Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

themicrodose.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 275 posts

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#161

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

y33t wrote: post #112
pockmarked19 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> entire concept of time “Entire” concept is stretching it, causality and entropy are not man made. If you want to look at ideas people made up that have way too much influence on our lives, you need look no further than your wallet.

I'd say causality and entropy are contingent on the (very compelling) assumption that time is real. We could be Boltzmann Brains, or something even weirder. Do I believe that the world is terribly different from what it appears to be? No, but ultimately our perceptions of the world are merely representation held in our minds.

We could be Boltzmann Brains on drugs.

Or worse.

Presumably the probability of a brain appearing as a disordered psychiatric monster is far higher than the probability of arriving as an Earth-normal tenured cosmologist.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#162

Post by sosodev »

NickC25 wrote: post #4

Have no idea what variant of LSD I last consumed, but I remember some deep feelings of profound thoughts and self-reflection quite almost instantly when the stuff "hit" (maybe 30-45 minutes after ingestion), I was still cognizant enough to be able to write it all down. Some of what I wrote was indeed stuff I needed to work on in my own life and it was pretty helpful. I then spent the next like 12 hours on my couch re…

Does relativity mean that time is not just a human construct? It’s hard to believe it is irrelevant when we have discovered special behaviors that are part the fabric of reality.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#163

Post by shipscode »

daneel_w wrote: post #160
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a fellow psychonaut, and have plenty of experience across plenty of entheogens... I DO NOT RECOMMEND SALVIA TO ANYBODY (not even experienced dissociative users). It has no beneficial purpose, and is quite terrifying. My best summary of using Salvia is it typically leads mental isolation on par with what most never-used-drugs persons think a "bad LSD trip" might be like. Should you still want to play with this or…

I don't recommend anyone to experiment with drugs, but , nor would I in the case of salvia advice against it or caution people, with the exception that they should have a "sitter" the first couple of times. I view drugs as potentially enabling people to have incredible otherwise unobtainable experiences, and I don't want to "gatekeep" and stand in people's way from that, unless the case was highly addictive and degen…

A sitter isn't going to save you from a lifetime of HPPD or visual snow.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#164

Post by daneel_w »

shipscode wrote: post #163
daneel_w wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recommend anyone to experiment with drugs, but , nor would I in the case of salvia advice against it or caution people, with the exception that they should have a "sitter" the first couple of times. I view drugs as potentially enabling people to have incredible otherwise unobtainable experiences, and I don't want to "gatekeep" and stand in people's way from that, unless the case was highly addictive and degen…

A sitter isn't going to save you from a lifetime of HPPD or visual snow.

Spare me and others the FUD. I tried salvia after years of reading about people's experiences with it.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#165

Post by shipscode »

Reminder that one experience with hallucinogenic substances can give you a lifetime of visual or mental abnormalities.

Personally I've had visual snow for over a decade from a 5 minute Salvia trip. This means that instead of looking at the color white or black and seeing a clean color, I see a static cloud all over it. I'm one of the lucky ones - most of the people I've known over the years who messed with these substances ended up dead, with persistent mental illness, or brain fog that took years to clear up.

You roll the dice on your mental and physical well being every time you ingest a hallucinogen. The characterization of these substances as ones which induce visual hallucinations without mentioning the lifetime of mental health issues they leave people with is dangerous.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#167

Post by Uptrenda »

NickC25 wrote: post #4

Have no idea what variant of LSD I last consumed, but I remember some deep feelings of profound thoughts and self-reflection quite almost instantly when the stuff "hit" (maybe 30-45 minutes after ingestion), I was still cognizant enough to be able to write it all down. Some of what I wrote was indeed stuff I needed to work on in my own life and it was pretty helpful. I then spent the next like 12 hours on my couch re…

When I see posts like this I wonder if taking these drugs permanently alters ones conception of reality whether a person wants that or not. For example, if a person who has never taken LSD before reads the sentence "the entire concept of time is manmade [...]" they take that as kind of an abstract philosophy. The kind where someone might chuckle, roll their eyes, and say "yeah, sure thing man". But there's a huge difference between that and experiencing it, and then subsequently knowing it.

The realizations you get on LSD are absurd. Yet, can end up being true statements that would almost never be believed otherwise. You could probably end up with the same conclusions if you thought about these related topics enough. But that would end up being similar to some beliefs talked about in certain spiritual practices. So its almost like if you take LSD you end up downloading that knowledge instantly which is bizarre to think about.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#168

Post by bongodongobob »

dmvdoug wrote: post #166

Reading this thread, Jesus. TIL: HN has a significant following of drug users. No judgment, y’all do y’all, but it was surprising.

Welcome to the world. Waaaaay more people do/have done drugs than you think. In fact, if this is surprising to you, it might mean people don't trust you.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#169

Post by Swizec »

Uptrenda wrote: post #167
NickC25 wrote: post #4

Have no idea what variant of LSD I last consumed, but I remember some deep feelings of profound thoughts and self-reflection quite almost instantly when the stuff "hit" (maybe 30-45 minutes after ingestion), I was still cognizant enough to be able to write it all down. Some of what I wrote was indeed stuff I needed to work on in my own life and it was pretty helpful. I then spent the next like 12 hours on my couch re…

When I see posts like this I wonder if taking these drugs permanently alters ones conception of reality whether a person wants that or not. For example, if a person who has never taken LSD before reads the sentence "the entire concept of time is manmade [...]" they take that as kind of an abstract philosophy. The kind where someone might chuckle, roll their eyes, and say "yeah, sure thing man". But there's a huge dif…

> "the entire concept of time is manmade [...]" they take that as kind of an abstract philosophy. The kind where someone might chuckle, roll their eyes, and say "yeah, sure thing man".

Probably every teenager with enough free time to think has had this realization. The trick is what do you do about it?

Manmade or not, time is a useful construct. You might as well use it. Even if deep down you know it’s just a convention, you still gotta live in society and coordinate with others. A shared understanding of time makes this easier.

Re: What do people see when they're tripping? Analyzing Erowid's trip reports

#170

Post by aqueueaqueue »

guardian5x wrote: post #14
westmeal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes it just hits in such a way that you have no idea wtf is happening. One time I couldn't read because letters just didn't have meaning any more. It looked like alien unicode characters or some shit.

Isn't that kinda scary? I mean when some parts of your brains don't work or not work properly?

I am not pro LSD (I don't think I'll ever try this or similar).

But I would say sleep is similar in this regard especially dreams.

Post reply on HN