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Psychedelics (and all mind-altering substances) are analogous to camera (or Photoshop) filters. A filter works by taking an image, and processing it... The proc

Psychedelics (and all mind-altering substances) are analogous to camera (or Photoshop) filters. A filter works by taking an image, and processing it... The processed image typically loses information in pursuit of an 'effect'. It's an illusion! The original is always richer, more nuanced, detailed, colorful and REAL. Humans seem to be obsessed with the illusion of mind 'enhancement', whether through drugs, alcohol or caffeine. It all reduces to this: an inablity to appreciate reality.

foolfoolz 5y ago
i think a better analogy is rotating an image in photoshop. it lets you see the picture in a different perspective. psychedelics make it easier to view yourself from a different perspective
chickenpotpie 5y ago
Reality isnt always worth appreciating
sebmellen 5y ago
Insisting that the reality a depressed person experiences is "reality" is myopic. How many filters affect your experience that you're completely unaware of? Tons!!! What is really real, and how can you ascertain what's "reality" and what isn't? Now, the way I think of psychedelics (and the way they worked for me) was that they removed a shroud — a bad filter, if you will — from my depressed mind. I was at -2 exposure, and with the help of psychedelics and a psychologist I was able to get back to right around 0. Now, I'm actually able to appreciate "reality", or at least what I see of it. What's wrong with that?
halotrope 5y ago
Thats not really how psychedelics work. I would say the experience can teach you a lot about how you mind operates. I hear things like “ego”, “categories” or “meaning” start to dissolve on Psilocybin for instance. The experience is apparently quite exhausting and not really suitable to “enhance” reality for any stretch of time. What I think happens you learn something about yourself and that can also teach you something about your relationship with reality.
agumonkey 5y ago
I'd be warried thinking this, simply because my own experience made my brain change in violent ways and "photoshop filter" was exactly how it felt. And I used no drugs or substance, it was just brain knots being untied ... this filter part of the brain is probably one of the most important part of our minds.
- sebmellen 5y ago
  Relevant video from Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ay_P4ze9EU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ay_P4ze9EU, and a brilliant remake as an album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTcI1qxLTJ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTcI1qxLTJ4.
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    Interesting first video. Albeit I have varied opinions on his ideas I appreciate someone (him especially) talking about the topic.
vhiremath4 5y ago
Totally agree. After several years of experimenting with large quantities of psychedelics (heroic doses, 5-MeO DMT, etc.), they have always helped me realize I should just appreciate reality more.
pmoriarty 5y ago
A different view is Huxley's reducing valve theory of consciousness. On that view we are bombarded by an overwhelming amount of sensation and information every second -- so much that if we were aware of it all we wouldn't be able to function. So the brain functions like a valve and reduces this flow of sensation and information to a manageable level -- just enough so that we can do practical things such as go to work , do the dishes, etc.. Psychedelics have the effect of opening up this valve so that one experiences more of what one is sensing, so one actually sees more of reality than one does in one's ordinary waking state of consciousness. The problem is that it's harder to function in such a psychedelically open state (at least with large doses of psychedelics, like the kind Huxley was using back in the 60's). Under the influence of mescaline, for example, Huxley found the dishes in the sink too beautiful to wash. This is just one alternate view of how psychedelics work. There are many others.
fractallyte 5y ago
I'll add more to my comment. The mind already has the ability to 'filter'. One can achieve the same 'loss of ego' effect by deeply listening to music, or climbing a mountain, or gazing at stars, or hovering on the edge of sleep, or... I liken caffeine to a 'sharpen' filter, alcohol to a 'blur' filter. Psychedelics? You can imagine the analogous filters for those... ;-) The point is, mind-altering substances are a lazy, dirty way to get there. They descend like a blanket on the brain, clouding out reality. And that's what it's really about, if one is honest with oneself.
staticman2 5y ago
Humans do not perceive reality, ever. We have evolved sensory organs which send whatever take on reality is evolutionary useful. It is not "real".

foolfoolz 5y ago

i think a better analogy is rotating an image in photoshop. it lets you see the picture in a different perspective. psychedelics make it easier to view yourself from a different perspective

chickenpotpie 5y ago

Reality isnt always worth appreciating

sebmellen 5y ago

Insisting that the reality a depressed person experiences is "reality" is myopic. How many filters affect your experience that you're completely unaware of? Tons!!! What is really real, and how can you ascertain what's "reality" and what isn't? Now, the way I think of psychedelics (and the way they worked for me) was that they removed a shroud — a bad filter, if you will — from my depressed mind. I was at -2 exposure, and with the help of psychedelics and a psychologist I was able to get back to right around 0. Now, I'm actually able to appreciate "reality", or at least what I see of it. What's wrong with that?

halotrope 5y ago

Thats not really how psychedelics work. I would say the experience can teach you a lot about how you mind operates. I hear things like “ego”, “categories” or “meaning” start to dissolve on Psilocybin for instance. The experience is apparently quite exhausting and not really suitable to “enhance” reality for any stretch of time. What I think happens you learn something about yourself and that can also teach you something about your relationship with reality.

agumonkey 5y ago

I'd be warried thinking this, simply because my own experience made my brain change in violent ways and "photoshop filter" was exactly how it felt. And I used no drugs or substance, it was just brain knots being untied ... this filter part of the brain is probably one of the most important part of our minds.

sebmellen 5y ago
Relevant video from Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ay_P4ze9EU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ay_P4ze9EU, and a brilliant remake as an album here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTcI1qxLTJ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTcI1qxLTJ4.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  Interesting first video. Albeit I have varied opinions on his ideas I appreciate someone (him especially) talking about the topic.

vhiremath4 5y ago

Totally agree. After several years of experimenting with large quantities of psychedelics (heroic doses, 5-MeO DMT, etc.), they have always helped me realize I should just appreciate reality more.

pmoriarty 5y ago

A different view is Huxley's reducing valve theory of consciousness. On that view we are bombarded by an overwhelming amount of sensation and information every second -- so much that if we were aware of it all we wouldn't be able to function. So the brain functions like a valve and reduces this flow of sensation and information to a manageable level -- just enough so that we can do practical things such as go to work , do the dishes, etc.. Psychedelics have the effect of opening up this valve so that one experiences more of what one is sensing, so one actually sees more of reality than one does in one's ordinary waking state of consciousness. The problem is that it's harder to function in such a psychedelically open state (at least with large doses of psychedelics, like the kind Huxley was using back in the 60's). Under the influence of mescaline, for example, Huxley found the dishes in the sink too beautiful to wash. This is just one alternate view of how psychedelics work. There are many others.

fractallyte 5y ago

I'll add more to my comment. The mind already has the ability to 'filter'. One can achieve the same 'loss of ego' effect by deeply listening to music, or climbing a mountain, or gazing at stars, or hovering on the edge of sleep, or... I liken caffeine to a 'sharpen' filter, alcohol to a 'blur' filter. Psychedelics? You can imagine the analogous filters for those... ;-) The point is, mind-altering substances are a lazy, dirty way to get there. They descend like a blanket on the brain, clouding out reality. And that's what it's really about, if one is honest with oneself.

staticman2 5y ago

Humans do not perceive reality, ever. We have evolved sensory organs which send whatever take on reality is evolutionary useful. It is not "real".