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Psychedelic researcher with leading expertise in the formal documentation and classification of altered states of consciousness.
At Mindstate Design Labs, I work as a software engineer applying AI-assisted phenomenology to clinical-stage drug development, building on a decade of founding projects like Subjective Effect Index and PsychonautWiki that turned the ineffable into structured, studiable data.
Taxonomy design · Subjective effect documentation · LLM training data & evaluation · Experience-report datasets · UX & product design · Web development
Resume
Current Work
Mindstate Design Labs
2021 - Present
Mindstate's first full-time hire, initially leading subjective effect documentation for Osmanthus, the company's AI neuroengineering platform. I extended my Subjective Effect Index taxonomy into a catalogue of 600+ distinct effects derived from over 70,000 experience reports and correlated with receptor-level pharmacology. This work contributed directly to MSD-001, the platform's first compound, completing a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial in 2025: safe, well tolerated, and the first clinical validation of designed psychoactive effects. I now serve as a software engineer, building the internal tooling and data systems that power the platform as MSD-001-based fixed-dose combinations progress toward the next phase of clinical development. Phase 1 topline results · ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06702332
Mindstate Design Labs
2021 - Present
Mindstate's first full-time hire, initially leading subjective effect documentation for Osmanthus, the company's AI neuroengineering platform. I extended my Subjective Effect Index taxonomy into a catalogue of 600+ distinct effects derived from over 70,000 experience reports and correlated with receptor-level pharmacology. This work contributed directly to MSD-001, the platform's first compound, completing a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial in 2025: safe, well tolerated, and the first clinical validation of designed psychoactive effects. I now serve as a software engineer, building the internal tooling and data systems that power the platform as MSD-001-based fixed-dose combinations progress toward the next phase of clinical development. Phase 1 topline results · ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06702332
Mindscape Collective
NOV 2024 - Present
A non-profit organization dedicated to providing researchers with an accessible and comprehensive database of published academic papers on psychedelic science, consciousness, and altered states. Brought on as a consultant by founder Mike Elliot, I quickly took on a leading role in shaping the platform's full user experience while providing strategic guidance on both frontend and backend architecture.
Mindscape Collective
NOV 2024 - Present
A non-profit organization dedicated to providing researchers with an accessible and comprehensive database of published academic papers on psychedelic science, consciousness, and altered states. Brought on as a consultant by founder Mike Elliot, I quickly took on a leading role in shaping the platform's full user experience while providing strategic guidance on both frontend and backend architecture.
Founded Projects
Subjective Effect Index
May 2011 - Present
Serving as a core feature of a variety of my different projects, the SEI is the first comprehensive catalog and reference for the full range of subjective effects that may occur under the influence of psychoactive substances and other psychonautic techniques. It consists of over 200 individual subjective effects with accompanying descriptions, subcomponents, categories, levelling systems, and image/video replications. Its aim is to enable the field of psychedelic research to achieve its full potential by creating a granular taxonomy of the subjective psychedelic experience. The SEI became the direct foundation for the effect classification system I went on to develop at Mindstate.
Subjective Effect Index
FounderMay 2011 - Present
Serving as a core feature of a variety of my different projects, the SEI is the first comprehensive catalog and reference for the full range of subjective effects that may occur under the influence of psychoactive substances and other psychonautic techniques. It consists of over 200 individual subjective effects with accompanying descriptions, subcomponents, categories, levelling systems, and image/video replications. Its aim is to enable the field of psychedelic research to achieve its full potential by creating a granular taxonomy of the subjective psychedelic experience. The SEI became the direct foundation for the effect classification system I went on to develop at Mindstate.
EffectIndex.com
2017 - Present
A community-driven resource dedicated to establishing the field of formalized Subjective Effect Documentation. It serves as a central and dedicated online platform for showcasing the Subjective Effect Index (SEI).
EffectIndex.com
Founder2017 - Present
A community-driven resource dedicated to establishing the field of formalized Subjective Effect Documentation. It serves as a central and dedicated online platform for showcasing the Subjective Effect Index (SEI).
PsychonautWiki.org
May 2013 - May 2017
An academic, open source, and comprehensive encyclopedia on the topic of altered states of consciousness, psychoactive substances, and harm reduction information. It includes over 2000 articles and is one of the most prominent informational resources of its kind, peaking in traffic at around 1 million unique visitors a month.
Note: I am no longer associated with this website and cannot in good faith recommend using its present day iteration.
PsychonautWiki.org
FounderMay 2013 - May 2017
An academic, open source, and comprehensive encyclopedia on the topic of altered states of consciousness, psychoactive substances, and harm reduction information. It includes over 2000 articles and is one of the most prominent informational resources of its kind, peaking in traffic at around 1 million unique visitors a month.
Note: I am no longer associated with this website and cannot in good faith recommend using its present day iteration.
/r/Replications Subreddit
Oct 2015 - Present
A subreddit I founded dedicated to phenomenological art: deliberately constructed image, video, and audio replications of the hallucinogenic experience and other altered states of consciousness. Now over 143,000 members and the central hub for the replication art form, it has kickstarted the successful careers of multiple visionary artists and replicators.
/r/Replications Subreddit
FounderOct 2015 - Present
A subreddit I founded dedicated to phenomenological art: deliberately constructed image, video, and audio replications of the hallucinogenic experience and other altered states of consciousness. Now over 143,000 members and the central hub for the replication art form, it has kickstarted the successful careers of multiple visionary artists and replicators.
The Josie Kins Youtube Channel
May 2020 - Present
A science communication channel dedicated to subjective effect documentation, featuring effect explainers and some of the most accurate publicly available replications of psychedelic visuals. Over 120,000 subscribers and an average of 600,000 views a month, with videos covered by outlets including Nautilus and UNILAD.
The Josie Kins Youtube Channel
CreatorMay 2020 - Present
A science communication channel dedicated to subjective effect documentation, featuring effect explainers and some of the most accurate publicly available replications of psychedelic visuals. Over 120,000 subscribers and an average of 600,000 views a month, with videos covered by outlets including Nautilus and UNILAD.
Disregard Every Thing I Say
May 2011 - 2016
The unlikely initial start of my career, this blog is where I first founded the Subjective Effect Index project and generally established my lifelong passion for studying the psychedelic experience.
Disregard Every Thing I Say
CreatorMay 2011 - 2016
The unlikely initial start of my career, this blog is where I first founded the Subjective Effect Index project and generally established my lifelong passion for studying the psychedelic experience.
Talks & Publications
Media Coverage
Collaborators
Contact
josie@mindstate.designFor interviews or speaking: josie@mindstate.design.
Community questions (Discord, YouTube, Reddit): disregardeverythingisay@gmail.com
