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LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

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Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#251

Post by blankslate »

kstenerud wrote: post #66

There is a theory that the connection between the right and left hemisphere of the human brain has been diminishing over generations (The ancients used to audibly hear the voice of the gods, which was likely the right hemisphere, but that ability diminished around 4-5000 years ago). I wonder if all these psychadelic drugs are doing is enhancing the communication between right and left, or perhaps suppressing the left…

Interesting idea. As I understand it, most of these drugs take the place of existing neurotransmitters like seratonin, or modify their action on receptor sites.

Let me put forward a metaphor: you're currently experiencing reality indirectly, through an imperfect lens which throws into focus an internally coherent system of perceptions we might colloquially call a "seratonin hallucination". You could think of the changes that occur after taking e.g. LSD as replacing that lens with another one.

Is it a less accurate one? Almost certainly it's one less valuable in helping our ancestors adapt to the evolutionary pressures they faced than our normal neurochemistry; in terms of representing an "objective" reality though, there may be some ways in which it affords a more faithful depiction.

Or perhaps not; it's hard to say. I think the value lies not in the affordance of new and more authentic powers of perception, but in shaking up the assumptions we make about how objectively truthful our "normal" experiences might be.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#252

Post by [deleted] »

d2 wrote: post #222
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…

Thanks for posting this. I've had two friends profoundly affected by the drug. One is now schizophrenic after taking a large dose and will have a lifelong struggle. Thankfully he is supported by his family and his mom is a psychiatrist. The second took a large dose about a decade ago and after being a very conservative straight guy. Mormon. Straight A's. Didn't take drugs or drink. He immediately dropped out of schoo…

[deleted]

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#253

Post by bigiain »

rick888 wrote: post #163
derwiki wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to sound callous -- I'm sorry for your loss, that sounds awful -- but your comment doesn't give enough context to gain any insight. It just sounds like "drugs are bad, mkay."

The problem is that some people can't handle LSD or other hallucinogens and won't know until they are dead, hurt, or mentally screwed. It's this risk that makes them bad.

I've had a lot more friends die from not being able to handle driving licenses than all other causes of friends dieing added together.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#254

Post by joshes »

rick888 wrote: post #164
awakeasleep wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is your goal to write the script? Or is it to enjoy your time here on Earth? If writing that script at that time made sense and you were enjoying it, nothing could stop you from doing it. If you were wasting time and an unfocused individual, you'd see that.

"But is your goal to write the script?" Yes. Because if you are writing a script, it obviously serves a purpose.

I think that the semantics behind the question implied end goal, as in is the ultimate goal of writing a bash script simply to write a bash script or is it something more, something beyond that? One would almost certainly reason that the answer must be the latter, yes?

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#255

Post by blinkingled »

icandoitbetter wrote: post #208
blinkingled wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure what you are getting at. Why is your focus on giving up - mine is on not letting it matter. I am not claiming to have given up on food - giving up is not what I am trying to do - my focus is happiness with understanding and minimalism. Minimalism does not equate to starving yourself to death. It involves doing everything "needful" without attachment or false pretenses or expectations. Doing nothing extr…

> Why is your focus on giving up - mine is on not letting it matter. That's some trivial reframing -- if you stopped eating food, it would start to matter.

That would be missing the point of course. Read my previous post - there is difference between food and beer that I illustrated.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#256

Post by blankslate »

blankslate wrote: post #251
kstenerud wrote: post #66

There is a theory that the connection between the right and left hemisphere of the human brain has been diminishing over generations (The ancients used to audibly hear the voice of the gods, which was likely the right hemisphere, but that ability diminished around 4-5000 years ago). I wonder if all these psychadelic drugs are doing is enhancing the communication between right and left, or perhaps suppressing the left…

Interesting idea. As I understand it, most of these drugs take the place of existing neurotransmitters like seratonin, or modify their action on receptor sites. Let me put forward a metaphor: you're currently experiencing reality indirectly, through an imperfect lens which throws into focus an internally coherent system of perceptions we might colloquially call a "seratonin hallucination". You could think of the chan…

Having read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology) , a few thoughts ...

Classical psychedelics like LSD tend to impart hallucinations which are reinterpretations of familiar objects: hearing a song in the sound of flowing water perhaps, rather than a disembodied voice dispensing commands; seeing a cloud as an intricate organism dripping with lacework skirts drifting in the eddies of an invisible current, rather than a creature standing in the middle of the room with no basis at all in reality.

Furthermore, it's generally pretty obvious to those involved that what they're seeing is an "hallucination"; the deliriants, such as scopalomine, are another story, and an altogether more terrifying class of drug.

Bicameralism's emphasis on bona fide auditory hallucinations, especially disembodied voices issuing commands, is quite distinct from the subjective experience of most psychotropics; the inhibited self-awareness and metareflective capacity described by the article - the "zombie mind" - is almost the opposite of a trip, where every perception seems saturated to the point of overflow with deep, often autobiographical, meaning.

What you're suggesting bears some similarity to the writings of Aldous Huxley:

""One explanatory model for the experiences provoked by hallucinogens is the "reducing valve" concept, first articulated in Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception.[7] In this view, the drugs disable the brain's "filtering" ability to selectively prevent certain perceptions, emotions, memories and thoughts from ever reaching the conscious mind.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen#Psychedelics_.28cl...

In summary, I'd suggest that it's quite possible that inter-hemisphere communication is increased, but certainly so is the way the entire brain functions.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#257

Post by blankslate »

davidspi wrote: post #249
tajddin wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What's a color? What's a country? What's a "week"? What's a leader? What is solid? Which way is up? What's a job? Your brain starts trying to decompose every concept into basic principles, and you realize that for a lot of things in the human world, there are none." While I've personally never tried LSD, my favorite is, e, which offers a similar, but different, opening of the mind. Since I've never tried LSD, I can…

if you were to read all of these posts, you would find a common theme: we all experience a new level of consciousness when we trip. However, regardless of what this new experience was or through what method it was achieved, the presence of a new conscious experience proves that their are different types even levels of consciousness. this epiphany occurred to me through a drug induced change in consciousness. i realiz…

I'm very suspicious of the use of the word "quantum" as a crowbar to pry open respectable science and fill it with new age bullshit.

I can definitely sympathise with the flavour of insight you're talking about though, and this guy seems to hold some credentials, but phrases like "make brain circuits of positive emotions" trip my hippie detector.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#258

Post by bobds »

doyoulikeworms wrote: post #135
kstenerud wrote: post #66

There is a theory that the connection between the right and left hemisphere of the human brain has been diminishing over generations (The ancients used to audibly hear the voice of the gods, which was likely the right hemisphere, but that ability diminished around 4-5000 years ago). I wonder if all these psychadelic drugs are doing is enhancing the communication between right and left, or perhaps suppressing the left…

This is a really interesting theory to me (and probably many others). Care to share some links, documentaries, or documents regarding this topic? Would love to know more.

I first encountered this theory here:

http://deoxy.org/alephnull/jaynes.htm

There's a few related pages worth reading:

http://deoxy.org/alephnull/rhetd.htm

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#259

Post by drivebyacct2 »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #236
kgo wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

LSD isn't effective more than once a week. If you took LSD two days in a row, it simply wouldn't do anything the second day. http://www.quora.com/Is-there-some-sort-of-refractory-period... I guess you could take it two, max three times a week.

Wow, I left the original statement there because I thought it was a week. Corrected with a citation and got slaughtered. Don't mess with HN's LSD, huh!

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#260

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

antidaily wrote: post #32
jasonmcalacanis wrote: post #26

Steve Jobs admits to taking LSD. I rest my case.

"one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life". source: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-17/tech/steve.jobs.life_1_ap...

um..... get married and have a family?
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