101–110 of 228 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This bit of fear, uncertainty, and doubt was brought to you by the Institute For Armchair Psychonauts Who Never Use Drugs.
Are you proposing that one should do any drug without skepticism after reading a wired article about it?
The real power comes from the realisation of who you really are and always have been, it's like you finally 'remember' that this life is just one in an infinity of previous and future 'lives' and that everyone and everything is you. It's the realisation of the fact that you (and everyone else) are in fact God who came into this body to feel separated from himself, that the Universe is some kind of cosmic simulation which you've created since the beginning of time.
This realisation is what frees people from the mundane reality of existence and gives one courage to embark on the craziest of endeavours, which sometimes have the side effect of changing the entire world.
He was accepted to university without exams, because he had great results on programming olympics.
Turned out he was also good at chemistry. When he was around 8 his mother arranged him to take chemistry classes with elder schoolchildren. But he dropped the classes because he was borred - he already knew everything taught there.
In university he tried drugs (marijuana, mushrooms). He also bought Hofmann's book with all the formulas and started cooking himslef.
One day he jumped off the roof of their apartment building. His mother found him. She said at first sight she thought it was some garbadge on the street, and then recognized her son.
On his computer he left open Richard Bach's book, with selection active on the phrase "you can fly, Jonathan". He left a note between pages of the Exupéry's book (I don't know exactly on what place, his relatives hadn't pay to that at the moment). The note said to dispel the ashes over the ocean.
The guy doesn't care - he is dead and feels nothing. But it was horrible to see his mother, and father too. He was the only child.
This case makes me doubt LSD and drugs in general are harmless.
I also have evidence the "inspiration" when you're on drugs is false, and actually it's more like a delirium.
Please, don't promote drugs.
UPDATE:
Surprisingly, some people even down-vote this comment, and convince me in telling false story. If so, what are my motives?
If you care, you can find plenty of documented evidence of drugs danger.
BTW, he jumped not because he "convinced himself he can fly", as many commenters suggested. His note said to dispel the ashes over the ocean.
If you heard something similar before - it doesn't make the story false, other way around, looks like such things happened more than once. In my case I am describing a real person I knew for years, and was present on his funeral.
This thread, and many comments here suggest a conspiracy theory -like idea, that anti drug laws and information is a malicious and false propaganda, imposed by state and society. Sorry, but it's just stupid.
It is irresponsible and inappropriate to promote drugs (LSD or whatever). And off-topic for Hacker News. There are people who unstable, who have internal emotional conflicts, etc. For them drug use may be a catastrophe.
The title of that article seems irresponsible IMO. If someone seeks out LSD on their own I don't see a problem with it, but I wouldn't want to be the one who encouraged them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This bit of fear, uncertainty, and doubt was brought to you by the Institute For Armchair Psychonauts Who Never Use Drugs.
I'd say the first point is kind of important, considering it's a synthetic drug and not a plant. I have no anecdotes for LSD, but a few people died in my city after only a normal dose of ecstasy (no alcohol).
Their motto: "but they're both fruit!"
Some people have reported "aliens" or "mechanical elves" in their experiences with DMT. (I never had anything like this though oddly) This could explain a lot of those area 51 alien reports though - the CIA could have very well have tested this substance alongside LSD in the MKULTRA experiments of the 50's and 60's and had a few test subjects genuinely think they saw aliens due to the fact they unknowingly ingested a psychedelic chemical. Wow, that theory is worthy of a conspiracy Keanu meme....
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…
> 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…
The situation is that LSD usage has been suppressed and denigrated by authorities, and now we're seeing a backlash against draconian drug restrictions. But it's easy to swing the pendulum too far the other way and downplay the negatives.
Drug usage should be a personal choice, and the only way to make good choices is to be fully informed. So I was trying to make sure everyone is informed about the risks. Specifically, you'll see things which aren't actually there, and if you freak out, you may make some decisions which turn out to be embarrassing at the least. That's where your responsible sitter needs to do their job.
There's nothing wrong with doing LSD. It sucks that there's a social stigma and it's hard to find a responsible sitter. But why go through all the trouble when there are some seriously scary downsides? The goal was simply to remind that there are pitfalls to watch out for.
All of this is just what I wish someone would've told me when I was a teenager. They warn everyone about peer pressure, but you tend to ignore those warnings as a teen. Anything your parents or teachers warn you about is de facto cool. So if they warn against peer pressure, you naturally want to rebel. "And besides, it seems so fun and harmless."
But peer pressure is very powerful. For example, whenever LSD threads pop up on HN, everyone talks about the wonderful experiences they've had, along with some impressive people who did LSD, like Jobs. And people often want to emulate Jobs.
That's a powerful distraction. It makes you forget what should be obvious: this is a personal choice, so make sure you're making the choice for the right reasons. Ignore what other people are doing, ignore the list of people who have done LSD, and weigh the risks appropriately.
Some people assume that taking LSD gives you some kind of super abilities which would make one more competitive in this world, but it's not what the experience is about. Yes, while tripping, your mind can handle infinity or galactic-sized data sets, visualise abstract concepts and zoom in and out of matter or numbers, but I don't think that's the true power of this substance. The real power comes from the realisation…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
My friend and university classmate - a kind of wounderkind. He was accepted to university without exams, because he had great results on programming olympics. Turned out he was also good at chemistry. When he was around 8 his mother arranged him to take chemistry classes with elder schoolchildren. But he dropped the classes because he was borred - he already knew everything taught there. In university he tried drugs…