Live data from Hacker News

Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

nature.com

131–140 of 276 posts

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#131
post #12

While the analogies are often useful, everyone reading HN comments should be very aware and very skeptical of just how often computer/tech people rely on computer/tech analogies to understand things that are fundamentally not computers/tech. It is very very easy for smart people with functionally specific jobs/hobbies/ways of thinking to see all reality through that narrow window. It often leads to important details…

> But it is just a feeling.

Culture and science are also powerful benders of reality.

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#132
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feeling "it is just a feeling" is also just a feeling.

Absolutely not. Feeling "it is just a feeling" is being grounded in reality and affirming your senses and convictions are volatile and shouldn't be trusted. Feeling "I solved the world, everybody listen to me" is... not.

> Feeling "I solved the world, everybody listen to me" is... not.

Does this apply to the preceding paragraph in your comment?

How about to science, and various other The Way's currently popular bordering on mandatory (if you want to be respected at least) in this era, culture, geographical region?

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#133
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar thing. My good friend and early college roommate took his own life with a gun after having a bad trip. I wasn’t there for it, but the way he described it he felt ridiculed and deserted by his old high school friends during the trip. He was left alone to deal with these feelings. His mood post trip became increasingly abysmal. He became highly paranoid, and started questioning the loyalty of the people close t…

Access to weapons is also a problem. That could have been a transient event he would have recovered from.

In my life I met two people who survived botched suicide attempts without using firearms. When someone decides to do it, they will try, and there are things worse than dying.

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#134
Feedback in an anlog signalling system producing delays, reflections, geometric and clipped artifacts is something anyone who has used a guitar effects pedal is familiar with. I have a surprising number of old comments on this site about how hallucinogens just impair signalling and the results are geometric for the same reasons. This article says it impairs the equivalent to the CLK signal, which sounds just about right.

Don't be disappointed about it not being another spiritual dimension, they discovered we literally have effects pedals for our brains. This is the coolest thing ever. We could probably classify hallucinogenic artifacts by chorus, delay, flange, harmonics...

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#135
post #23
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue it's way more meaningful... It's unconscious knowledge; maybe not ready to hit the surface yet, but still actively affecting your life from within. Whatever glimpses you get is just what you're capable of dealing with atm. Everybody's experience is different.

It might clarify things to say unconscious beliefs, expectations, or thought patterns instead of knowledge. It doesn't seem that the subconscious mind is a font of pure wisdom and knowledge but it powerfully affects us in ways that our conscious mind isn't aware of, by definition. Before using psychedelics, it's important to anchor ourselves by questioning the difference between knowing something and feeling like we…

> Before using psychedelics, it's important to anchor ourselves by questioning the difference between knowing something and feeling like we know something.

The inverse seems more prudent to me, since mostly all global decisions get made when not on psychedelics, and we arguably have a severe lack of truly novel, out of the box ideas...who knows, maybe something useful for addressing climate change, polarization, etc could result!

Or at least, run some trial studies comparing results under the three modes. I don't think I've ever heard of a study like this being done before.

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first statement is not supported by the second. Yes, in a DV situation or a situation where someone has severe mental illness, it's probably not a good idea to have easy access to a firearm. But if you actually look at the numbers, the average firearm is not used in self-defense, nor is it used to endanger a family member. The vast majority just . . . sit there. They're machines which must be used respectfully a…

Most landmines also just sit there.

No kidding, mine are still in the box.

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing. Not sure if the guidance to do shrooms in an appropriate setting and with an appropriate mindset ("set and setting") would have helped, but certainly that guidance is no joke! And we should absolutely continue research to learn more about the adverse effects. Obviously they help a lot of people, but must be done with care and seem not to be helpful for every person. We must learn more about these…

Whenever I read about shroom usage in ancient times, it almost always has some type of guidance and ceremony associated with it. The laws have turned it into something taboo and then people often start consuming psychedelics in a weird and suspicious way to begin with...because it's not legal potentially leading to more and more bad trips. Meditation is similar, often seemed to be associated with guidance from someon…

I agree, we’ve forced consumption to the margins which encourages unsafe use.

California is looking at legalizing psychedelic therapy without full legalization which is an interesting approach. I think ultimately adults should be allowed to make their own choices, as I’ve had very meaningful trips in a friends living room for a few dollars and a fully regulated therapeutic setting will probably cost $1000 (based on costs in Oregon). But maybe a therapy-first based approach will help underscore the need for appropriate ritual around these materials. Ultimately though adults are allowed to take risks with alcohol and other substances, and I think we should be free to do so with psychedelics too.

https://apnews.com/article/psychedelic-mushrooms-mental-heal...

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#139
post #138
post #2

incredibly powerful drug. we should be training a legion of mystics using psilocybin instead of criminalizing it and obfuscating the implications of its use

> training a legion of mystics Oh yeah! But what does that mean?

Well, we would need the mystics to figure that out for us.

Re: Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

#140
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that PSA. And here's to your lost friend! I have a lost one too, but due to a different cause. He took hard drugs he was dealing to pay off a house after a legislative decision basically eliminated his well paying job. We grew up very much do what it fucking takes kind of people. And we were tested in life more than once. I still draw from that time today, sometimes remembering and finding that which will…

Sorry about your friend. When you say "hard drugs" are you referring to mushrooms? Where I'm from mushrooms aren't considered a hard drug, heroin and cocaine would be.

> Where I'm from mushrooms aren't considered a hard drug, heroin and cocaine would be.

Yes

But it is hard to understand when herion, and LSD are in the same legal category

The law is an ass

Post reply on HN