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LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

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Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#91
post #45

Reminds me of Richard Feyman taking LSD. He said he had an incredible breakthrough and a moment of pure clarity on a problem he had been working on mid-trip, only to come down and realize his breakthrough was really jibberish and not insightful at all.

Reminds me of my first experience. The trip involved getting something huge, like a big sense of "oh, I finally get it" but now, 3 years later, I'm still trying to figure out what I actually got.

It's possible that certain insights, realizations, concepts, or thoughts are not easily transferable or translatable from one mind-state to another.

Also, selective amnesia is a common effect of various drugs, including high-dose LSD trips. Dreams are also easy to forget upon waking, leading some to recommend that you try to make what you do remember from dreams (and from trips) concrete in ordinary waking consciousness, through artifacts such as art, music, etc.

Some psychological theories posit that there is a mechanism of repression that occurs when the mind resists the brining of certain subconscious material to consciousness. This is one reason that some therapists recommend one does not venture too deeply in to the subconscious without a trained guide. You might not be ready to handle what you find on your own.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#92
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third, go out into nature if you can. Preferably with just your friends and not a lot of people around. It's pretty cool. LSD impairs your ability to feel cold. People have died by taking drugs and then going out into snow. I sadly can't find the proof to back up my claim, but I read about a case of a girl taking ketamine and then going outside and succumbing to hypothermia. Here's another case of someone dying from…

> LSD impairs your ability to feel cold. People have died by taking drugs and then going out into snow. I sadly can't find the proof to back up my claim, but I did read about a case of a girl taking ketamine and then going outside and succumbing to hypothermia. Unless I'm misunderstanding, the idea of a "sitter" is someone that is not under the influence, so this could negate such effects if one fully follows the adv…

And every choice we make may change who we are relative to who we would be if we didn't make it. Basically that line of argument is fruitless imo

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#93
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of my first experience. The trip involved getting something huge, like a big sense of "oh, I finally get it" but now, 3 years later, I'm still trying to figure out what I actually got.

What I got from LSD upon reflection was that my mental pre-processor (what assigns learned categorical and pattern information to incoming data) limits my perception, leading me to overlook important details about the new data, and causing me to lazily follow the same old thought patterns as if on rails. It's often necessary to ignore everything we think we know and look at our current situation with fresh eyes in or…

Trauma and large life changes can also have a similar effect of reframing our views. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is based around the idea of framing/context being important and largely habitual without applying concious effort

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#94
post #92
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> LSD impairs your ability to feel cold. People have died by taking drugs and then going out into snow. I sadly can't find the proof to back up my claim, but I did read about a case of a girl taking ketamine and then going outside and succumbing to hypothermia. Unless I'm misunderstanding, the idea of a "sitter" is someone that is not under the influence, so this could negate such effects if one fully follows the adv…

And every choice we make may change who we are relative to who we would be if we didn't make it. Basically that line of argument is fruitless imo

These chemicals will change your brain, and your brain is who you are.

It's not philosophical. It's physical.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#95
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever there's a question mark in the title, the answer is usually no, and the article is linkbait. I don't know if this rule of thumb applies to this article.

Betteridge's law of headlines [0]. The answer to the question is generally no - that doesn't make the article useless link bait though. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

You guys know scientists are supposed to ask questions, right?

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#96
My theory is that there is NO direct correlation between drugs like cannabis or LSD and creativity.

I know some talented people, experiences when I was young was watching friends "stoned"/"high" but talking utter crap! The next day after the trip (without fail) these already smart people "think" they have said or done something profound, but they never did!

Days later, their own creative genius is pushed on a search to find out what they said or did that was so profound/creative. Sometimes they do something amazing, but most of the time they don't!

When I was 20 at university (I'm in my 30s now) a friend of mine took cannabis and LSD for the first time. It was not something I did, not because of any moral high ground, but because it also kinda scared me. During the nightout he started to act really strange, bad trip everyone assumed. That weekend (the day after) his mum called asking us all what he had taken, he had been sectioned under the mental health act. It turned out his family had a history of mental health problems. He was sectioned for almost 2 years and never finished Uni.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#97
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third, go out into nature if you can. Preferably with just your friends and not a lot of people around. It's pretty cool. LSD impairs your ability to feel cold. People have died by taking drugs and then going out into snow. I sadly can't find the proof to back up my claim, but I read about a case of a girl taking ketamine and then going outside and succumbing to hypothermia. Here's another case of someone dying from…

> LSD impairs your ability to feel cold. People have died by taking drugs and then going out into snow. I sadly can't find the proof to back up my claim, but I did read about a case of a girl taking ketamine and then going outside and succumbing to hypothermia. Unless I'm misunderstanding, the idea of a "sitter" is someone that is not under the influence, so this could negate such effects if one fully follows the adv…

> So don't do it unless you're sure you dislike yourself.

This is, in my opinion, a terrible reason to stay away from LSD. You're effectively saying avoid anything that may have bad results. Not liking yourself has never been a prerequisite for being curious. I've seen people have panic attacks on roller coaster rides that almost certainly altered their chemical balance for a significant period of time with permanent fear of heights tagging along, but once you start staying away from things that are on that scale of 'danger', at what point does it become relative to now say, "Stay away from playing sports, unless you don't like the way you function". I realize this is a slippery slope fallacy, so I'm not asking you to consider that exact scenario seriously, I'm just asking you to consider there could potentially be worse consequences to having that mindset than taking LSD.

I'm not advocating taking LSD, at all, mind you. I ignorantly (having never taken LSD) presume the social consequences of taking 'real drugs' outweigh the potential benefits.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#98

My theory is that there is NO direct correlation between drugs like cannabis or LSD and creativity. I know some talented people, experiences when I was young was watching friends "stoned"/"high" but talking utter crap! The next day after the trip (without fail) these already smart people "think" they have said or done something profound, but they never did! Days later, their own creative genius is pushed on a search…

Not to discount your observations of a couple of your friends, but if you look at actual scientific studies of LSD's effect on creativity,[1] there is a very clear link.

That said, it's not a panacea or a magic pill. You are not guaranteed to become more creative when you take LSD. You most likely will not become Mozart or Picasso by taking it. It is even possible to misuse or abuse LSD, as you can misuse and abuse alcohol, food, water, and sex.

My own observations of people having unproductive experiences from psychedelics is that they take them in ignorance, without much if any education about what they're taking, without proper respect (ie. to just "party" or "have fun" or as attempted distractions or escapes from lives that are miserable in various ways), in an unsupportive or even actively hostile context, without planning, and without a goal.

They often believe in all sorts of urban myths about LSD and other psychedelics (like that taking LSD seven times makes you "clinically insane", or that LSD damages your chromosomes or makes you stare in to the sun until you go blind, etc), they often mix drugs (which can be very dangerous -- especially when one of those drugs is alcohol), and do really stupid things like driving under the influence.

Is it any wonder that such situations and attitudes lead to bad outcomes? Should drugs be blamed for what happens? Or could some responsiblity for what happens be laid on the shoulders of the people who choose to use them in stupid ways, or on the society that keeps them ignorant or tries to lie about the effects of these drugs or actively tries to harm drug users, or at least make constructive, safe use of these substances very difficult and dangerous?

About your friend who was "sectioned" (I presume this refers to involuntary confinement to a mental institution), it sounds like you know very little of what actually happened to him or his psychological state before or after the incident. I would not be surprised if his family (who you admit have had mental problems of their own) or the authorities overreacted, and that his confinement to the mental institution might have been a much worse experience than his LSD trip.

Finally, an LSD trip can be a very emotionally intense experience. Emotionally intense experiences of any kind could trigger psychotic episodes in succeptable individuals. Such people could have a psychotic episode without any being drugs involved. People with family history of mental illness would do well to be extra cautious before engaging in any activity that might result in an emotionally intense experience.

[1] - http://www.amazon.com/LSD-Spirituality-Creative-Process-Grou...

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#99

My theory is that there is NO direct correlation between drugs like cannabis or LSD and creativity. I know some talented people, experiences when I was young was watching friends "stoned"/"high" but talking utter crap! The next day after the trip (without fail) these already smart people "think" they have said or done something profound, but they never did! Days later, their own creative genius is pushed on a search…

Sectioned?

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006)

#100
post #99

My theory is that there is NO direct correlation between drugs like cannabis or LSD and creativity. I know some talented people, experiences when I was young was watching friends "stoned"/"high" but talking utter crap! The next day after the trip (without fail) these already smart people "think" they have said or done something profound, but they never did! Days later, their own creative genius is pushed on a search…

Sectioned?

British for committed

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/section#Verb

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