a cane or guide dog user going to 35C3; or
• would like to collaborate on blind navigation aids (e.g. cane-embedded compass).

Stuff

If you have:

• to give:
  • a working Northpaw anklet you can part with
  • ability to make custom eyeglass frames with zero light leakage
• to borrow:
  • long white guide canes
  • sections of tactile paving (bumps, grooves, etc used on the street for blind people)
  • sections of any random paving, flooring, tiles, carpet, etc
  • tatami (aikido floor safety style)
  • tactile or audio street crossing indicators
  • dry ice & a trough
  • laser that can emit as a flat plane
  • binaural audio recording equipment
  • hands-free 360° video recording equipment (& editing capability)
  • … or anything similar

... please contact me: https://s.ai/contact

Money

All workshops are free.

Unfortunately, the equipment to run them is not (it costs a few hundred Euros), and I'm poor. If you can donate, it'd be appreciated: https://s.ai/donate

About me

I do lots of things, e.g. conlanging (26C3), cognitive psychology (27C3), meditation (26C3 & 27C3), civil rights litigation, government transparency, meta-politics, meta-law research, etc. See my wesite. https://s.ai

I'm part-time fully blind. See https://s.ai/essays/interaction for tips on how to interact with me & https://s.ai/essays/blindness for background info. In particular, please understand that blindness is not "what I do", and I'm going to hit my capacity for talking about it with the talk, Q&A, and workshops. I always welcome feedback, collaborations, fellow-travelers, and press. Other than that, if you see me around Congress, let's please talk about something other than my blindness.

Contact info:

• Handle: saizai (Twitter/IRC/FB/G+/etc.)
• Email: ccc@s.ai
• DECT: 4724
• Signal/WhatsApp/Telegram +15103944724

Gender neutral pronouns please.