4 ms·

Please, you're on a discussion site where the main demographic is actively microdosing to improve their productivity at startups inbetween two editions of Burni

Please, you're on a discussion site where the main demographic is actively microdosing to improve their productivity at startups inbetween two editions of Burning Man. You'd be hardpressed to find someone without a first-hand experience of acid. But yeah, you pretty much tend to remember everything that happens to you during a trip, even years afterwards, which naively makes me believe your brain and memories become more malleable during that timeframe. This would explain why bad trips could be traumatizing. Then there's gwern who did a RCT self-experiment and reported no benefits but the way he measured said 'benefits' (stupid little tests, self-rating) isn't convincing.

MacsHeadroom 6y ago
Hey now, some of us microdose LSD to work at public companies too.
robinduckett 6y ago
I don't microdose and I can't see how it improves productivity over say ritalin or other methylphenidates.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- nix23 6y ago
  Probably because you don't? I don't drink beer, I can't see why it tastes better then Grog.
almostdeadguy 6y ago
Utterly pretentious, dweeby reason to take acid
- nefitty 6y ago
  Different folks have different goals. There’s nothing inherent about any chemical or tool.
  - almostdeadguy 6y ago
    Taking acid to "improve your productivity at startups" is a tool for people with no appreciation for leisure or mind expansion. There's also a difference between taking something to cope or function and taking something because you think it makes you the Rembrandt of startups or whatever. I mean do what you want, and I'll reserve my right to clown on goofballs like this.
c-c-c-c-c 6y ago
/thread
gwern 6y ago
The prior probability was always low. And it is not as if any of the followup experiments or surveys have reported much better results, you know. A charitable assessment of past LSD microdosing experiments in humans, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/11/384412 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/11/384412 https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-019-0308-4 https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1... https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0211023 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00213-018-5119-x https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00213-018-5119-... https://www.gwern.net/docs/nootropics/2019-bershad.pdf https://www.gwern.net/docs/nootropics/2019-bershad.pdf , might be that "the evidence is consistent with scattered small benefits which do not line up with the large effects claimed in self-report data or the microdosing community's claims". This doesn't much change the summary. Even at face-value (though you have to wonder about losing 80% of their data), what functional changes does some transient blood serum increases in BDNF cause, and why would some chemical results noticeably change one's assessment of the experimental evidence reported so far? It will be much more interesting to read the other data, which, however, remains unknown: "assessment of mood, cognition, empathy, and creativity that will be reported elsewhere." (That's from the pain paper reporting this study. Apparently they intend to salami-slice this study into at least 3 papers.)

MacsHeadroom 6y ago

Hey now, some of us microdose LSD to work at public companies too.

robinduckett 6y ago

I don't microdose and I can't see how it improves productivity over say ritalin or other methylphenidates.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
nix23 6y ago
Probably because you don't? I don't drink beer, I can't see why it tastes better then Grog.

almostdeadguy 6y ago

Utterly pretentious, dweeby reason to take acid

nefitty 6y ago
Different folks have different goals. There’s nothing inherent about any chemical or tool.
- almostdeadguy 6y ago
  Taking acid to "improve your productivity at startups" is a tool for people with no appreciation for leisure or mind expansion. There's also a difference between taking something to cope or function and taking something because you think it makes you the Rembrandt of startups or whatever. I mean do what you want, and I'll reserve my right to clown on goofballs like this.

c-c-c-c-c 6y ago

/thread

gwern 6y ago

The prior probability was always low. And it is not as if any of the followup experiments or surveys have reported much better results, you know. A charitable assessment of past LSD microdosing experiments in humans, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/11/384412 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/11/384412 https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-019-0308-4 https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1... https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0211023 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00213-018-5119-x https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00213-018-5119-... https://www.gwern.net/docs/nootropics/2019-bershad.pdf https://www.gwern.net/docs/nootropics/2019-bershad.pdf , might be that "the evidence is consistent with scattered small benefits which do not line up with the large effects claimed in self-report data or the microdosing community's claims". This doesn't much change the summary. Even at face-value (though you have to wonder about losing 80% of their data), what functional changes does some transient blood serum increases in BDNF cause, and why would some chemical results noticeably change one's assessment of the experimental evidence reported so far? It will be much more interesting to read the other data, which, however, remains unknown: "assessment of mood, cognition, empathy, and creativity that will be reported elsewhere." (That's from the pain paper reporting this study. Apparently they intend to salami-slice this study into at least 3 papers.)