5 ms·

I keep reading/hearing about the relationship between psychedelics and Silicon Valley, but I have yet to meet that many people in real life who work in the SV s

I keep reading/hearing about the relationship between psychedelics and Silicon Valley, but I have yet to meet that many people in real life who work in the SV software industry and use psychedelics. I'm a SWE who has spent over a decade at various large companies in SV. I know one fellow SWE who has used it at Burning Man. Several other SWEs gave me a neutral or negative reaction when I mentioned using psychedelics. If there is a side of Silicon Valley that involves using psychedelics to enhance your work, it's either a lot smaller than the media makes it out to be, or I'm in the wrong place.

sk5t 6y ago
Perhaps it's not something folks feel comfortable discussing--were these neutral or negative reactions from acquaintances and coworkers, or from close friends?
- faanghacker 6y ago
  I obviously didn't flat out ask others if they had tried it. I either mentioned that I had tried it or played dumb and asked if they knew anything about e.g. microdosing, as if I had only heard of it. Anecdotally... 1) Friend from college working in machine learning space who just moved back to SV from Asia, saying that the tech culture in Asia suffered from a lack of creativity. In the same conversation I brought up having used psilocybin and he freaked out, thinking it was going to damage my brain. 2) Another friend from college who's a hardware engineer. who found it strange that I didn't want to drink whiskey with him but regularly use psilocybin. He also warned me about brain damage. 3) Friend from work whom I knew socially. After he quit working, I chatted with him and suggested that if he wanted to try psychedelics now would be a good time, before he decides whether to go back to working. He seemed to be surprised, and just made a comment about Steve Jobs to cover up the awkwardness. 4) Another coworker I worked closely with and had a good opinion of me because of the work that I had done, who had gone to another company. I asked him if he knew anything about microdosing while having lunch and he said not to try that stuff because it would mess up my head. 5) The Burning Man guy was someone I'd worked with before. He told me about his recent BM psychedelic experience after I told him about having used ayahuasca recently. Point is, my experience of sampling people I know in SV both socially and professionally hasn't yielded anything close to "yeah I have used psychedelics to help my work" even when I didn't ask them straight up if they had used it, and instead volunteered my own experience first. I worked in large companies in South Bay, not SF-based startups. That probably had something to do with it. Still, all the press about SV and psychedelics gets tiring when it seems not to take into account the likely uneven distribution between South Bay vs SF and large companies vs startups.
  - sibeliuss 6y ago
    At the risk of getting downvoted I just gotta say: I think you're talking to the wrong people...
  - partyboat1586 6y ago
    Your problem is big asking people at big companies. Most people who do psychedelics wouldn't like to work for a big company. Also in my experience as a contractor inside many companies people who work for a long time at the same big company are unlikely to have tried anything except alcohol. In terms of the Big 5 personality traits: High openness -> open to new experiences -> try psychs. High openness -> need for creative expression -> small company. Low openness -> closed to new experiences -> don't try psychs. Low openness -> closed to new experiences -> stay in same big company You don't need some personality model to get that though. Just to have met enough people.
    - saiya-jin 6y ago
      World and people are a bit more complex than that. I am perfectly fine staying at big banking corp, and in the same time tried shrooms maybe 10x, salvia extract few times (quite similar but 10-15 minutes only), weed & hash all around the world. Some of us get fulfillment in their lives from stuff we do outside of work (adrenaline sports, mountains, travelling in my case), and we have work just to sponsor this, and other pursuits in life. Even if its quite creative software dev work. But overall you are maybe right, more career-oriented folks in big companies who have less open mind, like to just follow the rules from above (alcohol ok, other drugs will kill ya all) etc.
      - partyboat1586 6y ago
        Yeah it's a model, there will be exceptions because reality is more nuanced. My problem with working for a big company despite it allowing more time for doing stuff outside of work is that I just don't connect with the people there. Because on average more people are low openness I find we don't see things the same way and don't have the same sense of humour.
  - 6y ago
ASinclair 6y ago
I don't know anyone using them to enhance their work. However, I know plenty of developers in SV/San Francisco that take them recreationally. It's not something people really talk about at work.
GoOnThenDoTell 6y ago
It’s not something you talk about at work. There’s plenty of people around who are happy to chat about it at a house party or bar
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
djannzjkzxn 6y ago
I’m a pretty successful Silicon Valley SWE. I enthusiastically use psychedelics, but I’m not going to mention them to my coworkers.

sk5t 6y ago

Perhaps it's not something folks feel comfortable discussing--were these neutral or negative reactions from acquaintances and coworkers, or from close friends?

faanghacker 6y ago
I obviously didn't flat out ask others if they had tried it. I either mentioned that I had tried it or played dumb and asked if they knew anything about e.g. microdosing, as if I had only heard of it. Anecdotally... 1) Friend from college working in machine learning space who just moved back to SV from Asia, saying that the tech culture in Asia suffered from a lack of creativity. In the same conversation I brought up having used psilocybin and he freaked out, thinking it was going to damage my brain. 2) Another friend from college who's a hardware engineer. who found it strange that I didn't want to drink whiskey with him but regularly use psilocybin. He also warned me about brain damage. 3) Friend from work whom I knew socially. After he quit working, I chatted with him and suggested that if he wanted to try psychedelics now would be a good time, before he decides whether to go back to working. He seemed to be surprised, and just made a comment about Steve Jobs to cover up the awkwardness. 4) Another coworker I worked closely with and had a good opinion of me because of the work that I had done, who had gone to another company. I asked him if he knew anything about microdosing while having lunch and he said not to try that stuff because it would mess up my head. 5) The Burning Man guy was someone I'd worked with before. He told me about his recent BM psychedelic experience after I told him about having used ayahuasca recently. Point is, my experience of sampling people I know in SV both socially and professionally hasn't yielded anything close to "yeah I have used psychedelics to help my work" even when I didn't ask them straight up if they had used it, and instead volunteered my own experience first. I worked in large companies in South Bay, not SF-based startups. That probably had something to do with it. Still, all the press about SV and psychedelics gets tiring when it seems not to take into account the likely uneven distribution between South Bay vs SF and large companies vs startups.
- sibeliuss 6y ago
  At the risk of getting downvoted I just gotta say: I think you're talking to the wrong people...
- partyboat1586 6y ago
  Your problem is big asking people at big companies. Most people who do psychedelics wouldn't like to work for a big company. Also in my experience as a contractor inside many companies people who work for a long time at the same big company are unlikely to have tried anything except alcohol. In terms of the Big 5 personality traits: High openness -> open to new experiences -> try psychs. High openness -> need for creative expression -> small company. Low openness -> closed to new experiences -> don't try psychs. Low openness -> closed to new experiences -> stay in same big company You don't need some personality model to get that though. Just to have met enough people.
  - saiya-jin 6y ago
    World and people are a bit more complex than that. I am perfectly fine staying at big banking corp, and in the same time tried shrooms maybe 10x, salvia extract few times (quite similar but 10-15 minutes only), weed & hash all around the world. Some of us get fulfillment in their lives from stuff we do outside of work (adrenaline sports, mountains, travelling in my case), and we have work just to sponsor this, and other pursuits in life. Even if its quite creative software dev work. But overall you are maybe right, more career-oriented folks in big companies who have less open mind, like to just follow the rules from above (alcohol ok, other drugs will kill ya all) etc.
    - partyboat1586 6y ago
      Yeah it's a model, there will be exceptions because reality is more nuanced. My problem with working for a big company despite it allowing more time for doing stuff outside of work is that I just don't connect with the people there. Because on average more people are low openness I find we don't see things the same way and don't have the same sense of humour.
- 6y ago

ASinclair 6y ago

I don't know anyone using them to enhance their work. However, I know plenty of developers in SV/San Francisco that take them recreationally. It's not something people really talk about at work.

GoOnThenDoTell 6y ago

It’s not something you talk about at work. There’s plenty of people around who are happy to chat about it at a house party or bar

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

djannzjkzxn 6y ago

I’m a pretty successful Silicon Valley SWE. I enthusiastically use psychedelics, but I’m not going to mention them to my coworkers.