LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? (2006) • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by swatow » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 7:16 PM UTC

I don't see any connection between LSD and geek culture, except for the one programmer who happened to be at that conference.

I'd go further and say that I don't see a strong connection between geek culture and the countercultural movement in general. I see it as a carrot and stick approach by the left. On the one hand, the stick is attacking geek culture as a bunch of sexist racist losers. The carrot is allowing geek culture to be co-opted (recuperated, to use a long out of fashion term) by the countercultural movement. We are allowed to celebrate "hacking" as long as it is considered as part of the grand tradition of countercultural rebellion.

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

#212

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 8:54 PM UTC

WiseWeasel wrote: post #69

jwdunne wrote: 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…

[deleted]

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

#213

Post by keypusher » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 8:55 PM UTC

WiseWeasel wrote: post #69

jwdunne wrote: 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…

Interestingly, this was the same reaction Aldous Huxley had to taking psychedelics. He wrote about the experience in "The Doors Of Perception", the book from which "The Doors" (band) got their name. I believe the quote originally comes from William Blake.

> “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.”

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

#214

Post by anonbanker » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 9:41 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #205

anonbanker wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but you know the drill, I'm inviting the down votes. When I have conclusive data on what I'm working on here, you and Dang will definitely be the first to know. Either way, thank you for the commentary. There have been times I actually didn't understand the downvotes, and your posts were rather enlightening.

Hang on: dang is an HN mod. I'm not. I'm just someone who comments too often.

Which is why I figured you'd be first to know. :-)

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

#215

Post by arvinjoar » Mon, Jan 26, 2015, 2:19 AM UTC

xefer wrote: post #16

Well, I'm still waiting for the fellowship of LSD-fueled Übermenschen to emerge. Until then I'll just try to eat well, exercise more and get enough sleep. That seems to be the key for most elite developers I've encountered.

"Turn on, tune in, drop out" is probably not very conducive to the mainstream conception of "success"... With that said, it's a trip, it can be both rough, frightening and utterly rewarding. I don't think anyone claims that you'll automatically become some demi-God by traveling, but it certainly broadens your horizons.

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

#216

Post by lappa » Mon, Jan 26, 2015, 3:36 AM UTC

anonbanker wrote: post #101

lappa wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you proposing that one should do any drug without skepticism after reading a wired article about it?

Lemme know what part of my grandparent mentioned your straw man.

Lemme know what part of my statement was a strawman.

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

#217

Post by jeremysmyth » Mon, Jan 26, 2015, 10:33 AM UTC

krapp wrote: post #209

anonbanker wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a darn shame Revelations wasn't rejected for the same reasons.

Maybe the temptation to start the book with the creation of the world and end it with its destruction was too much to resist?

Could've ended with Genesis chapter 7 then, and saved the world a whole lotta grief.

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

#218

Post by jeremysmyth » Mon, Jan 26, 2015, 10:39 AM UTC

Ollinson wrote: post #199

Iv wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There have been no documented human deaths from an LSD overdose.[51] It is physiologically well tolerated and there is no evidence for long-lasting physiological effects on the brain or other parts of the human organism.[52]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide#Pote...

I think you misunderstand. Survivorship bias in this context means we do not know all of the people who did LSD that did not go on to do anything significant. Therefore it is pointless to suggest LSD has overlap with "interesting people."

On the other hand, every time this topic comes up here or elsewhere, the majority of stories are positive, with a few horror stories (fewer than I'd expect for such an intense experience).

'Survivorship bias' is a misleading term for what you intend to imply, because those who have had a bad LSD experience are no less capable of sharing their intense experience except in the most extreme cases (i.e. when they didn't, in fact, survive). Personally, if I had such an intensely bad experience I'd be quite willing to share it so that others can avoid it. That is just not reflected the balance of stories I read though.

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

#219

Post by anonbanker » Mon, Jan 26, 2015, 7:42 PM UTC

lappa wrote: post #216

anonbanker wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lemme know what part of my grandparent mentioned your straw man.

Lemme know what part of my statement was a strawman.

The part about doing any drug without skepticism. I'll wait.

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

#220

Post by lappa » Mon, Jan 26, 2015, 8:30 PM UTC

anonbanker wrote: post #219

lappa wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lemme know what part of my statement was a strawman.

The part about doing any drug without skepticism. I'll wait.

What about that is straw man? I don't think you have a full understanding of the fallacy. The wikipedia definition is

"A straw man is a common type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on the misrepresentation of an opponent's argument."

I haven't misrepresented your argument in any way since I haven't represented your argument in any way. I never claimed you claimed anything. It isn't fallacious to ask someone to clarify an argument.

You didn't explicitly state your argument (or anything of substance), so I asked what you were actually trying to claim.