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There are two parts to the characterization at play here: 1. Psychedelics are not "abused" in the same way that other substances are. Furthermore, when psyched

by qwartor 10y ago

There are two parts to the characterization at play here: 1. Psychedelics are not "abused" in the same way that other substances are. Furthermore, when psychedelics do get abused, the adverse effects are expressed differently, and patients are not routed through the same treatment channels that addictive substances see. Since psychedelics aren't addictive, users usually don't need ongoing maintenance to prevent relapses. Instead, victims of psychedelic side effects usually suffer from catastrophic burnouts after the mother of all bad trips, or persistent neurological symptoms creep in after a period of experimentation, and remain possibly for life. Once that happens people quit cold turkey, and cope with their flashbacks however they must. 2. Being a director of anything isn't a huge deal. It's not much of an auspicious title. Like manager or vice president, after you meet a thousand of them, big deal. Meanwhile, as for doctors, you'd be shocked at how sheltered some doctors are. Many of the doctors I've met only became doctors because their parents forced them into it, and they spent their youth locked in their bedrooms getting good grades, and those geeky scholarly habits stick with them into middle age. It wouldn't surprise me to meet a doctor who is a total outsider to the patient population their supposedly expected to treat through book learnin'...

WhitneyLand 10y ago
Forget knowledge of esoteric or edgy topics - I bet if you took the 10 most important research results in the last year that your own doctor would not be aware of all of them even if relevant to their practice.
- majewsky 10y ago
  I can sort of understand that, given that how many research findings are invalidated later on (or cannot be reproduced). Also, I don't need my GP to be aware of the latest cancer research when all I got is the common cold.
anigbrowl 10y ago
Your point #2 is pretty good, but I was surprised because every psychiatrist I've ever met has taken psychedelics, and doctors enjoy getting high just as much as the rest of the population. But even so, I thought it would be the sort of thing someone would know about just through a general awareness of current events. I've never taken a flying lesson but I know who the Wright brothers are, that their first successful flight was in 1903, the basic control mechanisms of all aeroplanes, and a bunch of other rudimentary aeronautical knowledge. I thought most people had a vague idea of who timothy Leary was and that a drug named LSD was quite popular in the 1960s and so on - it's not exactly obscure.
- hueving 10y ago
  >I've never taken a flying lesson but I know who the Wright brothers are, that their first successful flight was in 1903, the basic control mechanisms of all aeroplanes, and a bunch of other rudimentary aeronautical knowledge. Most people don't know any of those things, including many of the people that frequently fly on the planes (based on conversation I have with people sitting next to me when I fly)[1]. Similarly, I wouldn't expect many people that frequently get high on something other than psychedelics to know anything at all about LSD. 1. PSA: Something that frequently comes up that is relevant to being a passenger is the importance of putting on your own air mask as fast as possible. At a 40,000 ft elevation atmospheric pressure, hypoxia will cause you to lose consciousness in <20 seconds. Remember to put on your own mask before helping others ;)
- razakel 10y ago
  >But even so, I thought it would be the sort of thing someone would know about just through a general awareness of current events. I've never taken a flying lesson but I know who the Wright brothers are, that their first successful flight was in 1903, the basic control mechanisms of all aeroplanes, and a bunch of other rudimentary aeronautical knowledge. I thought most people had a vague idea of who timothy Leary was and that a drug named LSD was quite popular in the 1960s and so on - it's not exactly obscure. You're living in a bubble. You're the exception. The general public are actually by and large incredibly ignorant. Do some research into literacy rates if you want to be terrified. Ask the average man on the street to name five Enlightenment philosophers and he'll just stare at you blankly.
  - majewsky 10y ago
    Five Enlightenment philosophers? That would be hard for me, too. Probably because I don't know which philosophers count as Enlightenment period. In decreasing order of confidence: Kant, Voltaire, Hegel, Rousseau, Nietzsche. How many points do I receive?
    - Insanity 10y ago
      I would have had a similar list (decreasing order of confidence as well). Kant, Voltaire, Descartes, Heidegger, Kierkegaard. I don't think this is something people should necessarily know. Ask them to name some 5 philosopers and be happy if they can do that, but specifying a period? A tad too hard I guess :-)
csomar 10y ago
Did you just describe everything that's wrong with our fucked-up world in 2.?

by qwartor 10y ago

WhitneyLand 10y ago

Forget knowledge of esoteric or edgy topics - I bet if you took the 10 most important research results in the last year that your own doctor would not be aware of all of them even if relevant to their practice.

majewsky 10y ago
I can sort of understand that, given that how many research findings are invalidated later on (or cannot be reproduced). Also, I don't need my GP to be aware of the latest cancer research when all I got is the common cold.

anigbrowl 10y ago

Your point #2 is pretty good, but I was surprised because every psychiatrist I've ever met has taken psychedelics, and doctors enjoy getting high just as much as the rest of the population. But even so, I thought it would be the sort of thing someone would know about just through a general awareness of current events. I've never taken a flying lesson but I know who the Wright brothers are, that their first successful flight was in 1903, the basic control mechanisms of all aeroplanes, and a bunch of other rudimentary aeronautical knowledge. I thought most people had a vague idea of who timothy Leary was and that a drug named LSD was quite popular in the 1960s and so on - it's not exactly obscure.

hueving 10y ago
>I've never taken a flying lesson but I know who the Wright brothers are, that their first successful flight was in 1903, the basic control mechanisms of all aeroplanes, and a bunch of other rudimentary aeronautical knowledge. Most people don't know any of those things, including many of the people that frequently fly on the planes (based on conversation I have with people sitting next to me when I fly)[1]. Similarly, I wouldn't expect many people that frequently get high on something other than psychedelics to know anything at all about LSD. 1. PSA: Something that frequently comes up that is relevant to being a passenger is the importance of putting on your own air mask as fast as possible. At a 40,000 ft elevation atmospheric pressure, hypoxia will cause you to lose consciousness in <20 seconds. Remember to put on your own mask before helping others ;)
razakel 10y ago
>But even so, I thought it would be the sort of thing someone would know about just through a general awareness of current events. I've never taken a flying lesson but I know who the Wright brothers are, that their first successful flight was in 1903, the basic control mechanisms of all aeroplanes, and a bunch of other rudimentary aeronautical knowledge. I thought most people had a vague idea of who timothy Leary was and that a drug named LSD was quite popular in the 1960s and so on - it's not exactly obscure. You're living in a bubble. You're the exception. The general public are actually by and large incredibly ignorant. Do some research into literacy rates if you want to be terrified. Ask the average man on the street to name five Enlightenment philosophers and he'll just stare at you blankly.
- majewsky 10y ago
  Five Enlightenment philosophers? That would be hard for me, too. Probably because I don't know which philosophers count as Enlightenment period. In decreasing order of confidence: Kant, Voltaire, Hegel, Rousseau, Nietzsche. How many points do I receive?
  - Insanity 10y ago
    I would have had a similar list (decreasing order of confidence as well). Kant, Voltaire, Descartes, Heidegger, Kierkegaard. I don't think this is something people should necessarily know. Ask them to name some 5 philosopers and be happy if they can do that, but specifying a period? A tad too hard I guess :-)

csomar 10y ago

Did you just describe everything that's wrong with our fucked-up world in 2.?