I take illegal drugs for inspiration • Hacker News Board

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#61

Post by anonLSD » Tue, May 03, 2011, 6:52 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #51

What's with this rash of illegal drug articles? Am I the only one who still thinks it's morally wrong to do something that's illegal, except in certain very special circumstances set out below? Let me explain what I mean. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. Just laws should be obeyed. Unjust laws should be changed. If you think a given law is unjust, you should be campaigning to change it, not breaking it…

What do the views of the majority have to do with my moral compass? Drugs in particular are a case where the benefits tend to be personal and individual. I don't expect most people to get it, especially given how many people are conservative, religious, or just believe whatever they have been brought up to believe. When I'm deciding what is right and wrong, the law is generally the last thing on my mind.

edit: As for "what's with the rash of...", I think there is a significant subset of hackers that are very interested in the workings of their brains, since we have typically been dependent on and defined by what our brains are capable of since childhood. In turn, there is a very powerful affinity between many of those who are fascinated with the brain, and psychedelic drugs.

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#62

Post by jpr » Tue, May 03, 2011, 6:52 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #51

What's with this rash of illegal drug articles? Am I the only one who still thinks it's morally wrong to do something that's illegal, except in certain very special circumstances set out below? Let me explain what I mean. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. Just laws should be obeyed. Unjust laws should be changed. If you think a given law is unjust, you should be campaigning to change it, not breaking it…

> If you think a given law is unjust, you should be campaigning to change it, not breaking it willy-nilly.

If I were to heed that advice, I couldn't do anything productive. Heck, even as it is I'm worrying about stupid laws far too much, even though I'm not breaking any (that I know of), and it's taking time away from my productive behaviour. Your argument doesn't hold water in an environment where there are many, many stupid laws.

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#63

Post by arethuza » Tue, May 03, 2011, 6:57 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #51

What's with this rash of illegal drug articles? Am I the only one who still thinks it's morally wrong to do something that's illegal, except in certain very special circumstances set out below? Let me explain what I mean. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. Just laws should be obeyed. Unjust laws should be changed. If you think a given law is unjust, you should be campaigning to change it, not breaking it…

"if you're taking illegal drugs you're responsible for all of that"

I'd argue that the legislators who made the consumption of these substances illegal are responsible for the current situation.

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#64

Post by Alex3917 » Tue, May 03, 2011, 7:06 PM UTC

jamesbritt wrote: post #34

jonknee wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Taking drugs breaks the way your brain is supposed to function; I mean that quite literally. I don't agree at all. Many people's brains are "broken" without drugs--depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. The default state isn't always perfect. Who's to say the drugs are the bug? Maybe they're a patch.

Many people's brains are "broken" without drugs--depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. The default state isn't always perfect. Who's to say the drugs are the bug? Maybe they're a patch. Thank you. I've tried explaining this to various people when discussing my on drug use. There's a common presumption that a person's brain, in its default state, is "OK", and that any messing with it is bad. Yet people typically do…

The way I think about it, we're all made out of drugs.

Someone famous actually said this, I forget who.

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#65

Post by Psyonic » Tue, May 03, 2011, 7:12 PM UTC

jwuphysics wrote: post #27

CoryMathews wrote: post #2

"The drugs can take you up in a helicopter to see what's there, but you can't stay. In the end, you have to climb the mountain yourself - the hard way." Thats a really good way to put it.

Having done many of the ones listed in the article, I would like to throw in my two cents: Drugs, like LSD or DMT, are not at all like seeing things from a helicopter. Sure, they are from a "new perspective", but unfortunately it's all in your head. My closest analogy is to dreaming--it seems to make perfect sense when you're dreaming, but when you wake up, you realize that all your thoughts were nonsense. I've had h…

Francis Crick gives credit to LSD for helping him to unravel the double helix nature of DNA. Is that not real?

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#66

Post by eof » Tue, May 03, 2011, 7:12 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #51

What's with this rash of illegal drug articles? Am I the only one who still thinks it's morally wrong to do something that's illegal, except in certain very special circumstances set out below? Let me explain what I mean. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. Just laws should be obeyed. Unjust laws should be changed. If you think a given law is unjust, you should be campaigning to change it, not breaking it…

WHAT?

I hope you are one of few that thinks it's morally wrong to do something that is illegal.

Legality should reflect a subset of morality, not the other way around.

The idea that you are morally obligated to follow unjust laws is absurd. Especially in a country where the laws are so obviously controlled far more by corporate interest rather than genuine democratic consent.

I will continue smoking pot and any other drug I fancy and shaking my head in disbelief that anyone can believe marijuana in particular should be illegal.

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#67

Post by Tichy » Tue, May 03, 2011, 7:18 PM UTC

A friend of mine freaked out after taking LSD for a while. She is fine now (it happened twenty years ago), but she was really scared - especially as there can be flashbacks, so you can not just opt out of not experiencing trips anymore.

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#68

Post by pnathan » Tue, May 03, 2011, 7:23 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #51

What's with this rash of illegal drug articles? Am I the only one who still thinks it's morally wrong to do something that's illegal, except in certain very special circumstances set out below? Let me explain what I mean. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. Just laws should be obeyed. Unjust laws should be changed. If you think a given law is unjust, you should be campaigning to change it, not breaking it…

I agree with you. But the conception of following the law is not a popular one in online culture.

oh, to put it another way:

geeks align hard towards chaotic good.

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#69

Post by joejohnson » Tue, May 03, 2011, 7:28 PM UTC

btilly wrote: post #54

nico wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article in Wikipedia says he was "one of the most prolific publishers of papers in mathematical history", that doesn't mean he was the most prolific mathematician of all time. What about Euler[1] for example? (I don't think he used drugs though) Anyway, I agree with your comment in the sense that intelligence, talent or success are not mutually exclusive with drugs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler

How do you measure? Erdos published more papers with more collaborators than Euler. Euler published more pages of material and founded more areas of research than Erdos. (Yes, Euler has the benefit of having had people think about his stuff longer, and attribute more to inspiration from him. But Erdos won't ever come close to catching up.) I think that Arthur Cayley is in third place on both measures.

As long as we are trying to determine causes of people's success, we should consider their location in time.

Imagine if Erdos had been around before Euler? Who's to say that he wouldn't have discovered some or more of what Euler discovered. The earlier discoveries were the easier one, the low-hanging fruit.

If I went back in time it would be easier for me to make some ground breaking discovery, like pythagoras theorem. But today, I need to be smarter and more clever than centuries of mathematicians to add something new to our collective knowledge of the universe. All of the easy problems are solved :(

Re: I take illegal drugs for inspiration

#70

Post by cosgroveb » Tue, May 03, 2011, 7:28 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #51

What's with this rash of illegal drug articles? Am I the only one who still thinks it's morally wrong to do something that's illegal, except in certain very special circumstances set out below? Let me explain what I mean. There are just laws, and there are unjust laws. Just laws should be obeyed. Unjust laws should be changed. If you think a given law is unjust, you should be campaigning to change it, not breaking it…

You think it is immoral to do anything illegal? Any action that is not yielding completely to authority (unless in the context of very public "courageous" civil disobedience) is just plain wrong? Even if your actions don't harm anyone else? I can't really agree with that ethos because you're outsourcing your own moral compass to lawmakers. By your logic, having gay sex is immoral in jurisdictions where sodomy is criminalized.

I definitely reject the notion that drug users are solely responsible for the high cost of enforcement when you look at the obscene and disproportionate amount of resources that are poured into the "War on Drugs." What has it ever truly accomplished? It's a failed policy. Yes we should change it, but society shares some of the blame with drug users for criminalizing something as harmless as pot use in the first place!