Dr. John C. Lilly Dies at 86. ” An inventor, author and researcher, Lilly was a member of a generation of counterculture scientists and thinkers that included Ram Dass, Werner Erhard and Timothy Leary, all frequent visitors to the Lilly home. He never failed to stir controversy, especially among mainstream scientists,” said the Washington Post obituary. [Let’s leave Werner Erhard out of this, shall we?] Lilly’s work included the exploration of consciousness through the use of isolation tanks, psychedelics, and interspecies communication, especially with dolphins. His 1972 memoir Center of the Cyclone is a good read. Lilly’s site is here. Funny, after not thinking about Lilly for a long time, his name came up in conversation just last week.