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Communicating with people on psychedelics

qualiacomputing.com

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Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#71

Post by ZeroFries »

GuiA wrote: post #33
leemoore wrote: post #24

I 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…

If you have bottom-up sensory associations and top-down inhibitory control (the filters), only inhibitory signals would be reduced. You would actually see more brain activity, since the bottom-up sensory associations would be less inhibited, and therefore trigger a greater amount of neurons. Probably an over-simplification, but you can see how it would be tough to use an fMRI to measure reduced inhibition and increased activation.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#72

Post by duaneb »

gwern wrote: post #59
duaneb wrote: post #46

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. 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…

You were not in control of the drug before you took it. You have no idea what you took. the sample size is one (or arguably two). Are you saying that in spite of this, your experiment has any meaningful results?

I have no idea why you're attempting to preserve the authenticity of your experiment when it had vanishingly few verifiable materials, effects, and samples. Your post has great value without attempting to draw results.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#73

Post by fapjacks »

rudolf0 wrote: post #31
notthegov wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DMT is much different than LSD. I have never heard anyone talk about machine elves and LSD. DMT is a legitimate mystery of science and is not a drug in the traditional sense.

It's so odd how there's a near-universal reporting of small elf- or dwarf-like creatures from that drug. Is there any proposed mechanism of action for how it works?

My running theory is that the machine elves from Dimension 9 are actually a heavily modified perception of one's self. This is purely just based only on research done in my basement with DMT, so nothing approaching academic research, but I think those little people are actually our "mind's eye" perception of ourselves, just twisted by the DMT. Like when you imagine yourself walking through a hallway to go to lunch, as people sometimes do, you're "seeing" that image of yourself. I think this is what triggers most of the creature visions. Maybe I'm not making sense, but this is the first time I've tried to put that idea into words.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#75

Post by ZeroFries »

bmelton wrote: post #16
S_A_P wrote: post #2

From some of my past experience, I am skeptical. I think they make assumptions about what people will and wont see that just arent correct.

I suspect that they're right for certain brains on certain types of LSD, but as someone who once had a pipeline to the stuff, there are many different formulations that produce dramatically different effects. Distinctly, I remember watching Mars Attacks in theaters (which should date the experience) on what was promised to be a "special" blend... how it was special, I have no idea, but the visualizations were very un…

What do you mean by "types of LSD". It's one chemical, no?

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#76

Post by ZeroFries »

theboywho wrote: post #35

How about trying to apply the same logic for communicating with people with Synesthesia? As a synesthete myself, that was the first thought I had after reading this article. It would be interesting to see where this leads.

You would have to find a synesthete with the same sensory cross-over to you, and hope you have a similar mapping of the senses, right? Aren't the mappings at least semi-individualistic? E.g. Person A sees red when looking at the number 42, Person B sees blue.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#77

Post by zardo »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #66
indians_pro wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

LSD's effect isn't limited to visual perception. One of the most common reported phenomenon is a sort of understanding of the connectedness of things.

That may be a result of the reality that all things really are connected when they are stored as concepts in a network of neurons.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#79

Post by bmelton »

ZeroFries wrote: post #75
bmelton wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that they're right for certain brains on certain types of LSD, but as someone who once had a pipeline to the stuff, there are many different formulations that produce dramatically different effects. Distinctly, I remember watching Mars Attacks in theaters (which should date the experience) on what was promised to be a "special" blend... how it was special, I have no idea, but the visualizations were very un…

What do you mean by "types of LSD". It's one chemical, no?

I mean "types" more like I might say "types of water". Sure, there's only one real water, and whether there's lemon added, or if it's filtered through limestone, it technically bears a different configuration (now making it water with lemon, or water with limestone).

That said, LSD is (to my experience) rarely concocted at pharmaceutical grade. Different concentrations, different configurations, different additives lead to different outputs, each of which we might all refer to as LSD colloquially, but which are all effectively "water, with a hint of lemon", or whatever else, moreso than LSD-25 vs. something else.

Re: Communicating with people on psychedelics

#80

Post by cnp »

8d7a8 wrote: post #12
empath75 wrote: post #3

I don't know how they'll get their message past the machine elves from dimension 9 that also communicate with people on LSD.

I thought elves were limited to the DMT experience. At least I hoped that was the case. I found this interesting at the end of the article, regarding the Control Interrupt model: This inhibitory control mechanism occurs a discrete number of times per second. Therefore “control interruption” caused by psychedelics, in this model, is conceived as a periodical failure of inhibitory control that allows aspects of one’s e…

One lesser known psychedelic, Salvia Divinorum, when taken responsibly and with a measured dose derived from incremental experimentation, tends to bring a person into the weird world too. Lots of beings, lots of entities.
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