Psychedelics aren't about pure visuals. They're more about meaning .
Same thing.
Communicating with people on psychedelics
61–70 of 117 posts
Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#62Here's a kinda related subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/replications/ 'The work submitted should seek to emulate the psychedelic experience as accurately as possible from a "first person" vantage point.'
Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
This idea of reality being "passed through" multiple filters, and these filters being reduced or disabled on psychedelics, is developed (somewhat unscientifically) by Huxley in "The Doors of Perception"- it's a fairly good read. If I remember correctly, the main criticism against this is that if it were the case brain activity should be reduced, at least in some regions, when on psychedelics. However, observing peopl…
Why would it follow that less filters would infer less brain activity? - even partially. Surley any cleansing/removing of the filters would excite all the brain, as it reacts to new stimuli. To quote Huxley "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern."
> Surley any cleansing/removing of the filters would excite all the brain, as it reacts to new stimuli.
"Filter" in this case is just an analogy, and not necessarily a good one. We don't know the nature of consciousness and how it maps to brain activity, so it's not appropriate to assume that what is perceived as removing a "filter" is increasing stimuli, it's just processing it differently in some way.
Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#64I believe the main factor at play in the first pair of images, is that on LSD and other hallucinogens as well as intensive meditation is that there are little mind programs that run on our perception that smooth out reality for us. If you notice, even just sitting still we are constantly moving our head just a little, constantly moving our eyes. Without these programs, our visual field would seem far more jumpy and u…
This idea of reality being "passed through" multiple filters, and these filters being reduced or disabled on psychedelics, is developed (somewhat unscientifically) by Huxley in "The Doors of Perception"- it's a fairly good read. If I remember correctly, the main criticism against this is that if it were the case brain activity should be reduced, at least in some regions, when on psychedelics. However, observing peopl…
Brain activity is not a precise meassure, not in terms of fMRI, which just shows an increased blood flow.
The hypothesis is obvious on the other hand. However, individuals that would submit to a test on psychedelics is likely the type that gets easily exited just for the sake of it and doesn't. Or brain activity doesn't corralate with actually functioning correctly. I' expect a failing subsystem would respond with increased activity, simple feedback. Eventually some controle unit would shut it off or the subsystem would keep working but a bit unusual, despite increased blood flow.
Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#65Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same thing.
how??
"Seeing" is the process of constructing meaning from the raw activation of the light receptors in your eyes. That's why optical illusions work. After all, it's simply patterns of ink on a page - why should you see things that seem impossible? It's because the image is designed to get your brain to construct a particular meaning out of the image.
Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#67Related: gwern's study was pretty bad in a number of ways, most notably that it's unlikely the lsd was stored correctly, which will have a large effect on potency and make dosage much less meaningful as the test progresses. Furthermore, I think there's a lot to be said that the brain needs to be "trained" to make good uses of the drug, including microdoses—you might be able to recognize the effects better if you're a…
> Related: gwern's study was pretty bad in a number of ways, most notably that it's unlikely the lsd was stored correctly, which will have a large effect on potency and make dosage much less meaningful as the test progresses. It was stored fine. LSD will not self-destruct in days when stored in distilled water in a refrigerator. It will not even self-destruct after multiple decades in a jar. People store LSD in all s…
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Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I get visual migraines and your comment reminds me of the experience. Perception of light is often out of the norm for me. Sometimes I will see lights that aren't there. Sometimes I will have certain visual triggers for these effects.
There is some evidence that psilocybin in low doses (much lower than "effective for recreation") can ameliorate or even cure migraines. I mention this as I have a member of my family that suffers from terrible periodic migraines and I myself experience migraines at least once a year.
Many current migraine treatments (such as triptans and ergotamine) are serotonin agonists designed to induce vasoconstriction. The "classic psychedelics" are also serotonin agonists.
Migraine treatments target different subparts of the serotonin system than psychedelics do (migraine: primarily 5HT1B/5HT1D vs psychedelics: 5HT2A). However, from what I see, a lot of the classic "popular psychedelics" don't tend to be very selective, and act on a lot of the serotonin system as well as other systems such as glutamate (5HT2A agonism by itself is not necessarily psychedelic).
Consequently, LSD for instance seems to have quite an affinity for 5HT1B (with a touch of 5HT1D), and psilocin for 5HT1D (and a touch of 5HT1B). So reports of LSD and psilocin being effective against migraines aren't surprising.
Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have had rainbow halos around street and car headlights since my early twenties. I first noticed it whilst tripping and have yet to determine whether the cause is physical or mental. Looks pretty though.
You may have astigmatism or some other more "mundane" issue there. I see them partially too, but it's astigmatism, because when I put on my glasses they go away. Some do it more than others, but that may be related to the spectrum of the light, which varies quite substantially. (On that note, here's an old HN post I recall about how to cheaply and easily see light spectrums: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=97141…
Thanks for the link.
I thought it could be something to do with my eyes but never thought it could be corrected. Looks like I'm due an eye check! Last time was when I was 6 I think..
Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would it follow that less filters would infer less brain activity? - even partially. Surley any cleansing/removing of the filters would excite all the brain, as it reacts to new stimuli. To quote Huxley "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern."
> Surley any cleansing/removing of the filters would excite all the brain, as it reacts to new stimuli. "Filter" in this case is just an analogy, and not necessarily a good one. We don't know the nature of consciousness and how it maps to brain activity, so it's not appropriate to assume that what is perceived as removing a "filter" is increasing stimuli, it's just processing it differently in some way.
I was replying to the someone, who it seems has misunderstood what Huxley meant by filters - I wasn't defending or affirming them, let alone discussing in what context they are 'appropriate'. I used the quote to give the 'filters' being discussed a context. Are you saying Huxley really meant: If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would not appear infinite but just 'processed differently'?