RUMOUR: Apple to start selling iLSD.
Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
71–80 of 173 posts
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#72I've taken LSD and 'shrooms a few times, and while I can understand what Jobs is saying, I think he was wrong. I had mystical experiences where I thought I understood that the whole world was connected together, and I was connected to the world, and other deep insights. I think this was just brain-addled delusion, not any insight into how things really are. That said, I fully support these things being legal, and (fo…
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Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#73As a young man, I took psychedelics several times under the pretense of mind expansion. Looking back, I think the things I've read (and internalized), relationships I've had, and just generally "getting out of my comfort zone" had a more formative effect on my outlook than any chemicals.
If you want to use them, that's fine. But I would hate to think a young hacker reading this stuff felt like he needed to use psychedelics.
The notion that dropping acid was one of the two or three most important things Steve Jobs had done in his life seems a bit...reality distorting.
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#74[edit because absurdity is apparently not obvious] By the author's logic,[/edit] perhaps people should consider putting their children up for adoption, too. However, I suspect that moving to Silicon Valley would be more likely to provide them with opportunities for success.
The author's logic isn't "Steve Jobs took LSD, you should too", it's "Steve Jobs took LSD and credits it as a crucially important intellectual experience in his life, so maybe you should too." I'm pretty sure Jobs didn't say the same thing about being adopted.
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
College students are surrounded by drugs. They flow so freely that it seems like prohibition isn't really working. People who want drugs can get them. I don't do them either, nor do I have the desire but it just seems like only the poor and disadvantaged drug users go to jail.
Not sure about how easy it would be for an out-of-college, non-US person, with no social circle experimenting with such substances get hold of, say, LSD. Part of the non-legalization problem is that if forces you to go down dark alleys which are certainly not compatible with the all-is-good, geek experimentation philosophy. If forces potential users to associate with the hardcore underground, with all the risks that…
Probably you could just ask your kids, or ask around at a college campus, or google it, or check on craigslist (people sell weed on craigslist these days), or ask at a headshop. Also, I'm quite confident that someone you know, even in an extremely sober social circle would know someone who would now.
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#76I've never used illegal drugs, and I've never had a desire. However, the one problem we do have by keeping certain drugs illegal is that Americans are destroying countries, like Mexico, where a week doesn't by where a drug gang hasn't killed someone. Illegal drug money is used to finance so much corruption and killing, that there seems to be little value in keeping them illegal, especially considering that everyone w…
"Illegal drug money is used to finance so much corruption and killing, that there seems to be little value in keeping them illegal, especially considering that everyone who wants to take drugs still does. If certain drugs do have harmful effects then at least the effects will be mostly limited to the people who take them." Mexico is already corrupt without the drugs. Making them legal will give the cartels even more…
Not to pile on, but:
> Many people want government-run health care in the US. Legalizing illegal drugs will add to the already large amount of addicts. Do we really want more addicts in our hospitals? I also don't feel like I should be forced to pay for your poor life choices. Regular Drug users should immediately get a huge increase in healthcare costs.
First, the fact that drugs are illegal has done nothing to make them difficult to get - I think most university students would agree they are about 3 text messages away from any drug they might want. People don't avoid drugs because they are illegal, they avoid them because they are concerned about addiction & health effects.
Second, addiction is a public health issue, not a law and order issue. Do you know how expensive it is to imprison someone vs sending them to a rehab program? Take a look at Portugal - treating addiction like the health issue it is works and it's cheaper.
> We still have tons of people suing the cigarette companies because they cause cancer. I can only imagine how many lawsuits will be in our court systems if there is a company selling heroin.
I won't argue the premise but surely you would agree that a backed up court system beats DEA agents getting their heads blown off on a regular basis.
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#77I will never understand how HN manages to be so (maybe relatively) anti-drug, even in a latent fashion on this topic. I do, not, understand this sentiment. For all of the things that HN does not take at face value, there is a blind acceptance of the "drugs are evil" viewpoint espoused (often exclusively in the face of their own studies, dozens of times, over 20 years ) by the United States Government. Downvote within…
It seems plain to me that drug opinion on HN ranges from "don't care" to "aggressively advocating legalization". Are you sure you're not just spoiling for a fight? (It's ok; we all get bored sometimes).
Your comment captures nicely one of the things I hate most about out-of-place political stories on HN. There isn't enough diversity of opinion here to have a real debate, so basically what we get is a competition of who can be the most ardently in favor of the idea.
(I'm "don't care" leaning to "legalize because prohibition is expensive", for whatever that's worth to you).
I flagged this stupid article, by the way. What Greenwald says here he could have said at any time during the last 10 years. He's using the tragic death of a public figure as an excuse to suck all the oxygen out of the room and replace it with something else. This is bad, tactless writing period, not just a poor fit for HN.
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure about how easy it would be for an out-of-college, non-US person, with no social circle experimenting with such substances get hold of, say, LSD. Part of the non-legalization problem is that if forces you to go down dark alleys which are certainly not compatible with the all-is-good, geek experimentation philosophy. If forces potential users to associate with the hardcore underground, with all the risks that…
Probably you could just ask your kids, or ask around at a college campus, or google it, or check on craigslist (people sell weed on craigslist these days), or ask at a headshop. Also, I'm quite confident that someone you know, even in an extremely sober social circle would know someone who would now.
I won't go into details about why each solution you present is not optimal, because I have a better proposal.
Make LSD and other drugs of similar effect legal. Have the government regulate the distribution. Put an exorbitant price tag on them and disallow buying-in-bulk. Make me sign that I am wholly responsible for what happens to me by using them (even though nothing adverse as lung cancer will, I'm sure). Give me a piece of paper that says the LSD I carry is legal. Done.
Where i'm getting at is that I (for various definitions of I) would gladly pay, say, 1.000 USD/EUR for a "trip" if I knew I wasn't illegal or about to get poisoned. Heck, it's even cheaper than non-spiritual trips.
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#79I've never used illegal drugs, and I've never had a desire. However, the one problem we do have by keeping certain drugs illegal is that Americans are destroying countries, like Mexico, where a week doesn't by where a drug gang hasn't killed someone. Illegal drug money is used to finance so much corruption and killing, that there seems to be little value in keeping them illegal, especially considering that everyone w…
"Illegal drug money is used to finance so much corruption and killing, that there seems to be little value in keeping them illegal, especially considering that everyone who wants to take drugs still does. If certain drugs do have harmful effects then at least the effects will be mostly limited to the people who take them." Mexico is already corrupt without the drugs. Making them legal will give the cartels even more…
Many people want government-run health care in the US. Legalizing illegal drugs will add to the already large amount of addicts. Do we really want more addicts in our hospitals?
I really don't see this as the most likely scenario. Why would it follow that legalization of a drug would lead to more addicts? Cigarettes are legal and addictive and I don't smoke them. Heroin and meth could be legal and I wouldn't do those either. Legal doesn't imply uncontrolled and unfettered access by all and I really just don't see a huge influx of hard drug users, the people who want to experiment with them already do so regardless of legality, health effects or cost.
Further, legalization and taxation should cover the additional medical costs, the price of each pack of cigarettes is currently about 56% tax revenue and distilled spirits are around 50%. Sin/vice taxes already fund dozens of other things besides adult health care costs, if anything I would expect them to be exploited as a revenue generating machine that politicians could gouge for cash since it's so easy to demonize.
Re: Steve Jobs, LSD and Drug Freedom
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
downvoted for irrational mysticism
how is it irrational to say everything is connected? if you can show me two things that AREN'T connected, you'll have proven him wrong. but you can't, because you just connected the two things you named by putting them into the same sentence.
Sure, you can make the argument everything is connected. I don't need to drop acid to realize that argument, nor do I plan on dropping acid because of some mystical, inexplicable revelation it brings on a bunch of space cadets
Call it ignorant, I don't really care. I grew up with people that did acid, and their personalities shifted in a remarkably profound way, becoming much more introverted and quiet. Whether this was just growing up and didn't have to do with the acid, I don't know, but I know that as the only one that didn't do it my personality did not shift in that way, nor would I want it to shift in what I think is a negative manner
As a side note, and something to think about, are things really connected or is your brain just looking so hard to find patterns it connects things that have absolutely no correlation?
I think one of the great philosophical ideas of the last few centuries has been that reality may not exist and we interpret it-- which was generally assumed throughout thought before psychology and existentialism-- but our mind has an inner reality that we transpose onto the existential world. Aristotle was famous for saying everything has a purpose, but does it really? Or are our minds just finding a purpose for everything relative to our existence.
Just some random mental masturbation for you guys