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Is there any credible evidence that psychedelics reliably and "efficiently" help people learn things?

mudita 6y ago
There is for example research showing that psychedelics have a lasting effect on the Big 5 personality trait "openness to experience": https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-else/201604/psychedelic-drugs-and-the-nature-personality-change https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-els... Which is quite remarkable given the stability these personality traits usually have. Overall while it seems to be clear that people who take psychedelics don't become saints spreading love for the rest of their lives, there's some solid evidence accumulated by psychologists that psychedelics have some real effect.
tazjin 6y ago
I don't know what you'd consider "credible evidence". You can find tens of thousands of anecdotal accounts, but you're probably looking for something more formal. It's likely a futile search: Research into these topics is difficult to get approval for, even when it's more "tangible" things like effects on depression or PTSD. In my opinion, we'll probably need another few decades to get there (though there has been some encouraging societal progress in some places recently). We won't get anywhere in this conversation because we're on two different sides of a fence, and I certainly can't describe what being on this side is like and can only invite people to come over here. It'd be like asking you to describe what the colour green looks like to you. Which path around, or over, the fence they choose is up to them ...
DanBC 6y ago
Depends how you define "learn", but there's lots of (actually quite exciting) research into psychadelics to treat mental illness.
asimpletune 6y ago
Yes, there's a whole book about this in fact, "How to Change Your Mind"
naringas 6y ago
I think it more accurate to say they make people question things
mistermann 6y ago
There's tons of evidence available online, but a big problem is a lack of agreement on what constitutes "credible evidence". There is a fairly significant amount of clinical evidence available (despite it being effectively banned from study for decades), but the vast majority of evidence available is anecdotal reports from users. It should be noted that while it's true that this class of evidence lacks a "proper" (standards double blind placebo-controlled, etc) approach, it does not logically follow that it is therefore incorrect. As for where to point skeptical-minded people, I agree with others that Sam Harris is one of the better resources. Here is an article on his recent 5g "heroic dose" mushroom trip: https://thethirdwave.co/neuroscientist-sam-harris-reports-on-his-heroic-dose-of-mushrooms/ https://thethirdwave.co/neuroscientist-sam-harris-reports-on... > “There’s no denying that there were parts of the experience that felt like an encounter with something other than my own mind,” Harris says, something that guided him “across the landscape of mind.” Many trippers, Harris notes, interpret this something as god or a universal consciousness. Harris suspends judgment. “My day job is not to be fooled by spurious ideas passed down from our ignorant ancestors, so I’m very slow to make claims about what I think is going on here,” he says. “I’m just reporting the character of the experience.” In the end, Harris says, “I thought of this as the mushroom itself.” > Thus Harris captures the magic and intrigue of psychedelics: the parsimonious explanation for the encounters you feel on a big mushroom trip is that you’re being guided by a fungus. Harris himself is astounded. “The fact that there are landscapes of mind this vast lurking on the other side of a mushroom is simply preposterous,” Harris goes on. “It’s as though we lived in a universe where, if you just reached into your right pocket with your left hand, rather than pull out your wallet, you’d pull out the Andromeda Galaxy.” His full trip report (19 minutes long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKGddvmU0fA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKGddvmU0fA Other trip report resources, etc: https://michaelpollan.com/resources/psychedelics-resources/ https://michaelpollan.com/resources/psychedelics-resources/ https://maps.org/research https://maps.org/research https://erowid.org/experiences/exp_list.shtml https://erowid.org/experiences/exp_list.shtml (37,822 Reports Total) https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Mushrooms.shtml https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Mushrooms.shtml (2,763 Total) https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_LSD.shtml https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_LSD.shtml (2,195 Total) https://www.shroomery.org/6255/Trip-Reports https://www.shroomery.org/6255/Trip-Reports https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Experience_index https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Experience_index https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Subjective_effects_index https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Subjective_effects_index

There is for example research showing that psychedelics have a lasting effect on the Big 5 personality trait "openness to experience": https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-else/201604/psychedelic-drugs-and-the-nature-personality-change https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-els... Which is quite remarkable given the stability these personality traits usually have. Overall while it seems to be clear that people who take psychedelics don't become saints spreading love for the rest of their lives, there's some solid evidence accumulated by psychologists that psychedelics have some real effect.

tazjin 6y ago

I don't know what you'd consider "credible evidence". You can find tens of thousands of anecdotal accounts, but you're probably looking for something more formal. It's likely a futile search: Research into these topics is difficult to get approval for, even when it's more "tangible" things like effects on depression or PTSD. In my opinion, we'll probably need another few decades to get there (though there has been some encouraging societal progress in some places recently). We won't get anywhere in this conversation because we're on two different sides of a fence, and I certainly can't describe what being on this side is like and can only invite people to come over here. It'd be like asking you to describe what the colour green looks like to you. Which path around, or over, the fence they choose is up to them ...

DanBC 6y ago

Depends how you define "learn", but there's lots of (actually quite exciting) research into psychadelics to treat mental illness.

asimpletune 6y ago

Yes, there's a whole book about this in fact, "How to Change Your Mind"

naringas 6y ago

I think it more accurate to say they make people question things

mistermann 6y ago

There's tons of evidence available online, but a big problem is a lack of agreement on what constitutes "credible evidence". There is a fairly significant amount of clinical evidence available (despite it being effectively banned from study for decades), but the vast majority of evidence available is anecdotal reports from users. It should be noted that while it's true that this class of evidence lacks a "proper" (standards double blind placebo-controlled, etc) approach, it does not logically follow that it is therefore incorrect. As for where to point skeptical-minded people, I agree with others that Sam Harris is one of the better resources. Here is an article on his recent 5g "heroic dose" mushroom trip: https://thethirdwave.co/neuroscientist-sam-harris-reports-on-his-heroic-dose-of-mushrooms/ https://thethirdwave.co/neuroscientist-sam-harris-reports-on... > “There’s no denying that there were parts of the experience that felt like an encounter with something other than my own mind,” Harris says, something that guided him “across the landscape of mind.” Many trippers, Harris notes, interpret this something as god or a universal consciousness. Harris suspends judgment. “My day job is not to be fooled by spurious ideas passed down from our ignorant ancestors, so I’m very slow to make claims about what I think is going on here,” he says. “I’m just reporting the character of the experience.” In the end, Harris says, “I thought of this as the mushroom itself.” > Thus Harris captures the magic and intrigue of psychedelics: the parsimonious explanation for the encounters you feel on a big mushroom trip is that you’re being guided by a fungus. Harris himself is astounded. “The fact that there are landscapes of mind this vast lurking on the other side of a mushroom is simply preposterous,” Harris goes on. “It’s as though we lived in a universe where, if you just reached into your right pocket with your left hand, rather than pull out your wallet, you’d pull out the Andromeda Galaxy.” His full trip report (19 minutes long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKGddvmU0fA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKGddvmU0fA Other trip report resources, etc: https://michaelpollan.com/resources/psychedelics-resources/ https://michaelpollan.com/resources/psychedelics-resources/ https://maps.org/research https://maps.org/research https://erowid.org/experiences/exp_list.shtml https://erowid.org/experiences/exp_list.shtml (37,822 Reports Total) https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Mushrooms.shtml https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Mushrooms.shtml (2,763 Total) https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_LSD.shtml https://erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_LSD.shtml (2,195 Total) https://www.shroomery.org/6255/Trip-Reports https://www.shroomery.org/6255/Trip-Reports https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Experience_index https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Experience_index https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Subjective_effects_index https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Subjective_effects_index