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A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

bbc.co.uk

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Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#71

Post by tempestn »

ggm wrote: post #33
TaupeRanger wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well we don't really understand the nature of "feelings", so the answers are going to be very speculative. But a better question might be: why do we feel contentment at all ? Why isn't it all just fear and rage all the time, with certain things lessening the fear and rage, like eating, pooping, and copulating? After all, if we avoid death and reproduce, the genes get passed on - evolution doesn't care about feelings.…

"I don't want to die" has a pretty strong biological determinancy to it. It helps, mostly in adverse situations. Flipping over to "meh, who needs bodies" is inexplicable (to me)

Could be that once you've reproduced and sufficiently cared for your offspring, it's preferable that you don't waste resources on yourself. Contentment and even apathy could be beneficial (from an evolutionary perspective) at that point.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#72

Post by d33 »

bigiain wrote: post #38
whiskyant wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not entirely true. If it impacts your direct descendents or even distant relatives, there'll still be an impact assuming you share the genes in question.

If you consider taking a role of "grandparenting" to be a potentially positive role in "your ability to reproduce", then both you and mjg59 are kind of agreeing there.

You don't have to copulate in order to express "your ability to reproduce". Keep in mind that your family also has your genes so if you just provide resources for them to reproduce, a part of you reproduces as well. This could be a mechanism to combat fear of death, which perhaps was making people less likely to have sex?

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#73

Post by rangibaby »

ggm wrote: post #33
TaupeRanger wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well we don't really understand the nature of "feelings", so the answers are going to be very speculative. But a better question might be: why do we feel contentment at all ? Why isn't it all just fear and rage all the time, with certain things lessening the fear and rage, like eating, pooping, and copulating? After all, if we avoid death and reproduce, the genes get passed on - evolution doesn't care about feelings.…

"I don't want to die" has a pretty strong biological determinancy to it. It helps, mostly in adverse situations. Flipping over to "meh, who needs bodies" is inexplicable (to me)

There’s a moment where your brain switches from “fight for your life” to “I’m fucked, don’t bother trying to save me”.

The I experienced when I nearly drowned once. I was very calm and ready to go. You can see it in videos of how to spot a drowning person.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#74

Post by arminiusreturns »

malux85 wrote: post #66
bariswheel wrote: post #60

On the other hand, 5-Meo-DMT (5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine), comes in the form of an organic lab-produced extract, or the Bufo Alvarius venom, takes it to a completely different level of non-duality and complete and utter shattering of your ego (temporarily of course, for about 20 minutes). Someone named Albert Most discovered this bizarre compound a few decades back by smoking the venom from the glands of a Sono…

> Smoking venom from the glands of a Sonoran Desert Toad somewhere in New Mexico I don’t know why but I just found this hilariously funny. Suddenly my life seems very mundane.

Have you lived or been to new mexico? Mundane life is what results in actions like that. Boredom breeds strange creativity.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#75

Post by armitron »

The feature that sets DMT apart from other psychedelics such as LSD or mushrooms is the persistent environment called "hyperspace". In short, various psychonauts over the years have discovered an environment - for lack of a better word - they named hyperspace, which consists of surprisingly similar perceived attributes _over many different observers_.

Experienced LSD/mushroom users know that there is a tremendous degree of subjectivity and symbol/archetype emergence in their trips. If I only had a few words to describe the LSD/mushroom experience it would be "lack of clarity". It's as if one is looking through a scanner darkly (personal unconscious).

With DMT, this is not the case. There is no perceived intermediate filter, nothing impure or fuzzy. One feels as if one is already there and directly interfacing with the space itself. Rather than exploring his own psyche, a DMT user feels like he's exploring an entirely new space. This becomes apparent even when dealing with the difficulties of trying to use shared language to describe the experience with other explorers in order to discover common attributes [1].

[1] https://wiki.dmt-nexus.me/Hyperspace_lexicon

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#76

Post by nprateem »

md224 wrote: post #58
noahdesu wrote: post #51

One thing people talk about is the short-lived effects of DMT, and how they would like more time in the the DMT space. But as I understand it, your body doesn't build up a resistance to it. The DMTx [0] project is seeking to exploit this property and created extended-state DMT experiences using some basic medical techniques. Also, they are looking for volunteers. [0]: https://www.dmtx.org

That sounds awesome. I wish I could pay to lie in a hospital bed and have a medical professional administer intravenous DMT just for a short period (at least initially). Hopefully this work will bring us closer to a world where supervised DMT voyages are available to the public.

They're looking for volunteers in the UK for psilocybin experiments:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Volunteers%20sought%20...

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#77

Post by toofy »

bariswheel wrote: post #60

On the other hand, 5-Meo-DMT (5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine), comes in the form of an organic lab-produced extract, or the Bufo Alvarius venom, takes it to a completely different level of non-duality and complete and utter shattering of your ego (temporarily of course, for about 20 minutes). Someone named Albert Most discovered this bizarre compound a few decades back by smoking the venom from the glands of a Sono…

> Albert Most discovered this bizarre compound a few decades back by smoking the venom from the glands of a Sonoran Desert toad...

I wonder what sequence of events leads to one deciding "I think I'm gonna smoke the venom from that Sonoran Desert Toad."

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#78

Post by sparkie »

torgian wrote: post #67
browsercoin wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes I should clarify that after the experience, it felt like I had been in a sauna for the psyche. Basically, I had lingering sense of peace and wellness. The scariest shit I've seen while tripping was seeing the Eye of Providence. What's more creepy is that this is a common symbol people experienced. For example, I didn't know what the hell was a third eye until I saw it. It was unbelievable. It changed my life. It…

I'm really interested in trying it out, but I live in mainland China right now. Have no idea who I could even contact about getting some, even in places like Taiwan or Thailand.

Houby hunting, then PF Tek.

Obviously, do lots of research. There aren't many deadly varieties by some of them look very similar to edible ones.

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#79

Post by obituary_latte »

Stratoscope wrote: post #52
JohnBooty wrote: post #36

“My body just didn’t seem relevant anymore," says Iona. "And I felt like I arrived in some consciousness soup which seemed like a different realm to the one I ordinarily inhabit – even in dreams. It just seemed like everything was rotating and swirling and spiralling. It didn’t seem like there were normal space-time proportions going on.” I'm not exactly sure how close I came to dying, but I had the exact opposite ex…

Mobile-readable quote: > “My body just didn’t seem relevant anymore," says Iona. "And I felt like I arrived in some consciousness soup which seemed like a different realm to the one I ordinarily inhabit – even in dreams. It just seemed like everything was rotating and swirling and spiralling. It didn’t seem like there were normal space-time proportions going on.”

Thanks.

I don’t get why hn mobile version doesn’t take this into account. Should be just a single simple css rule...

Re: A DMT trip 'feels like dying' – and scientists now agree

#80

Post by mort96 »

obituary_latte wrote: post #79
Stratoscope wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mobile-readable quote: > “My body just didn’t seem relevant anymore," says Iona. "And I felt like I arrived in some consciousness soup which seemed like a different realm to the one I ordinarily inhabit – even in dreams. It just seemed like everything was rotating and swirling and spiralling. It didn’t seem like there were normal space-time proportions going on.”

Thanks. I don’t get why hn mobile version doesn’t take this into account. Should be just a single simple css rule...

It's because people often quote things by putting a number of spaces between the text on each line, but hacker news interprets that as a code block, not as a quote. It's reasonable to not wrap code blocks; the real problem is that HN doesn't have formatting options for quotes.
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