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So I wonder: psychedelics make you more likely to believe woo, and more likely to have certain classes of visual hallucinations. But some people believe woo wit

by chubot 7y ago

So I wonder: psychedelics make you more likely to believe woo, and more likely to have certain classes of visual hallucinations. But some people believe woo without taking psychedelics, and some people have those same visual hallucinations without taking psychedelics. Interesting, I believe it and have always wondered about this. I think people's sensory experiences vary wildly by nature, but we have no access to them so can't really prove anything. Some people are audiophiles, others foodies, others fashionistas, etc. Your athletic ability can vary from Usain Bolt to completely uncoordinated; some people have photographic memories (e.g. Lebron James apparently); some people can factor large numbers in their heads (computation), or recite huge strings of digits (non-episodic memory). Some people are prediposed to like drugs and others don't. (e.g. reading a lot of rock n' roll biographies it becomes apparent that the alcohol and heroin addictions aren't randomly distributed; it's somewhat "innate") It would be surprising if our sensory experiences did NOT vary widely. This sounds silly and is totally unsubstantiated, but I always believed my senses are "accurate". I told a friend in high school this and he said it was stupid and impossible :) ---- Although I can also conjure some low-level hallucinations when "looking at the back of my eyelids" when falling asleep. I imagine that's pretty normal/common since low light is sort of like sensory deprivation. But they are very elaborate hallucations with all sorts of geometric forms and motion. Elaborate but not intense, if that makes sense.

ianai 7y ago
Iirc those symbols in your vision with your eyes closed aren’t hallucinations. They’re reflective of the blood pressure and flow around your eye/eye lid. Though I definitely have an ability to relax by paying attention to them. I can’t offer a source for this though.
- blotter_paper 7y ago
  The phenomenon you describe affects the phenomenon GP describes, but they are different phenomenon. Also, if you have relatively strong bloodflow you can see these fluctuations while staring at a white wall.
- opportune 7y ago
  The colors themselves aren’t. However if you have even mild HPPD they take more complex forms (esp faces) and switch rapidly, like one face morphing into another
- chubot 7y ago
  I think everybody has the blood flow thing. But the degree to which they turn into "hallucinations" varies. By that I mean very elaborate geometric shapes with a lot of motion and rotation. Sort of like a Persian rug in 3D and 4D (time), with a lot of scale. Fractals, etc. I suspect there is some common physiological reason why people find fractals "trippy" and say pictures of cars in traffic are not "trippy". Drugs tickle your brain in a certain ways, but as the OP suggests, they're not the only way your brain can be tickled like that. And some brains are more predisposed to such hallucinations than others.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
anon9001 7y ago
> Although I can also conjure some low-level hallucinations when "looking at the back of my eyelids" when falling asleep. I imagine that's pretty normal/common since low light is sort of like sensory deprivation. Me too, and it's definitely a result of taking psychedelics. I quite like it. I suspect that I could have always made those CEVs appear, but I didn't "know how" until taking psychedelics. In other words, I have the distinct impression that it's a new skill I learned by psychedelics, but not a forced change caused by the drugs. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it feels like. When I'm falling asleep, I know if I'm fully relaxed and ready to drift off to sleep when I can just "accept" the visuals without trying to process them. Somehow "letting go" of psychedelic visuals makes them more prominent, and for some reason, that leads to good sleep. I also notice floaters way more, and I know those were always there, but now I notice them. And I need way less weed to get as high as I want to be. I think before taking psychedelics, I felt like I was smoking weed to try to achieve something. After achieving whatever that mental goal was on psychedelics, I just don't need to smoke as much anymore. Weird drugs for sure, but I don't regret taking them.
- codazoda 7y ago
  > Me too, and it's definitely a result of taking psychedelics. I quite like it. I suspect that I could have always made those CEVs appear, but I didn't "know how" until taking psychedelics. Me too and it's probably not a result of taking psychedelics; as I've never tried them recreationally. I did, however, have vivid hallucinations as a result of Nitrous oxide at the dentist office as a child. I don't think I see floaters, as my vision doesn't require correction. They also seem unrelated to afterimage. I thought these were more common, but after some research, most people only see these after applying some pressure, such as rubbing their eyes. Interesting stuff.
  - anon9001 7y ago
    N2O is culturally related to psychedelics for good reason, as it can produce/amplify those effects, so that makes sense. The eye pressure one is a different effect though. What I'm talking about are geometric effects like gears or fractals with definite edges. The eye pressure thing is more of a blob.
harry8 7y ago
Aside: I bet you "a signed dollar" that Le Bron James is not the first verifiably recorded case of an adult posessing a photographic (eidetic) memory. [1] Without singling out Mr James it is reasonable to very, very skeptical about any strong claims of ability of any famous person outside the field for which they are famous. Hype is a thing pushed by entourages if not the famous person themselves. Mr James' proficiency is basketball is super-human and impressive enough by itself. It is very unlikely that he is also super-human in other dimensions. But hey, he can submit to testing and put it on a video sharing site. Walk into a room with a table with N (N=80?) objects on it, under a sheet. Remove the sheet for 3 seconds. Put it back. See how many he can list from memory alone. That's actually not definitive for Eidetic (I believe - I'm not the expert) but it is pretty impressive nonetheless. If he can do that ask him for a book and edition that he has read then pick a geniunely random page (eg roll dice) and ask him to read it to you from memory alone. If he did it on the modern Johnny Carson show (where Uri Geller failed abysmally all those years ago, for example) it would be super-impressive, as it would if literally any human did it.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory [2] James Randii at 91 may not be available to advise the fraud busting setup as he did for Mr Carson but at a pinch I bet Penn Jilette, Teller, Derryn Brown or someone of similar advanced deception skills could do the job. How exciting would it be if someone convincingly displayed it?
- chubot 7y ago
  I didn't claim he was the first case? That would be ridiculous. And this is a tangent, but I used that example to subtly poke at this kind of "common wisdom": Mr James' proficiency is basketball is super-human and impressive enough by itself. It is very unlikely that he is also super-human in other dimensions. Why do you think that an exceptional memory would not contribute to exceptional basketball playing? Are those two things completely unrelated? In other words, you're probably underestimating the cognitive skill it takes to win at high levels. Of course I can't know for sure, because I haven't done it, but you haven't either. I don't remember what the best sources for his memory were, but they seemed credible to me at the time, e.g.: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44106321 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44106321 https://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-turnovers-photographic-memory-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-turnovers-photographi... There are also some video of him recalling games that seem credible too.
dcolkitt 7y ago
> Your athletic ability can vary from Usain Bolt to completely uncoordinated; some people have photographic memories (e.g. Lebron James apparently); some people can factor large numbers in their heads (computation), or recite huge strings of digits (non-episodic memory). I'm going to quibble with you. When you say that individual humans vary widely, you're mostly assuming a baseline scale of typical human variation. Which is basically begging the question. Of course the fastest or smartest people look very extreme, when you're implicitly comparing them to typical people. Usain Bolt is very fast for a human. But he's slower than the average housecat. On the flip side some people have really good memories. But even the dumbest humans manage to remember a huge number of symbols compared to what a chimp's capable of. Same for virtually everything else you listed. Food taste, aesthetic preferences, auditory capabilities, intoxicant consumption, etc. Normal human variance is swamped by variance between different animal species. This is mostly invisible to us, because most of our day-to-day interactions are with other people. Not exotic organisms. So I would guess just the opposite. I believe that sensory experiences across different people are very likely to be substantially similar. At least compared to an alien species, or AI, or even just an intelligence from a distant evolutionary branch (like an octopus).
- chubot 7y ago
  I see what you're saying, but he is claiming that some people might literally see auras around other people. Or the other person sees a literal grid in her visual field all the time and projects meaning onto it. And that's within normal human variation. Sure you can imagine that bats or octopuses have much weirder subjective experiences. But it's still not something that's widely recognized. They would likely say if you literally see auras then you must be a crazy, non-functioning person, when really it's just a quirk of your perception that is invisible to everyone else.
taneq 7y ago
> I can also conjure some low-level hallucinations when "looking at the back of my eyelids" when falling asleep. Sounds like a closed-eye hallucination (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination) caused by the Ganzfeld effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_effect). I get these too, usually just if I concentrate. I think they've been easier to get since I tried mushrooms a couple of times, but I did get them before as well.
- anon9001 7y ago
  Wow, good find. I had no idea that there was a name for it. One hop away from that page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_cinema https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_cinema > Others have noted a connection between the form the lights take and neolithic cave paintings. That's a really great way to explain it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting#/media/File:(1)Jabiru_dreaming-7.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting#/media/File:(1)J... is pretty accurate for me
- WillDaSilva 7y ago
  This is absolutely fascinating. Not too long ago I thought that everyone experienced level 3, and occasionally level 4 effects, but I learned that my friends did not. The first link says that it's rare without psychedelic drugs. I've never tried any psychedelics, but I regularly experience level 3 effects, and occasionally level 4 ones too. I can't remember a time when I didn't. I also frequently experience/remember hypnagogia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia), which I previously did not know the name of. I absolutely love experiencing it, as it's often euphoric, although it can sometimes be terrifying and stressful.
  - tluyben2 7y ago
    I can conjure 4 when I want (and I do when I cannot fall asleep); I would say that is because I did try psychedelics a few times decades ago and the trick to ‘see things’ still works like that.
o09rdk 7y ago
Some people hallucinate without drugs. There's a range of this, in terms of intensity and type. Some people take drugs. They tend to onset around the same age (adolescence to early adulthood). Ergo, by base rates, some will start around the same time completely by chance. Also, I get the sense that some hallucinations are "amplifications" of various types of pre-existing sensory experiences. I wouldn't be surprised if some people just started noticing certain things they were doing already but hadn't noticed before. Not really arguing against the idea/phenomenon of [semi-]permanent drug-induced hallucinations. Just suggesting that it's hard to interpret the data in some cases because of various alternative explanations.
DonaldFisk 7y ago
These are hypnagogic hallucinations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia . People experience them while falling asleep.
wahern 7y ago
> I think people's sensory experiences vary wildly by nature, but we have no access to them so can't really prove anything. > ... some people have photographic memories (e.g. Lebron James apparently); some people can factor large numbers in their heads (computation), or recite huge strings of digits (non-episodic memory). Many of these sensory experiences can be empirically and objectively analyzed. For example, photographic memory is not a real thing. Nobody has ever shown the ability to recall particular details of a scene which they hadn't already focused or been cued on. There's been considerable, sincere effort invested in testing these claims, both in claimants and random individuals. (There are people who remember endless amounts of seemingly non-episodic daily trivia of their everyday life for literally every day of their life, but this isn't photographic memory and definitely doesn't describe LeBron James.) Large number mental arithmetic and recitation of long strings (or other trivia) is a learnable skill, though many people develop the skill independently, many of whom describe their techniques in a manner that comports with well-known techniques. Sources: "Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything" by an American journalist who became the American Memory Champion as part of his research; "Your memory: how it works and how to improve it" by Kenneth L. Higbee, a professor of psychology who has a personal interest in mnemonics techniques; and "The Art of Memory" by Frances A. Yates who traces the historical practice of the Method of Loci from Ancient Greece and its transformation into esotericism by the time of the Renaissance. Of course, there's no accounting for people who believe and feel they have a photographic memory[1], just like there can be no accounting for people who believe they're being personally surveilled 24/7 by hidden cameras everywhere. But that doesn't mean I have to accept that there are some people who are actually inexplicably and secretly being surveilled; left to wonder why I'm so lucky/unlucky. Conversely, there are some people with a real, extraordinary sense, like tetrachromats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy#Humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy#Humans), who have a fourth peak in their color spectrum reception. They see the world in much richer color than normal humans, and this has been empirically verified. [1] Indeed, I'm pretty sure most people (myself included) feel like they can shut their eyes and retain a photographic picture of a scene. I was told I had a photographic memory by many different teachers, going back to at least third grade. But, again, it doesn't stand up to scientific experimentation. And I never believed my teachers as it was always self-evident to me that while I may have remembered more seemingly esoteric facts or events than they did, it was because I had consciously found those things curious, however briefly. (As an adult I was diagnosed with ADHD, which perhaps goes a long way to explaining why so many things caught my attention.)

by chubot 7y ago

ianai 7y ago

Iirc those symbols in your vision with your eyes closed aren’t hallucinations. They’re reflective of the blood pressure and flow around your eye/eye lid. Though I definitely have an ability to relax by paying attention to them. I can’t offer a source for this though.

blotter_paper 7y ago
The phenomenon you describe affects the phenomenon GP describes, but they are different phenomenon. Also, if you have relatively strong bloodflow you can see these fluctuations while staring at a white wall.
opportune 7y ago
The colors themselves aren’t. However if you have even mild HPPD they take more complex forms (esp faces) and switch rapidly, like one face morphing into another
chubot 7y ago
I think everybody has the blood flow thing. But the degree to which they turn into "hallucinations" varies. By that I mean very elaborate geometric shapes with a lot of motion and rotation. Sort of like a Persian rug in 3D and 4D (time), with a lot of scale. Fractals, etc. I suspect there is some common physiological reason why people find fractals "trippy" and say pictures of cars in traffic are not "trippy". Drugs tickle your brain in a certain ways, but as the OP suggests, they're not the only way your brain can be tickled like that. And some brains are more predisposed to such hallucinations than others.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

anon9001 7y ago

> Although I can also conjure some low-level hallucinations when "looking at the back of my eyelids" when falling asleep. I imagine that's pretty normal/common since low light is sort of like sensory deprivation. Me too, and it's definitely a result of taking psychedelics. I quite like it. I suspect that I could have always made those CEVs appear, but I didn't "know how" until taking psychedelics. In other words, I have the distinct impression that it's a new skill I learned by psychedelics, but not a forced change caused by the drugs. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it feels like. When I'm falling asleep, I know if I'm fully relaxed and ready to drift off to sleep when I can just "accept" the visuals without trying to process them. Somehow "letting go" of psychedelic visuals makes them more prominent, and for some reason, that leads to good sleep. I also notice floaters way more, and I know those were always there, but now I notice them. And I need way less weed to get as high as I want to be. I think before taking psychedelics, I felt like I was smoking weed to try to achieve something. After achieving whatever that mental goal was on psychedelics, I just don't need to smoke as much anymore. Weird drugs for sure, but I don't regret taking them.

codazoda 7y ago
> Me too, and it's definitely a result of taking psychedelics. I quite like it. I suspect that I could have always made those CEVs appear, but I didn't "know how" until taking psychedelics. Me too and it's probably not a result of taking psychedelics; as I've never tried them recreationally. I did, however, have vivid hallucinations as a result of Nitrous oxide at the dentist office as a child. I don't think I see floaters, as my vision doesn't require correction. They also seem unrelated to afterimage. I thought these were more common, but after some research, most people only see these after applying some pressure, such as rubbing their eyes. Interesting stuff.
- anon9001 7y ago
  N2O is culturally related to psychedelics for good reason, as it can produce/amplify those effects, so that makes sense. The eye pressure one is a different effect though. What I'm talking about are geometric effects like gears or fractals with definite edges. The eye pressure thing is more of a blob.

harry8 7y ago

Aside: I bet you "a signed dollar" that Le Bron James is not the first verifiably recorded case of an adult posessing a photographic (eidetic) memory. [1] Without singling out Mr James it is reasonable to very, very skeptical about any strong claims of ability of any famous person outside the field for which they are famous. Hype is a thing pushed by entourages if not the famous person themselves. Mr James' proficiency is basketball is super-human and impressive enough by itself. It is very unlikely that he is also super-human in other dimensions. But hey, he can submit to testing and put it on a video sharing site. Walk into a room with a table with N (N=80?) objects on it, under a sheet. Remove the sheet for 3 seconds. Put it back. See how many he can list from memory alone. That's actually not definitive for Eidetic (I believe - I'm not the expert) but it is pretty impressive nonetheless. If he can do that ask him for a book and edition that he has read then pick a geniunely random page (eg roll dice) and ask him to read it to you from memory alone. If he did it on the modern Johnny Carson show (where Uri Geller failed abysmally all those years ago, for example) it would be super-impressive, as it would if literally any human did it.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory [2] James Randii at 91 may not be available to advise the fraud busting setup as he did for Mr Carson but at a pinch I bet Penn Jilette, Teller, Derryn Brown or someone of similar advanced deception skills could do the job. How exciting would it be if someone convincingly displayed it?

chubot 7y ago
I didn't claim he was the first case? That would be ridiculous. And this is a tangent, but I used that example to subtly poke at this kind of "common wisdom": Mr James' proficiency is basketball is super-human and impressive enough by itself. It is very unlikely that he is also super-human in other dimensions. Why do you think that an exceptional memory would not contribute to exceptional basketball playing? Are those two things completely unrelated? In other words, you're probably underestimating the cognitive skill it takes to win at high levels. Of course I can't know for sure, because I haven't done it, but you haven't either. I don't remember what the best sources for his memory were, but they seemed credible to me at the time, e.g.: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44106321 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44106321 https://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-turnovers-photographic-memory-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-turnovers-photographi... There are also some video of him recalling games that seem credible too.

dcolkitt 7y ago

> Your athletic ability can vary from Usain Bolt to completely uncoordinated; some people have photographic memories (e.g. Lebron James apparently); some people can factor large numbers in their heads (computation), or recite huge strings of digits (non-episodic memory). I'm going to quibble with you. When you say that individual humans vary widely, you're mostly assuming a baseline scale of typical human variation. Which is basically begging the question. Of course the fastest or smartest people look very extreme, when you're implicitly comparing them to typical people. Usain Bolt is very fast for a human. But he's slower than the average housecat. On the flip side some people have really good memories. But even the dumbest humans manage to remember a huge number of symbols compared to what a chimp's capable of. Same for virtually everything else you listed. Food taste, aesthetic preferences, auditory capabilities, intoxicant consumption, etc. Normal human variance is swamped by variance between different animal species. This is mostly invisible to us, because most of our day-to-day interactions are with other people. Not exotic organisms. So I would guess just the opposite. I believe that sensory experiences across different people are very likely to be substantially similar. At least compared to an alien species, or AI, or even just an intelligence from a distant evolutionary branch (like an octopus).

chubot 7y ago
I see what you're saying, but he is claiming that some people might literally see auras around other people. Or the other person sees a literal grid in her visual field all the time and projects meaning onto it. And that's within normal human variation. Sure you can imagine that bats or octopuses have much weirder subjective experiences. But it's still not something that's widely recognized. They would likely say if you literally see auras then you must be a crazy, non-functioning person, when really it's just a quirk of your perception that is invisible to everyone else.

taneq 7y ago

> I can also conjure some low-level hallucinations when "looking at the back of my eyelids" when falling asleep. Sounds like a closed-eye hallucination (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination) caused by the Ganzfeld effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_effect). I get these too, usually just if I concentrate. I think they've been easier to get since I tried mushrooms a couple of times, but I did get them before as well.

anon9001 7y ago
Wow, good find. I had no idea that there was a name for it. One hop away from that page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_cinema https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_cinema > Others have noted a connection between the form the lights take and neolithic cave paintings. That's a really great way to explain it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting#/media/File:(1)Jabiru_dreaming-7.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting#/media/File:(1)J... is pretty accurate for me
WillDaSilva 7y ago
This is absolutely fascinating. Not too long ago I thought that everyone experienced level 3, and occasionally level 4 effects, but I learned that my friends did not. The first link says that it's rare without psychedelic drugs. I've never tried any psychedelics, but I regularly experience level 3 effects, and occasionally level 4 ones too. I can't remember a time when I didn't. I also frequently experience/remember hypnagogia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia), which I previously did not know the name of. I absolutely love experiencing it, as it's often euphoric, although it can sometimes be terrifying and stressful.
- tluyben2 7y ago
  I can conjure 4 when I want (and I do when I cannot fall asleep); I would say that is because I did try psychedelics a few times decades ago and the trick to ‘see things’ still works like that.

o09rdk 7y ago

Some people hallucinate without drugs. There's a range of this, in terms of intensity and type. Some people take drugs. They tend to onset around the same age (adolescence to early adulthood). Ergo, by base rates, some will start around the same time completely by chance. Also, I get the sense that some hallucinations are "amplifications" of various types of pre-existing sensory experiences. I wouldn't be surprised if some people just started noticing certain things they were doing already but hadn't noticed before. Not really arguing against the idea/phenomenon of [semi-]permanent drug-induced hallucinations. Just suggesting that it's hard to interpret the data in some cases because of various alternative explanations.

DonaldFisk 7y ago

These are hypnagogic hallucinations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia . People experience them while falling asleep.

wahern 7y ago

> I think people's sensory experiences vary wildly by nature, but we have no access to them so can't really prove anything. > ... some people have photographic memories (e.g. Lebron James apparently); some people can factor large numbers in their heads (computation), or recite huge strings of digits (non-episodic memory). Many of these sensory experiences can be empirically and objectively analyzed. For example, photographic memory is not a real thing. Nobody has ever shown the ability to recall particular details of a scene which they hadn't already focused or been cued on. There's been considerable, sincere effort invested in testing these claims, both in claimants and random individuals. (There are people who remember endless amounts of seemingly non-episodic daily trivia of their everyday life for literally every day of their life, but this isn't photographic memory and definitely doesn't describe LeBron James.) Large number mental arithmetic and recitation of long strings (or other trivia) is a learnable skill, though many people develop the skill independently, many of whom describe their techniques in a manner that comports with well-known techniques. Sources: "Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything" by an American journalist who became the American Memory Champion as part of his research; "Your memory: how it works and how to improve it" by Kenneth L. Higbee, a professor of psychology who has a personal interest in mnemonics techniques; and "The Art of Memory" by Frances A. Yates who traces the historical practice of the Method of Loci from Ancient Greece and its transformation into esotericism by the time of the Renaissance. Of course, there's no accounting for people who believe and feel they have a photographic memory[1], just like there can be no accounting for people who believe they're being personally surveilled 24/7 by hidden cameras everywhere. But that doesn't mean I have to accept that there are some people who are actually inexplicably and secretly being surveilled; left to wonder why I'm so lucky/unlucky. Conversely, there are some people with a real, extraordinary sense, like tetrachromats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy#Humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy#Humans), who have a fourth peak in their color spectrum reception. They see the world in much richer color than normal humans, and this has been empirically verified. [1] Indeed, I'm pretty sure most people (myself included) feel like they can shut their eyes and retain a photographic picture of a scene. I was told I had a photographic memory by many different teachers, going back to at least third grade. But, again, it doesn't stand up to scientific experimentation. And I never believed my teachers as it was always self-evident to me that while I may have remembered more seemingly esoteric facts or events than they did, it was because I had consciously found those things curious, however briefly. (As an adult I was diagnosed with ADHD, which perhaps goes a long way to explaining why so many things caught my attention.)