LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug • Hacker News Board

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#271

Post by blankslate » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 11:35 AM UTC

blankslate wrote: post #245

blankslate wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are probably some people reading these discussions and considering taking an "hallucinogen" for the first time. If you're thinking about it, please, do your homework. Thoroughly. As others have cautioned, drug use can catalyze psychosis, the permanent emergence of bipolar disorder, etc. Consider these risks as they relate to you in particular (your family history, etc) very carefully, and if you decide to go ah…

While I'm ranting: if your interest lies in becoming more productive as a programmer, these are not the droids you're looking for. Some people have put forward anecdotal evidence to the contrary, but I personally can't see it being either likely or worthwhile (taken in isolation). Good sleep, meditation, regular exercise, a good diet, vitamin or fish oil supplements, possibly responsible use of some stimulants (caffe…

And may even reduce you to ranting and muttering to yourself ...

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#272

Post by jimmyjazz » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 11:39 AM UTC

terchin wrote: post #221

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…

I've never taken LSD, but I've done mushrooms once. After the effects started I was outside near a bay and it was humid. I started asking things like "What is wet? Is the wetness from the air different from the wetness of the water?" and I started putting my hands into water to discern the differences. Our "watcher" took us back inside and handed me Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. I read it cover-to-cove…

>The structure of that book is very much like the thinking process of someone on hallucinogens

Wittgenstein wasn't eating any hallucinogens as nice as that might be to consider. The structure of his works follow the thinking process of somebody who has grasped intersubjectivity at an unprecedented level.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#273

Post by stef25 » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 11:59 AM UTC

bitwize wrote: post #95

Did anyone else see Limitless ? Did anyone else look at the symptoms of the drug he took (the fictional "NZT-48") and think, "hmmm, sounds like a more extreme form of MDMA"? Haven't tried it myself. Heard lots about it.

That was more like Modafinil & Cocaine than MDMA. Seriously, MDMA will never help you find patterns in the stock market.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#274

Post by mbenjaminsmith » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 1:08 PM UTC

djcapelis wrote: post #270

jackowayed wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly can't tell if you're presenting the 2nd story as a good thing or a bad thing. I doubt that LSD made your friend transgendered (especially since it's been 10 years). Given that your friend is transgendered, it's probably a lot better that she figured it out while in school instead of when she was 40 and had a wife and kids, even though dropping out of school and getting one's sex reassignment surgery in Tha…

One small point of confusion with your otherwise good post: Some of the Thai surgeons are the best in the world for that particular procedure... going there is not typically considered a bad decision.

Actually Thai surgeons in general are very good. I recently entrusted my fiancee to one and the medical care she received was outstanding.

The fastest growing tourism segment here is medical tourism. High quality care at a relatively low cost & lots of good food.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#275

Post by Alex3917 » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 1:26 PM UTC

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…

Here is a good video that explains what it's like to develop psychosis after taking LSD. The actual talk starts at around the 2:40 mark:

http://vimeo.com/15959433

Note though that his experiences were relatively minor compared to what some other people go through. Here are a couple songs about the same basic experience:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HBCSF9nfs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSSmLYAjvRg

There's no question that people with a family history or other predisposition toward mental illness shouldn't use LSD. In general shrooms seem to be somewhat safer, probably because they last only a third as long. They're still not safe for someone with mental illness or a predisposition toward it, but they seem to be mostly safe for everyone else as long as those partaking take the time to learn and follow all of the relevant best practices. (Including being old enough; you always hear about all the psychedelic researchers who lived until old age, but what you don't hear is that none of them discovered drugs until their 30s.)

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#276

Post by omarchowdhury » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 2:40 PM UTC

dooq wrote: post #211

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…

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 l…

Where do you get it?

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#277

Post by omarchowdhury » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 2:51 PM UTC

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…

This is exactly what the doctrine of Theosophy is getting towards.

http://www.wisdomworld.org/setting/IntroductionByCompiler.ht...

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#278

Post by omarchowdhury » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 2:56 PM UTC

tintin wrote: post #43

Most drugs are not mind expanders, but blockage solvers. We care a lot about what others say and think. This is blocking our creativity. But you don't need drugs to solve this blockage. You can train yourself letting creativity flow and don't care about what other people say. A simple method is to start extreme. I think this applies to both graphic creativity as for programming creativity. They also call it "out of t…

I agree.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#279

Post by ajays » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 3:03 PM UTC

jtheory wrote: post #229

1337p337 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I am reading HN, it's almost always during time outside the office in the smoking area, or in front of my house, smoking a cigarette, like now. I would certainly agree that nicotine is profoundly addictive, and the cigarette as a delivery system equally so. It reduces anxiety (especially useful to smooth the effects of caffeine), acts as an apetite suppressant (long nights hacking can be interrupted by a five-mi…

I'm grateful fairly frequently that I never went beyond sampling cigarettes as a kid. So a bit by chance, I don't smoke now, and I'm sure as hell not going to start as an adult. It's just profoundly clear to me (from your comments, from similar discussions with lots of other smokers) that there's no going back to a pre-smoking life. Life after quitting smoking (or any other deeply-rooted addition, I suspect) is not a…

I think most smokers start at a young age; if you're not a smoker by age 25, there is little chance of you becoming one after that. This is why a lot of cigarette advertising is subliminally targeted at young folks.

Re: LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug

#280

Post by kamis » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 3:08 PM UTC

Before jumping off any drugs, I have done more than ten years testing in testing in expanding of consciousness including LSD trips as well. Those were really impressive. You can see sound, hear colors, every surface gets alive. But the best ones happened in the countryside. When you understand the way Universe is build, how things work etc. That was wonderful!! The consciousness was expanded... but it was just a bubble. Because when it ended after 12 hours, I understood that I knew all those things, that I had those strange super-senses. But now I have only some flashbacks and cannot explain others how the Universe is built. So my opinion is that life is like climbing the mountain. We all started climbing up. But on our way we found all kind of interesting things - bars, parties, working, career, family, relationships etc. And climbing made some sideways, making our journey up slower. Some even stopped or even rolled down. But everybody still have that knowledge of being on the top of the mountain. It's deep inside. And then we found that weed, mushrooms, lsd, salvia etc. helps us "opening our minds". But it's just like someone grabs you by your hair, pulls up to the top of mountain, shows you what's over there and ... releases his hand. So you just fall down, luckily to the same place where you've taken, if not lower. I got it only after several years of meditation when you do your consciousness expansion step by step. But the "trip" you can get out of that is the one you cannot compare with any drugs trip you have got before. At least it worked for me. So be careful with all those trips as it's very easy to get on the hook because it's much easier to have one cube either than sitting for hours in meditation. But we all have all choices. And it doesn't matter which you choose as it's your choice.