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Communicating with people on psychedelics

qualiacomputing.com

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Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#101

Post by pantalaimon »

bmelton wrote: post #79
ZeroFries wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "types of LSD". It's one chemical, no?

I mean "types" more like I might say "types of water". Sure, there's only one real water, and whether there's lemon added, or if it's filtered through limestone, it technically bears a different configuration (now making it water with lemon, or water with limestone). That said, LSD is (to my experience) rarely concocted at pharmaceutical grade. Different concentrations, different configurations, different additives l…

There are not many chemicals active in the μg range, let alone when they are only present in traces.

With psychedelics dose and unknown environmental and psychological factors can lead to different effect, so there is no need to speculate about a different chemical composition.

I'd be careful when talking about 'different kinds of LSD' because while there are indeed various other Lysergamides that produce analogues effects, most of the time you are more likely to get something that is not LSD at all (e.g. NBOMe) when talking about 'different kinds' of LSD.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#102

Post by choosername »

rudolf0 wrote: post #30
leemoore wrote: post #24

I believe the main factor at play in the first pair of images, is that on LSD and other hallucinogens as well as intensive meditation is that there are little mind programs that run on our perception that smooth out reality for us. If you notice, even just sitting still we are constantly moving our head just a little, constantly moving our eyes. Without these programs, our visual field would seem far more jumpy and u…

Kind of like toggling "motion blur" on and off in a first-person shooter, I suppose? Or maybe more accurately "motion of other 3D objects" blur.

that would rather be because of motor control issues, including inhibited feedback from the visual cortex or simply dry eyes but something about focus.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#103

Post by [deleted] »

rudolf0 wrote: post #30
leemoore wrote: post #24

I believe the main factor at play in the first pair of images, is that on LSD and other hallucinogens as well as intensive meditation is that there are little mind programs that run on our perception that smooth out reality for us. If you notice, even just sitting still we are constantly moving our head just a little, constantly moving our eyes. Without these programs, our visual field would seem far more jumpy and u…

Kind of like toggling "motion blur" on and off in a first-person shooter, I suppose? Or maybe more accurately "motion of other 3D objects" blur.

[deleted]

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#104

Post by choosername »

zardo wrote: post #77
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Seeing" is the process of constructing meaning from the raw activation of the light receptors in your eyes. That's why optical illusions work. After all, it's simply patterns of ink on a page - why should you see things that seem impossible? It's because the image is designed to get your brain to construct a particular meaning out of the image.

LSD's effect isn't limited to visual perception. One of the most common reported phenomenon is a sort of understanding of the connectedness of things. That may be a result of the reality that all things really are connected when they are stored as concepts in a network of neurons.

and that the neurons are not, if briefly, connected anymore when a chemical acid destructs them.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#105

Post by cnp »

taternuts wrote: post #100
cnp wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a good amount of time a few years ago exploring the DMT realm, and its totally, completely and inexplicably mysterious. Either consciousness is a non-local phenomena and when you smoke it you end up in some kind of parallel dimension or for whatever crazy reason evolution decided it was important to incorporate these alien beings into our subconscious mind. Those with a rigid reductionist perspective would do…

I'm both fascinated and very scared of DMT. As I get older and my want to experiment with unfamiliar substances wanes, I'm pretty confident that I'll probably never try DMT, but I wish I had when I was younger and more brash. I've had friends who have taken too much and went down the DMT-hole, and their description of it (as best they can recollect anyways) is absolutely terrifying. One example was a friend who felt…

Yeah, I can very much sympathize with your friend. One thing I've learned is that setting an intention is important, and not being reckless with it is important too. There have been a few time where I've come back home after a night out and dove right in with half drunken bravery, and yes infinite thought loops are a thing! There was one time where I quite literally thought I had died and landed in hell and in that moment of time an indescribable suffering was transmitted through my being via some kind of demon which left me in tears for about a half of an hour afterwards. But lest I drive the curious away, whenever I have gone into it with respect I've had experiences that were deeply enlightening and, while always weird, seemingly benign.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#106

Post by awl130 »

leemoore wrote: post #95
awl130 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i've been meditating for 6 yrs now and i'm interested in your meditation experience. do u have a blog or social media account or something publicly available about it?

I don't have that. However if your not familiar with the Dharma Overground, I'd check it out. There are lots of dedicated geeky practitioners over there that share experiences and to whatever degree possible attempt to document the results with more scientific rigor than a typical spiritual community. http://www.dharmaoverground.org/

thank you, will check out

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#107

Post by anigbrowl »

imesh wrote: post #60
rudolf0 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so odd how there's a near-universal reporting of small elf- or dwarf-like creatures from that drug. Is there any proposed mechanism of action for how it works?

I dit DMT once. No elves or other creatures.

Same here.Extremely strange parallel dimension and some other entity, but not the sort of alien companions I hear about from other people. It might be that I'm very unsocial and a bit of mystic to begin with, my brain has always seemed to be wired quite differently from most other people.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#108

Post by anigbrowl »

Even more awesome is the idea that this technology can lead to the creation of a video-game that only people on psychedelics can understand and play.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Giraffe seems like a good candidate, though no for the reasons the author suggests. I usually suck on high speed videogames but I just kept endlessly running up a high score on Space Giraffe while my wife (who's way better than me at arcade games) sat there going 'but how are you playing? What's even going on?!'

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#109

Post by leemoore »

awl130 wrote: post #106
leemoore wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have that. However if your not familiar with the Dharma Overground, I'd check it out. There are lots of dedicated geeky practitioners over there that share experiences and to whatever degree possible attempt to document the results with more scientific rigor than a typical spiritual community. http://www.dharmaoverground.org/

thank you, will check out

I just popped over there. I haven't been in a while. It looks like one of my longer reports was linked up to their wiki. This chronicles my meditative exploits from when I really got into it up until an 8 month sabbatical I took and had some initial breakthroughs. http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/messa...

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#110

Post by awl130 »

leemoore wrote: post #109
awl130 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thank you, will check out

I just popped over there. I haven't been in a while. It looks like one of my longer reports was linked up to their wiki. This chronicles my meditative exploits from when I really got into it up until an 8 month sabbatical I took and had some initial breakthroughs. http://www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discussion/-/messa...

lee, i copy/pasted one of my hn comments below, that describes my meditation. there's a lot of lingo in your link that i don't understand. can you comment on what i describe as stage 1 and 2 below, and if that is related to stream entry, etc.?

--

2009: 1 hr

2010: 30 min

2011-2014: 10 min

2015-present: 0-10 min

these are my daily averages. i have one rule: before I go to bed, I must assume the lotus position on the floor in front of my bed.

2015 was particularly a challenging year for me (startup problems), and it was all i could do to even assume the lotus position for a second. so for much of 2015 i really didn't meditate, which was ironically when i probably needed it the most. such is my life.

it takes around 4 minutes for me to reach what i call stage 1. this is when all the normal chatter in your mind ceases and your breathing is synced (i've also noticed that it takes around 40 breaths, which is roughly 4 min, so sometimes for shits and giggles i just count to 40). after much trial and error i've noticed i don't even need to do anything; it's the mere passage of 4 minutes that gets me to stage 1.

thereafter is when the real effort begins. it is a constant effort to reach what i call stage 2, or what i consider the beginning of true mindfulness, which means you are neither thinking of the past nor the future. i would say i only enter stage 2 at seconds at a time, only to fall out again into stage 1 (usually by an intruding thought, and that thought is usually "oh, i've got it!").

to be honest, i don't know what the effects have been for me. i seriously don't feel any different. anyway, how are we to separate the effects of meditation with the normal process of maturation or aging? am i getting calmer because of meditation or because i am getting older?

i take it on faith. faith in data and science. our personal experience with meditation cannot be the guide with which we measure it's effectiveness, because subjective experience is exactly that. i liken it to flossing. i floss my teeth every day but still have worse gum recession than those who do not. my periodontist and dentist chalk it up to genetics, because that is the best they can conjecture based on the current science. we can measure flossing easily; without a brain scanner in our basement we cannot so measure effects of meditation. so from the research i take it on faith that the effects must be beneficial on my brain.

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