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LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

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Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#211

Post by dooq »

anonLSD wrote: post #180
moultano wrote: post #172

If you have any predisposition towards psychosis, in family history or personally, please avoid LSD. For those firmly rooted, it might be pleasurable or productive to become a little less so. If you're already sometimes on the edge, LSD can push you over. This happened to one of my best friends. Growing up he was crazy, creative, always saw things a little differently, prone to manic behavior. After a year of regular…

I'm very positive on LSD in general, but even to me, "a year of regular LSD use", or any kind of "regular" use sounds extreme and dangerous. I guess I take it for granted that something so intense should be approached with a great deal of respect and caution. I do find it odd that people naturally "get" this for things like driving a car, hang-gliding, back-country skiing, skateboarding, parkour.... but often shut do…

I would also strongly advise against regular use of LSD.

I think LSD trips are highly influenced by your state of mind and intention towards the trip. Sometimes I've tripped looking for a spiritual event or revelations, and they often show up (in some form or another). Other times I've done it more 'just for fun' and there hasn't been as much revelation in it.

LSD has been one of the most profound experiences of my life. I now reserve it for special occasions, and combine a bit of ceremony to it. It's a powerful substance, so treat it with the weight it deserves.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#213

Post by gbog »

idonthack wrote: post #140
gbog wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Art is meant to be examined as much as food is meant to endure chemical tests!

if by "chemical tests" you mean compatibility with the human digestive tract and metabolism, then yes

I mean no. It looks very wrong to me to think that art's primary purpose is to be examined. Am I the only one?

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#214

Post by gbog »

kgo wrote: post #198
anonLSD wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very positive on LSD in general, but even to me, "a year of regular LSD use", or any kind of "regular" use sounds extreme and dangerous. I guess I take it for granted that something so intense should be approached with a great deal of respect and caution. I do find it odd that people naturally "get" this for things like driving a car, hang-gliding, back-country skiing, skateboarding, parkour.... but often shut do…

Yeah, if 'regular use' is more than once a week for a year, that's a lot of LSD. Psychosis might not be the causal element there, a shitload of lsd might be the causal element.

I know of very close people having big and long psycho troubles just with one trip.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#215

Post by dkersten »

parfe wrote: post #3

In college I lived with artists. A few of their artist friends come over with big sketch pads, pencils and whatever else artists use. They all drop acid while telling me they can't wait to see their amazing creations once their minds are opened. I went out for a few hours and came back to find them all sitting around the living room. One sketch pad had a long black squiggle on it, the same design you'd make if you fe…

Not LSD related, but drug related:

A friend of mine tried to program while on Salvia (I gave him the programming problem to solve: basically implement Solomon Golombs self-describing sequence) and as he scribbled notes on paper, he kept muttering phrases like "what is she saying to me now". We didn't check the results until the next morning, but it turned out he had figured out an O(1) closed form for the sequence - it was very simple and very fast. He claimed a woman told him the answer.

I have since searched for good solutions to the same problem and the only thing I could find that is better than O(n) is a 70's paper on the sequence. The solution in the paper was complex (I didn't understand it - actually, I don't know if it even came up with a closed form or not...), certainly not as short and simple as the one my friend came up with. Sadly, we didn't think much of it and didn't write it down - which, of course, means I have no proof to back this story up[1]. Still, it was a pretty strange and interesting thing to witness.

[1] We also only tested it with a handful of numbers and did not make any attempt to formally prove its correctness, so its not impossible that it was just coincidence that it worked for the test inputs (we only verified low input numbers against the naive implementation). Still, I like to think it was a full solution.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#216

Post by TheSOB88 »

ellyagg wrote: post #187
TheSOB88 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That really sucks that your friend killed himself. Having lived through it, maybe you know for sure LSD was the reason he did it. But perhaps he was covering up something else. If I killed myself today, not a whole lot of people would know why. They might attribute it to something they knew about, but very, very few people know about the thing that makes me want to kill myself. So what I'm saying is maybe you're righ…

What makes you want to kill yourself?

Haha nice try

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#217

Post by jarin »

gbog wrote: post #213
idonthack wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if by "chemical tests" you mean compatibility with the human digestive tract and metabolism, then yes

I mean no. It looks very wrong to me to think that art's primary purpose is to be examined. Am I the only one?

To quote the great philosopher Karl Pilkington: "Art is just something for your eyes to look at."

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#218

Post by samatman »

blinkingled wrote: post #101

My sole, true goal in life has been to attain deepest levels of consciousness, connectedness with the being, and crystal clear clarity and to do so without external dependencies like drugs. I have struggled a lot with the odds and gotten only a few moments of what I am after. But I realized one thing in the process that it requires quite a bit of unlearning, forgiving, accepting, non-reacting and seeing it as it is.…

Something you should know about Be Here Now...

It was written during the brief period in Ram Dass' life when he wasn't taking LSD. He returned to the practice shortly thereafter, because he found that he needed the insight to stay on the path he had set for himself.

Also, Neem Karoli Baba never took the LSD; he performed a magician's pass and hid it in his clothing. So all that nonsense about his guru taking 900 mikes and not changing consciousness was just that, nonsense.

NK Baba later ground the LSD up with some holy ash and gave it to his closest disciples, who were blown away by the holiness and power of his darshan, no doubt.

Reference: the interview with Ram Dass in Zig Zag Zen.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#219

Post by obvanon »

utefan001 wrote: post #91

One of my best friends committed suicide at age 18 in 1995. If LSD was not part of his life, I am sure the suicide would have never happened.

I am alive. I doubt I would be if I hadn't taken LSD at the right time.

(not trying to invalidate your argument at all, btw. and I am not saying that LSD is the only way or the best way it could happen. But it's the way how it did happen.)

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#220

Post by jarin »

schmittz wrote: post #79

There's no reason to attempt to prove (because you can't) or even speculate (because it doesn't matter) whether any of the "best" programmers anyone has or could suggest have done LSD or still do on a regular basis. However, I find it odd when people seem to insist that LSD is completely unnecessary or necessary to do things. Like it has been brought up before, Steve Jobs cites LSD as one of the most important experi…

I don't know that Steve Jobs is creative as much as he is an unrelenting perfectionist. He doesn't design things, Apple's recent success comes mostly from his ability to say "No, that's not good enough. Try again."

Maybe his confidence to do that comes from having experienced some sort of revelations or profound experiences on LSD that make "good, but not good enough" products seem even more mundane and pedestrian to him.

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