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

Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

patternproject.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 327 posts

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#101

Post by bongodongobob »

jekwoooooe wrote: post #71

Without rigorous science and licensed professionals it would be insanity to take these drugs. They can potentially PERMANENTLY traumatize your brain possibly even _literally_ ruining your entire life. I guess that risk is worth it for some people

I used to be very active in the hippy music scene. Permanent effects are exceedingly rare. I know people who trip fairly frequently and beyond some dreadlocks or tie dyed shirts off the clock, they are perfectly normal well adjusted people. You are being extremely hyperbolic.

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#102

Post by esseph »

hampowder wrote: post #53
t-3 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Every time I've seen someone get a "bad trip", they're people who read a lot and worked themselves into a state of anxiety over the fact that something could go wrong. If they had just approached it like "ooh lets get high and have fun" rather than "I have to do X, Y, Z or else it's going to be horrible!", they would have probably been OK. Hallucinogens have way too much gatekeeping and mysticalization ar…

Whilst that might true as per your observations, I've also seen people do zero research, take a substance in the wrong place/frame of mind, and subsequently had a more turbulent experience than they were expecting

That's true with anything, though.

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#103

Post by esseph »

I hope research with psilocybin, DMT, and other psychedelics continue and that some of these possible discoveries pan out.

Example that just came across my news feed: "psilocin, a byproduct of consuming psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, extended the cellular lifespan of human skin and lung cells by more than 50%."

https://neurosciencenews.com/psilocybin-longevity-aging-2942...

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#104

Post by allears »

Someone wrote: post #44
demiters wrote: post #3

Not a big fan of the ongoing productisation of transcendental, possibly brain-scrambling experiences. Keeping them somewhat less accessible tends to filter out people who don't do their homework to understand the substance and who consider it just another novel experience to try on a whim, which increases the risk of negative outcomes.

It also makes doing your homework a lot harder. If I want to buy alcohol, I can go to a shop and can get something that’s correctly labeled with an alcohol percentage and is highly unlikely to contain methanol. If I go buy some psychedelic, chances are it is diluted or laced, so I would have to know how to test that what they sell me is what I asked for.

There are jurisdictions where it's legal, and shops that will ship it virtually anywhere. The product is pure, tested, and consistent.

Of course you have to find such a shop (hint: try Canada), and it's still a lot of hassle for something that should be perfectly legal, and is, in many places.

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#106

Post by kmoser »

> His open-source approach democratized psychedelic exploration, shifting power away from costly retreats and elite gatekeepers toward broader accessibility.

No surprise that, in keeping with the hacker spirit, Bill wanted to democratize information that is otherwise accessible only to "high" priests.

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#107

Post by gregschlom »

pdabbadabba wrote: post #92
kelseyfrog wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, but the proponents of "Big Reality" really really really fight against its disruption.

Could you explain what you mean by that? Who are the proponents of “big reality”? How do they fight against its disruption?

It's a joke. People often have conspiracy theories about Big Pharma trying to prevent access to novel drugs that could disrupt their cash cows. The parent was jokingly talking about "Big Reality" as an imaginary group of people who hate to see "reality" disrupted by psychedelic experiences.

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#108

Post by allears »

hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #78
demaga wrote: post #56

I feel like someone is trying really hard to push public perception of psychedelics towards "acceptable". I don't know who it benefits, but this is a really weird Overton window. I wouldn't say a word if it weren't nth article about psychedelics that appears on HN frontpage. I was quiet the last n-1 times. If you google psilocybin right now, you can see articles that state how it "slows ageing" and "cures depression"…

That's something I'm really worried about, especially when SV is pushing it. And it is difficult to prove that research is unbiased. One of the commenters of your post says "If we legalize it we can better research it". Allow me to be rude -- this is BS. If we follow this logic we should legalize pretty much everything! I think it is polite to be rude to such dangerous thoughts. Downvote me as you see fit.

But following your logic everything would be illegal! There's a whole lot we don't know about how aspirin works, for instance.

Governments should not be in the business of banning things unless there's a clear and present danger. Citizens should have the autonomy to do risky things if they want to.

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#109

Post by colecut »

gregschlom wrote: post #107
pdabbadabba wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you explain what you mean by that? Who are the proponents of “big reality”? How do they fight against its disruption?

It's a joke. People often have conspiracy theories about Big Pharma trying to prevent access to novel drugs that could disrupt their cash cows. The parent was jokingly talking about "Big Reality" as an imaginary group of people who hate to see "reality" disrupted by psychedelic experiences.

I took it as being a joke in the way "the matrix" was "a movie"

Re: Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

#110

Post by justinrubek »

hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #78
demaga wrote: post #56

I feel like someone is trying really hard to push public perception of psychedelics towards "acceptable". I don't know who it benefits, but this is a really weird Overton window. I wouldn't say a word if it weren't nth article about psychedelics that appears on HN frontpage. I was quiet the last n-1 times. If you google psilocybin right now, you can see articles that state how it "slows ageing" and "cures depression"…

That's something I'm really worried about, especially when SV is pushing it. And it is difficult to prove that research is unbiased. One of the commenters of your post says "If we legalize it we can better research it". Allow me to be rude -- this is BS. If we follow this logic we should legalize pretty much everything! I think it is polite to be rude to such dangerous thoughts. Downvote me as you see fit.

I think a blanket ban under schedule 1 stating that it has no acceptable use is dangerous. It's a clearly false designation and doesn't have evidence to back it up. This isn't a simple matter of a dangerous substance. This is a hard-core human rights violation.
Post reply on HN