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Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

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Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#281

Post by ddalex »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #24
phreeza wrote: post #12

A note for people not familiar with the terminology - "functional connectivity" is a specific technical term that really just means temporal correlation between brain areas, as opposed to "structural connectivity" which refers to the actual neural pathways that are formed between brain areas. If you rephrase the headline as "Serotonin booster leads to increased correlation between activity in different brain areas" i…

The main reason it's not too exciting to me is much simpler. They tested it for 6 days. You can do all sorts of wonderful stuff with a drug for a few days. But for most drugs, the effects simply cease if you keep taking it due to tolerance. And there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of leeway to up the dose either because it's a laxative.

> because it's a laxative

Good news everybody, no more fiber intake required.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#282

Post by grugagag »

noduerme wrote: post #265
grugagag wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t this come with a crash as a payback?

It does. That's why I use it very sparingly.

Can I ask how sparringly? Can you take lesser amounts and take only when depleted so there’s no crash?

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#283

Post by throw4847285 »

naasking wrote: post #252
throw4847285 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are disagreeing. In my experience computer scientists are the dumbest "tech people" of all. I'm being facetious here, because I'm on a forum dominated by coders and it's a cheap thrill to troll a little bit. So to restate my opinion with less snark, I don't believe software engineers are any more rational or intelligent than other folks in the tech field. Most of the smartest tech people I've encountered have been…

> So to restate my opinion with less snark, I don't believe software engineers are any more rational or intelligent than other folks in the tech field. I think "rational" and "intelligent" are imprecise words that have different meanings to different people. I think if we restrict ourselves to the questions like, would a computer scientist or an English Lit professor be able to speak more intelligently about genetics…

Thanks for engaging seriously even though I was being snarky. More than I deserve.

For starters, is the kind of problem solving that goes into coding trivially applicable to other problem spaces? That's why I used the crossword metaphor. To me, coding often feels like a puzzle where the reward in terms of serotonin boost far outweighs the effort put in. Now, if we're talking about higher order problems like system design, that I agree is the kind of complex reasoning that can be used in other contexts. However, that kind of thinking is far more similar to problem solving in other fields as compared to coding, and thus is not unique.

And in response to your edit, I do feel that programmers are less inclined to have varied experiences because, as I said earlier, the field has been placed on a pedestal due to our current economy. So even if the reasoning that goes into being a good coder was applicable to other kinds of problems in a unique way, engineers are stunted by their own prestige (and by other psychological factors we don't need to go into here).

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#284

Post by YellOh »

kugutsumen wrote: post #278
tnel77 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like HackerNews because the conversations are mostly intelligent and polite. Not always, but it’s far better than my experience with Twitter and Reddit.

In the sprawling expanse of online forums, an intriguing display of intelligence often takes shape. It's a labyrinthine network where discerning authentic insight from empty repetition is a challenge. A platform where individuals, often unknown to each other, put forth their assertions and speculations under the guise of knowledge. A peculiar phenomenon plays out under the hushed light of device screens—a grand theat…

GPT? Normal humans don't seem to be this verbose (except when writing essays or monetized articles, I guess)

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#285

Post by hezralig »

foobiekr wrote: post #235
jimmaswell wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you affiliated with the drug industry in some way? I can't imagine anyone else saying all this.

Everything that poster said is true. And I am pro-psychedelics.

How do you know that it is true?

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#286

Post by CyrsBel »

coldtea wrote: post #272
CyrsBel wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Depressed? Just be cheerful. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy exists and is known to be a first step towards recovery. > Alcoholic? Just quit drinking. Yes. See Albert Bandura in 2007 in study on Addictive Behaviors. Or after that, I was just reading this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3179802/ > Your city is breaking down? Just move elsewhere. Yes, or fix it. Or don't contribute to the break down…

> This just comes across as a last-ditch effort to try to prove me wrong lol Yeah, because all the other ironic examples (amounting to "just stop having the problem") you non-ironically agreed to variations of, were such well established solutions...

Those aren't ironic examples though, the evidence shows that it really is a matter in some of those cases of a mindset switch. And note that it is listed as a starting step. One must continue the roadmap to get to the end.

Of course that for the final possibility of "you're about to go to heaven" there's nothing that can be said or done besides making peace with God, I mean what else could anyone say to that? That one is definitely an unfair one because it's at the very limit where in that case you're definitely right, can't do anything about that one. (Although even then I'll note that one King Hezekiah was it? Who requested more time on Earth and it was granted to him after God saw his many earnest tears.)

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#287

Post by DiscourseFan »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #101
DiscourseFan wrote: post #19

Something in our industrial processes must be screwing with people's serotonin levels because Psychedelics and other serotenergic drugs are becoming the defacto treatment method for a whole host of ailments. I personally suffer from IBS, migraines, sleeping problems, and mood swings, if I haven't taken a dose of psychedelics in the last 6 months. Now, getting regular exercise, eating well, staying hydrated, sleeping…

> Something in our industrial processes must be screwing with people's serotonin levels because Psychedelics and other serotenergic drugs are becoming the defacto treatment method for a whole host of ailments. This is a comically bad inference. P1: We have ailments that can be treated with class X of drugs that act on body process Y P2: We increasingly use those drugs Conclusion: Z is messing with body process Y

I'm slightly offended since I used to teach formal reasoning (and I always make a strong effort to avoid using it when constructing any arguments). You can always arbitrarily translate any parts of any phrase into any atomic sentence, and reframe certain claims as a series of propositions. None of your propositions that you claim I made are actually within the content of my argument. And especially for things that require historical, social, and political context to understands, it is completely useless to employ a system which pretends to be divorced from all those things. How are you supposed to evaluate a claim about the health effects of the industrial revolution using formal logic? How do you even know I was trying to use formal logic in my argument, or that I even cared if it made sense in a very particular logical system which has far more relevance for mathematics and computer programming than rhetoric and persuasion. I never made a single evidential claim nor could I, since this would be an area where empirical research is lacking. I was making an inference, which you made no attempt to directly engage with.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#288

Post by dumpsterdiver »

DrThunder wrote: post #172
dumpsterdiver wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they really that intelligent if they truly believe that their expertise can be applied to any field? Imo, understanding your own limitations is a form of intelligence that is very important.

Humans aren't ants. They can in fact apply their intelligence to alternative "fields". This idea that you can only use your knowledge in one specialized are is idiotic. I would say your intelligence is incredibly low if you think this. If we were unable to do this as a species we would have been wiped out long ago. Specialization is a modern mindset.

I said "apply their expertise" to other fields, not "apply their intelligence". There's a big difference between incorrectly attempting to apply specific knowledge of one domain to another, and using your general intelligence to become proficient in a field.

> I would say your intelligence is incredibly low if you think this.

This coming from the person who resorts to belittling comments in an otherwise very mild conversation. Got it.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#289

Post by cwsx »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #276
cwsx wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about the pharmacology, but I want to say methylphenidate (Ritalin)? I have severe ADHD, so I'm taking a pretty high dose daily, and I haven't noticed diminishing effects nor rebound. My dose hasn't changed in years either.

Ooh, ritalin is a fascinating and intricate one. I also have severe ADHD, and I've also noticed this somewhat paradoxical fact about ritalin. I think the comparison between ritalin and strattera can be quite illuminating here. Ritalin is an NDRI(norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor). It binds to and and inhibits DAT(dopamine transporter) and NET(norepinephrine transporter). This causes neurotransmitter to r…

Thanks for taking the time to explain, very informative! I've been meaning to look into the mechanisms of Ritalin for a while buuuut ADHD.

Strattera is really interesting, I've heard of it but I don't think it's available in my country. I'll ask my psych about it. We also don't have Vyvanse here, which my psych thinks would suit me better, as I'm currently on 162mg/day (of Concerta).

Have you tried Strattera? How does it compare to Ritalin for you?

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#290

Post by noduerme »

grugagag wrote: post #282
noduerme wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does. That's why I use it very sparingly.

Can I ask how sparringly? Can you take lesser amounts and take only when depleted so there’s no crash?

I pretty much only do it when I'm going into very big, stressful social situations, where I'm going to have to talk to a lot of people I don't know. I'm a person who loves one on one conversations with people (including strangers), but I'm shy and reserved in the presence of groups.

One of the physical effects of this mental routine is to dilate my pupils pretty radically. That seems to create a positive feedback loop when I interact with new people. The positive social feedback sustains the reaction until I sort of crash out of it.

On casual dates and normal nights out, I never do it.

I do use it on the rare occasions when I shoot pool.

All it really consists of is re-living the physical sensation and mental state of a few peak experiences - the ones where I effortlessly bowled a nearly perfect game, or hit a 3-point shot all net, or my first kiss with a beautiful woman (usually, but not always, my girlfriend). Nothing too complicated... just that momentary sense of something arriving and the world aligning perfectly. The whole trick for me is just thinking of that moment until I feel the rush of endorphins through my body, and remembering to keep living in it.

In pool, I always miss when I think too much about a shot - but I can make it blindfolded if my brain is perfectly one with the world around me. And so it is in all aspects of life; most of my brain function is self sabotage and unnecessary overhead when it comes to just making a shot. I think it was from pool and bowling that I learned to do this thing which helps me in society.

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