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

LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

theconversation.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 140 posts

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#101

Post by mistermann »

Waterluvian wrote: post #10
jostmey wrote: post #6

I interpret this as Silicon valley losing its way. I'm not judging LSD use, but if you need it to get through the day then you need to find a different career. If you need your high paying, high stress job to afford your lifestyle, you need to find a more economically friendly environment.

You may be right. But I see it from a different angle. I don't see this as using drugs to get through the day. I see it as trying to get something for nothing. It feels like a very Silicon Valley attitude to want to discover a free lunch; some sort of bonus optimization. I would probably most expect this to come from Silicon Valley, Wall Street, professional sports, etc. Anywhere that fosters an attitude of seeking s…

If you see ten dollars on the ground, is there harm in picking it up?

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#102

Post by pmoriarty »

xatan_dank wrote: post #95

I think microdosing LSD for the purpose of increased work performance is absolutely ridiculous. I have absolutely nothing against performance enhancing drugs in the workplace or other areas so long as the drugs themselves can be taken safely, but I think the use of LSD and psychedelics in general for this purpose is misguided for several reasons. I think self-reported gains in creativity are meaningless in defending…

There have been some studies on the effect of psychedelics on creativity. A particularly relevant study by Oscar Janiger has been documented in LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process.[1] Other studies (including ones on microdosing) are discussed in The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide by James Fadiman.[2]

That said, this is a wide open field that could greatly benefit from more research. I am hopeful that such research will once again become acceptable to the scientific establishment before too long, as a number of studies on other effects of psychedelics have recently been completed with much success.

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/LSD-Spirituality-Creative-Process-Gro...

[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Explorers-Guide-Therapeut...

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#103

Post by Chris2048 »

grzm wrote: post #82
tossaway1 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's clear that lcw was making an observation about the tone of HN comments on the topic. I found it to be a reasonable one that matches my perception. Disputing his comment makes sense if you think he's wrong, but it seems unreasonable to require people to back up such commentary with "stats".

There's a tendency in discourse to make generalizations across large groups of people, which degrades our ability to see the nuance and diversity of opinion and perspective that clearly exists. This gets particularly pernicious when discussing contentious topics. Given the how damaging this can be (current political discourse in the US or here on HN is a good example), making such generalizations really needs to be j…

> There's a tendency in discourse to make generalizations across large groups of people, which degrades our ability

> It's well known that our perceptions are often wrong

Is these not generalizations across large groups of people?

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#104

Post by Hydraulix989 »

always_good wrote: post #73

It's hard for me to imagine getting any meaningful programming work done on even a low dose of acid. One look at my computer and I go "I sure waste a lot of my life on this thing. I'm going to go outside."

I'm a SV entrepreneur who is pretty well-connected with the community here (only mentioning this for the sake of credibility).

Maybe it's because I missed Burning Man this year, but I haven't heard of anybody doing this outside of articles on garbage news outlets like TechCrunch that say people are.

Marijuana or Adderall, sure (Meadow and Eaze are doing well here); maybe even the /r/nootropics stack, but not hallucinogenic substances.

I know people who have experimented with shrooms, but they don't consider them a "drug of choice," let alone a productivity enhancer by any means. In fact, one of my acquaintances ended up going off the deep end when he started taking LSD. It was a really sad story.

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#105

Post by tnecniv »

kobeya wrote: post #26
jostmey wrote: post #6

I interpret this as Silicon valley losing its way. I'm not judging LSD use, but if you need it to get through the day then you need to find a different career. If you need your high paying, high stress job to afford your lifestyle, you need to find a more economically friendly environment.

Microdosing LSD is not about "getting through your day." If you were complaining about adderall addiction, maybe you'd have a point. Microdosing LSD is about changing the user's thought processes, making them more creative and more able to make and explore abstract connections.

I'm sure it varies quite a bit from person to person. LSD does have a mood enhancing element.

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#106

Post by physicsyogi »

jahaja wrote: post #81
jb1991 wrote: post #11

I would strongly encourage anyone looking for new perceptions that aid in concentration and/or creativity to first really try, and properly try, and without giving up too soon, the art of meditation. It's cheaper, safer, longer-lasting, and most certainly a higher-quality experience once properly learned.

The practice of meditation makes me curious. Isn't the active ingredient of it just to take a break from outside stimulation for a while rather than to go through all the requirements of formal meditation - like not allowing your mind to wander off?

When I meditate, what my mind does or doesn’t do makes no difference. It really has nothing to do with me. I pay no attention to it. I basically sit as if I am dead, not responding to anything internal or external. If thoughts come, they come. If thoughts don’t come, they don’t come. Either way, I simply sit. It's oddly relaxing and energizing at the same time.

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#107

Post by grzm »

clccbcfd wrote: post #65
Thrillington wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drug abuse is a real thing and has extremely negative effects for individuals and those in their lives. That being said, it's a public health issue, not a criminal one. Abuse can also be significantly curbed by open and honest discussion about the benefits and negatives of various drugs. The DARE and scare model is an abject failure.

Absolutely. I have no interest in partisan arguments on the issue, that's all. edit: fwiw imperio59 has a post history repeatedly denigrating LSD, psychology as a valid scientific practice, in addition to advocating for and linking to Drug Free World, a Scientology-backed nonprofit. Not even worth replying to.

Your comment regarding another member would have a lot more weight coming from an account with some history. It's bad form regardless to make comments like this, but you're also using their comment history in doing so, yet denying others from knowing your own.

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#108

Post by hellofunk »

gomijacogeo wrote: post #59
jb1991 wrote: post #11

I would strongly encourage anyone looking for new perceptions that aid in concentration and/or creativity to first really try, and properly try, and without giving up too soon, the art of meditation. It's cheaper, safer, longer-lasting, and most certainly a higher-quality experience once properly learned.

Regardless of the merits of meditation, this post is a textbook case of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. Didn't help? Well, then you didn't _really_ try. Not for you? You didn't properly try. Had better effects from something else? You gave up too soon. Anything with this much up-front effort to derail falsifiability merits skepticism.

Sorry you're so skeptical, but a lot of people dismiss meditation after a superficial experiment, without any real understanding of what it its.

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#109

Post by tossaway1 »

grzm wrote: post #82
tossaway1 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's clear that lcw was making an observation about the tone of HN comments on the topic. I found it to be a reasonable one that matches my perception. Disputing his comment makes sense if you think he's wrong, but it seems unreasonable to require people to back up such commentary with "stats".

There's a tendency in discourse to make generalizations across large groups of people, which degrades our ability to see the nuance and diversity of opinion and perspective that clearly exists. This gets particularly pernicious when discussing contentious topics. Given the how damaging this can be (current political discourse in the US or here on HN is a good example), making such generalizations really needs to be j…

Healthy discourse can include both qualitative and quantitative commentary. I think HN readers can generally differentiate between the two. We don't need comment police complaining that some qualitative comments are lacking statistical support.

Re: LSD 'microdosing' is trending in Silicon Valley

#110

Post by grzm »

Chris2048 wrote: post #103
grzm wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a tendency in discourse to make generalizations across large groups of people, which degrades our ability to see the nuance and diversity of opinion and perspective that clearly exists. This gets particularly pernicious when discussing contentious topics. Given the how damaging this can be (current political discourse in the US or here on HN is a good example), making such generalizations really needs to be j…

> There's a tendency in discourse to make generalizations across large groups of people, which degrades our ability > It's well known that our perceptions are often wrong Is these not generalizations across large groups of people?

There's a tendency in discourse to make generalizations across large groups of people, which degrades our ability

Look at the discourse on HN, particularly on contentious topics, where people make general statements and then attack each other for apparently including unjustified assumptions in those general statements. Or look at the the polarization in the US where it's so often the case that it's "us" vs "them", bucketing people into two groups, without recognizing that there's significant overlap in values between them.

It's well known that our perceptions are often wrong

I would consider cognitive bias to be a pretty well-accepted idea. One of the strengths of the scientific method is that it provides a way to attempt to remove cognitive bias from observation. Do you disagree?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias

I didn't think my initial comment was going to result in this contentious thread. I'll leave it at that.

Post reply on HN