> Increasing one's openness to new ideas might be a good thing in the presence of a trained therapist or other well-meaning environments. However, it may become

> Increasing one's openness to new ideas might be a good thing in the presence of a trained therapist or other well-meaning environments. However, it may become counterproductive in uncontrolled environments where users are prone to picking up conspiracy theories, new age mysticism, pseudoscience, or other misinformation that bombards us from all angles on modern social media. I wonder, might it be possible for you to add some quantitative information to this so readers have some idea what kind of a risk profile they're dealing with here? I spend a fair amount of time in various communities, and I've never picked up on any noteworthy abnormal tendencies toward conspiracy theories or pseudoscience - plenty of new age mysticism though, and the more the merrier I say (provided it's not too far out there, of course). > Modern news article about psychedelics skew heavily toward the positives while burying the risks and downsides. 99% of anything I've encountered in the community skews heavily toward the positives. I suppose it's possibile that all those who encounter problems disappear, never to be heard from again, but it seems fairly unlikely. Now and then you do encounter someone with symptoms of mania, but it's fairly rare, and it isn't guaranteed that their state is entirely due to psychedelics. Out of curiosity, where are you reading about all of these risks and downsides (I'd like to read up on the topic to broaden my horizons)? As for Ram Dass, I highly recommend checking out a few of his lectures on YouTube, this article really doesn't do him justice, at all. He's not for everyone, but those who like him tend to really like him, and I am one of those.