Peter Gamma (Physiologist & Director) Meditation Research Institute Switzerland (MRIS)

Negative experiences with Rob ter Horst, the Mind Monitor & OpenBCI

Last Updated on March 8, 2024 by pg@petergamma.org

Rob ter Horst

measures everything in life, and eventually sell us everything we want to. But can we trust him?

Rob ter Horst:

«
I am quite possibly doing the ultimate “quantified self”

  • which means I measure everything in life.
  • My measurements take more than 11 hours a week and include a weekly brain MRI, sleep EEG and gut microbiome composition.
  • Check out my YouTube channel if you want to know more!
    «

But what can we find on Rob ter Horst’s YouTube channel? Manly smartwatches. But are these accurate enough for post-docs? Not at all. We have discussed this in great detail:

  • But Rob ter Horst continues to test smartwatch after smartwach.
  • But they do not increase in accuracy so that they become more accurate.
  • We made very negative experiences with Rob ter Horst in the past. It took us a lot of time to write the above review.
  • But Rob ter Horst keeps silent about the papers we reviewed,
  • And this experiences make us believe that it will not become better in the future with Rob.
  • From the above setup, we can see, that Rob does 11 hours of tests about himself in his lab.
  • But for what purpose?
  • We suppose that his setup cant be used for many things, such as test the effect of drugs, but also the effect of meditaton.
  • And do we not have to expect the same from Rob as we experienced with his smartwaches, when he will offer one day abos for brain scans in his lab?
  • Rob measures everything, and eventually sells everything, without that ever someone would be able to reproduce his data.
  • And who goes to a brain scan in the lab of scientist we have lost the trust in:

And the situation is similar with the Mind Monitor

  • The SDK is not available anymore for the Muse headband.
  • There are much better devices available for the neuroscience students of today than the Muse headband, as for instance PiEEG.
  • But James Clutterbuck seems to continue to sell the Mind Monitor until it is dead.
  • And does not James Clutterbuck also offer brain scans in his lab for rich people, if we find the right door to him?
  • Which would mean, the Mind Monitor for the Neuroscientist students, and brain scanners for rich people?

OpenBCI

  • similar is the situation with OpenBCI.
  • hardly any new hardware developments arrive, prices are high, the WIFI shield does not come back.
  • Also here the same stragedy: to sell OpenBCI to students until it is dead?
  • OpenBCI with the Bluetooth dongle for the students.
  • And secret meditation research projects with William Croft on the Mount Shasta in California?
  • And these brain scan tests are eventually already available from William Croft if someone finds the right door to him, and if his budget allows.