zac

Zac Laval

An explorer of the ambiguous and the uncertain, Zac is driven by technology's role in shaping the future.

Business Technology

It’s up to startups to solve tech’s diversity issue

Zac Laval3 years ago

9.84K

Just a couple of weeks ago, Ceridian CEO David Ossip took the stage at Ottawa’s Shaw Centre as the first...

Business Technology

3 Logistics Startups Helping Businesses Stay Competitive in the Amazon Era

Zac Laval5 years ago

4.01K

Note: The arrow in the Amazon logo points from A to Z. Many will argue that Jeff Bezos’ plans for...

slovenia, gender equality, world economic forum

Business

Slovenia’s model of gender equality for economic growth

Zac Laval5 years ago

3.87K

World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report In a new report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Slovenia was...

Espacio media incubator acquires The Tech Panda to expand startup and tech coverage to India.

Business Technology

Espacio incubator acquires The Tech Panda to follow India’s tech transformation

Zac Laval5 years ago

5.66K

Media incubator Espacio announces today its most recent acquisition of The Tech Panda, a Bangalore-based media publication dedicated to startup and tech...

Technology

Digital ownership issues at the intersection of art and technology

Zac Laval5 years ago

9.59K

For artists, technology has raised a number of questions regarding digital ownership. In the not too distant past, determining ownership...

Business

Blockchain’s promise to eliminate financial fraud

Zac Laval5 years ago

3.73K

According to estimates by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), worldwide occupational fraud could cost businesses up to $3.7...

Business Mobile Technology

The way to your customers’ wallets is through their mobile phones

Zac Laval5 years ago

3.46K

Forget the days when talking to a robot was just for nerds. Chatbots are here and they are making a...

Social Media

Twitter bots launch new generation DDoS attack to deny freedom of speech

Zac Laval5 years ago

5.73K

Technology has undoubtedly given us unprecedented opportunities to exercise our freedom of speech. Most recently, it has actually been used...

Technology

Tech is throwin’ grillz on the dental industry

Zac Laval5 years ago

3.67K

In one of tech’s latest efforts to disrupt industries, some startups have set out to take a bite out of...

Social Media Technology

How technology brought communities together in a fight against Harvey and Irma

Zac Laval5 years ago

2.29K

In an attempt to band together and overcome pressing issues in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, residents of...

Web

How to put out the fake news wildfire

Zac Laval5 years ago

2.15K

In a recent survey from Pew Research Center, two-thirds of Americans (67%) were found to use social media as a...

Technology

How technology is disrupting the home buying experience from sales to moving

Zac Laval5 years ago

2.54K

Publicly-owned company Realogy has just announced a partnership with OJO Labs, Inc. in attempt to bring artificial intelligence to the...

Business

How businesses are profiting by reducing waste

Zac Laval5 years ago

3.62K

Sustainability and the idea of corporate social responsibility have taken root in many parts of the global economy, forcing existing...

Technology

Increased competition in the travel industry means more focus on consumers

Zac Laval5 years ago

8.59K

In the most recent development in the battle between Airbnb and the hotel industry, AirDNA has developed a market intelligence...

Business

A critical look at public-private partnerships as models for growth

Zac Laval5 years ago

1.5K

Recently, I published an article about Purdue’s public-private partnership (PPP) with Infosys, designed to bring innovation and 2,000 new jobs...

Technology

Social bots and fake news: A reminder to protect your online brand

Zac Laval5 years ago

2.51K

Social bots – one of the main “social media villains” – have recently been discovered to “play a key role...

simulation augmented reality alternative reality

Technology

Will you dare to leave Plato’s cave? Leading minds weigh-in on simulation theories

Zac Laval5 years ago

11.5K

Augmented reality and virtual reality are bound to change what we know to be true (if they haven’t already). In...

Business

Marketing and sales need to collaborate more closely to survive AI onslaught

Zac Laval5 years ago

2.34K

Since 1986, CODiE Award winners have demonstrated the highest level of market validation for their products, as the award has...

Brains Byte Back

We explore how our brains, psychology, and society are impacted by the ever-evolving technology that surrounds us. If you want to be better prepared for the new information age, have a healthier relationship with technology, and get more out of life using top technology and psychology hacks, this is the podcast for you! Every other Friday we bring you interviews with leading experts in the fields of technology and psychology combined, with past guest speakers such as New York Times journalists, MIT Professors, and C-suite executives of top tech companies.

You may have heard of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers, commonly known as Rajneeshees or sannyasins, from the incredibly popular Netflix documentary “Wild, Wild Country.”

Well in today’s episode we speak with a former follower of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult to get a better understanding of how this society functioned, what it was like to live in normal society as a member of the cult, and what it was like on the famous Oregon ranch.

With our guest, Annie (who has asked to remain anonymous but showed her mala that she wore during her time as a Rajneshee to prove her affiliation with the cult), we find out how she first find out about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the Rajneeshees, and what inspired her to join their cult, where she goes into great detail about how she found them when she was 16 at an Alcoholics Anonymous event.

She also shares why life as a Rajneeshee was difficult off the ranch in normal society, as society often treated them with a mixture of suspicion, curiosity, and fear. In fact, she was fired from all of her jobs due to her membership in the cult, but she also explains how she saw this as a positive, “a trial by fire” as she claims.

Annie also goes into detail about what it was like visiting the ranch in 1983, when, she believes, much of the footage used in the documentary was filmed. She talks about the important role meditation played in being a Rajneeshee and what a normal day was like on the ranch.

She also shares her thoughts on how accurate the documentary was, how close she came to meeting Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and finally, how she left the cult in the end.

Overall, Annie explains why she doesn’t see the following as a religion or cult, but instead as a community and how this community had such an overall, lasting positive experience in her life.