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Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

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Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#61

Post by throw51319 »

mStreamTeam wrote: post #59
cakemuncher wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met someone who's best friend committed suicide while sober. Those stories of suicide on psychs usually turn out to be fabrications, exaggerations or miscalculated cause and effect.

Most of the suicides I know of happened because of booze. And the drug is available for mass purchase at the store down the block...

I think one of the biggest fallacies is that alcohol "shows who the person really is".

It definitely loosens you up, to a point. Maybe 3-8 drinks in it is definitely closer to "the true self".

But in large amounts it definitely creates an over-emotional person. In it's own way it creates emotional reaction spirals that could cause suicide, or lashing out at people, irrational love or hatred of self, etc.

Like i said, biggest fallacy.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#62

Post by teataster »

f69281c wrote: post #40
trabant00 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been microdosing psilocybin daily for the past six months [...] I didn't get COVID and I feel a lot more switched on and focused You lost your causation vs correlation sense though :)

The self-reported positive effects hallucinogens are awful. They alter your perception so your perception of perceived benefits is unreliable, and anyone who's not tripping can tell you that. I mean, with full doses the reported benefits are things like connecting with the thread of the universe and speaking across planes to dimensional beings that inform you that we're all one, but the word fractal is jammed in ther…

Microdosing implies non psychoactive dose. It would be more like people who left after drinking one beer because they were not under the influence.

Furthermore, how can you be certain that you sober perception is more accurate than the altered one? How can you be certain that the effects of microdosing are even comparable to full doses? I am not making claims either way, just asking.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#63

Post by sev »

jatgoodwin wrote: post #41

The problem with psychedelics is they only make you "more" of what you are. It's the spotlighting effect multiplied. Especially when "bad" people take them they just become even more of an asshole, or dare I say when stupid people take them they just revel in the intoxication. You just have to read the old research literature on LSD like stuff from James Fadiman to understand that these are extremely dangerous substa…

The only idea conveyed in your message that has any factual basis is that psychedelics should be taken with a lot of care, preparation, and consideration, including pre existing susceptibilities.

Everything else you said builds on top of this idea as if they are also fact based, but they are not. Let’s not make the social acceptance of psychedelics even harder than they already have been made to be.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#64

Post by teataster »

emteycz wrote: post #7
dmos62 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice to have such a steady access to psilocybin. Why not LSD, by the way? > I've been microdosing psilocybin daily for the past six months, [...] I didn't get COVID. Made me laugh.

Isn't the tolerance to LSD built way too fast for daily (micro)usage over half a year?

Yes, same as psilocybin. When you microdose you are not supposed to get psychedelic effects. The supposed benefits come from prolonged presence of the molecule in the body. Similar how antidepressants work, the point is not to take one tablet once.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#65

Post by defterGoose »

Ygg2 wrote: post #18
quantumwoke wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it best to argue in good faith when coming to these kinds of low-data conversations. There are obviously many such factors involved in our integration with the environment. Why couldn't it be psilocybin (or other nootropic compound) that pushes us towards a more sustainable future with fewer mental health/chronic pain issues? This is a classic HN takedown of an otherwise interesting post.

It's still the argument based on consumption. Let's consume X, surely that will sort our issue of emitting too much CO2. Edit: not to mention. Our environmental problems aren't consumption or conscience, or even technology based, but lack of political will.

Saying the problem isn't related to consumption is just willfully obtuse and wrong.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#66

Post by toss1 »

I received some very helpful wisdom on this topic, many years ago in my early teens, from a random guy I met on a beach.

He said "if you are interested in tripping, you'll almost surely do it. Just be sure to never feel pressured to do it at any one time - it'll always be there. When you do, just be sure you feel comfortable, not tense, and are in a good situation, among friends, and so on. ", basically how to avoid bad trips.

Only did a handful of times, but every time was totally worth it, mind expanding, and enjoyable. Definite thanks in no small part to the wisdom from a random stranger.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#67

Post by defterGoose »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #43

I am all for legalization but this stuffs sound exactly like what was written a few years about Marijuana. There were tons of articles about how Marijuana use will do things like saving the environment, saves the rain forest, cure cancer and so on. For some reason like to overshoot with this predictions of the benefits of these things. In the end our capitalist world will probably prevail and whatever expansion of co…

I think it's much more likely that "our capitalist world" will drive us off a cliff rather than into a bright future. We have absolutely zero precedent for the changes we are facing. However, I do believe individuals still have agency in the world. We have to try at least, I guess.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#68

Post by michalf6 »

It can't save the environment from cultures that will bulldoze over incapacitated and non-competing westerners who buy this hippie nonsense.

Is there any good data on the effects of taking psychedelics on aggression / ambition / aggreableness / conscientiousness? The "becoming one with Nature" theme seems to be pretty common among enthusiasts, although I personally didn't notice a lasting effect after eating shrooms. I'm curious if there's a cause-effect relationship or it's just bias in people who gravitate to this.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#69

Post by loves_mangoes »

f69281c wrote: post #40
trabant00 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been microdosing psilocybin daily for the past six months [...] I didn't get COVID and I feel a lot more switched on and focused You lost your causation vs correlation sense though :)

The self-reported positive effects hallucinogens are awful. They alter your perception so your perception of perceived benefits is unreliable, and anyone who's not tripping can tell you that. I mean, with full doses the reported benefits are things like connecting with the thread of the universe and speaking across planes to dimensional beings that inform you that we're all one, but the word fractal is jammed in ther…

Here's my personal anecdote: I took acid once (200ug sublingual), and realized that I need to clean my apartment and brush my teeth more often.

I'm not a very spiritual person, and I don't have a strong desire to 'connect with the thread of the universe'. But I'm very curious and happy to try things, if I can convince myself they're reasonably safe.

That was a few weeks ago, and I'm happy to report that my floor is noticeably cleaner and my teeth cared for =)

I could try to claim other less measurable and subjective benefits, but that wouldn't be very honest with myself after only a couple weeks, and I doubt you'd believe me.

Re: Paul Stamets on the interrelationship among mushrooms, consciousness, and nature

#70

Post by animal_spirits »

notahacker wrote: post #39
animal_spirits wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think there is a lack of political will? Is it possible that these kinds of conscious altering plants can change the ideals of politicians to not be solely focused on playing the political game in order to continue to work? I think its more than worth exploring alternatives to allow the people who rule us to have an expanded conscious on how they can impact the lives of the people in their communities. Man…

> Why do you think there is a lack of political will? I'm going to go out on a limb and say because getting countries as diverse as the US, China and Saudi Arabia to consent to shutting down the industrialised world and people to accept not having nice things is incredibly difficult, and carbon capture solutions which might be more politically palatable are less proven plays a bigger role in the climate continuing to…

I see your point, and agree that getting high off mushrooms isn't going to solve the climate crisis. Most people aren't arguing that instead of continuing to pursue renewable energy we should just take mushrooms instead.

But I would argue that psychedelic use, when done appropriately and carefully, can be a catalyst for changing collective ideologies that have lead us to the dangerous path that we are on.

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