4 ms·

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 tr

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.

rudolf0 11y ago
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?
- shredprez 11y ago
  Priming seems likely. Most experience reports I've read describe the "entities" as ineffable, so I have to think the language used by McKenna is more a cultural staple/fallback than a consistent hallucination unique to DMT.
  - rudolf0 11y ago
    I'm sure that contributes to a lot of it, as well as experiences others have with harder drugs. But from my research, many people reported this experience without ever being aware that others have experienced it. I think there must be some factor unique to DMT that can create experiences like this.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- imesh 11y ago
  I dit DMT once. No elves or other creatures.
  - overdrivetg 11y ago
    Just for clarity, someone told me that 5-MEO-DMT is sometimes mistakenly called "DMT", but it is totally different from the "machine elves" N,N-DMT version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-MeO-DMT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-MeO-DMT
  - anigbrowl 11y ago
    Same here.Extremely strange parallel dimension and some other entity, but not the sort of alien companions I hear about from other people. It might be that I'm very unsocial and a bit of mystic to begin with, my brain has always seemed to be wired quite differently from most other people.
- fapjacks 11y ago
  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.
  - rudolf0 11y ago
    That makes sense, but were you already aware of the "DMT elf" mythology before taking the drug? If so, that could've influenced a lot of your experience. Otherwise, I think that could be a plausible explanation. Though I've read about people actually talking to the elves, or hearing things from them, which would be weird if the elves were themselves.
    - fapjacks 11y ago
      The very first time I did DMT -- this is way before stuff like Erowid -- I was not aware of that, no, and I did sense what seemed to me to be some kind of otherworldly presence. In the times since, I have read all about it on Erowid but still haven't seen specifically the "machine elves" but have had similar "encounters". The presence was more aggressive and "dark" when I smoked it versus drinking ayahuasca (from a mix of B.Caapi and P.Viridis). Also sometimes I feel a similar (but different) "presence" when smoking salvia divinorum.
yolesaber 11y ago
On LSD you become the alien. On DMT the aliens come to you...
cnp 11y ago
I spent a good amount of time a few years ago exploring the DMT realm, and its totally, completely and inexplicably mysterious. Either consciousness is a non-local phenomena and when you smoke it you end up in some kind of parallel dimension or for whatever crazy reason evolution decided it was important to incorporate these alien beings into our subconscious mind. Those with a rigid reductionist perspective would do well to explore it a bit. IMO there's nothing more mind expanding and question inducing than DMT, and it just begs out to science: "STUDY ME!"
- daodedickinson 11y ago
  "Evolution" has "decided" to "incorporate" plenty of unimportant things, or else everything is equally important, and thus nothing is important.
- callesgg 11y ago
  I have not tried DMT and to be honest i do not intend to, based on what i have read. So my insights might not be so cleaver as i think. But here is an article that makes sense to me. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unique-everybody-else/201408/dmt-gateway-reality-fantasy-or-what https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unique-everybody-else/2... Our brains are really not that good at letting us know what is going on in our lives. Our brains are however really good when it comes to making us believe that we know what is going on in or lives. Just look at this list for some examples https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
- taternuts 11y ago
  I'm both fascinated and very scared of DMT. As I get older and my want to experiment with unfamiliar substances wanes, I'm pretty confident that I'll probably never try DMT, but I wish I had when I was younger and more brash. I've had friends who have taken too much and went down the DMT-hole, and their description of it (as best they can recollect anyways) is absolutely terrifying. One example was a friend who felt he spent years in a completely different world, with completely different laws of physics - he had to literally give up his idea of how the world worked in order to embrace what he thought at the time was his new world/being. Once he accepted it, apparently he started to come out of it.

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.

rudolf0 11y ago

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?

shredprez 11y ago
Priming seems likely. Most experience reports I've read describe the "entities" as ineffable, so I have to think the language used by McKenna is more a cultural staple/fallback than a consistent hallucination unique to DMT.
- rudolf0 11y ago
  I'm sure that contributes to a lot of it, as well as experiences others have with harder drugs. But from my research, many people reported this experience without ever being aware that others have experienced it. I think there must be some factor unique to DMT that can create experiences like this.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
imesh 11y ago
I dit DMT once. No elves or other creatures.
- overdrivetg 11y ago
  Just for clarity, someone told me that 5-MEO-DMT is sometimes mistakenly called "DMT", but it is totally different from the "machine elves" N,N-DMT version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-MeO-DMT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-MeO-DMT
- anigbrowl 11y ago
  Same here.Extremely strange parallel dimension and some other entity, but not the sort of alien companions I hear about from other people. It might be that I'm very unsocial and a bit of mystic to begin with, my brain has always seemed to be wired quite differently from most other people.
fapjacks 11y ago
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.
- rudolf0 11y ago
  That makes sense, but were you already aware of the "DMT elf" mythology before taking the drug? If so, that could've influenced a lot of your experience. Otherwise, I think that could be a plausible explanation. Though I've read about people actually talking to the elves, or hearing things from them, which would be weird if the elves were themselves.
  - fapjacks 11y ago
    The very first time I did DMT -- this is way before stuff like Erowid -- I was not aware of that, no, and I did sense what seemed to me to be some kind of otherworldly presence. In the times since, I have read all about it on Erowid but still haven't seen specifically the "machine elves" but have had similar "encounters". The presence was more aggressive and "dark" when I smoked it versus drinking ayahuasca (from a mix of B.Caapi and P.Viridis). Also sometimes I feel a similar (but different) "presence" when smoking salvia divinorum.

yolesaber 11y ago

On LSD you become the alien. On DMT the aliens come to you...

cnp 11y ago

I spent a good amount of time a few years ago exploring the DMT realm, and its totally, completely and inexplicably mysterious. Either consciousness is a non-local phenomena and when you smoke it you end up in some kind of parallel dimension or for whatever crazy reason evolution decided it was important to incorporate these alien beings into our subconscious mind. Those with a rigid reductionist perspective would do well to explore it a bit. IMO there's nothing more mind expanding and question inducing than DMT, and it just begs out to science: "STUDY ME!"

daodedickinson 11y ago
"Evolution" has "decided" to "incorporate" plenty of unimportant things, or else everything is equally important, and thus nothing is important.
callesgg 11y ago
I have not tried DMT and to be honest i do not intend to, based on what i have read. So my insights might not be so cleaver as i think. But here is an article that makes sense to me. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unique-everybody-else/201408/dmt-gateway-reality-fantasy-or-what https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unique-everybody-else/2... Our brains are really not that good at letting us know what is going on in our lives. Our brains are however really good when it comes to making us believe that we know what is going on in or lives. Just look at this list for some examples https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
taternuts 11y ago
I'm both fascinated and very scared of DMT. As I get older and my want to experiment with unfamiliar substances wanes, I'm pretty confident that I'll probably never try DMT, but I wish I had when I was younger and more brash. I've had friends who have taken too much and went down the DMT-hole, and their description of it (as best they can recollect anyways) is absolutely terrifying. One example was a friend who felt he spent years in a completely different world, with completely different laws of physics - he had to literally give up his idea of how the world worked in order to embrace what he thought at the time was his new world/being. Once he accepted it, apparently he started to come out of it.