5 ms·

This is pretty much why I became a nondrinker. Alcohol makes you dumb. It impairs thinking, and thinking is the most pleasurable thing in the world.

pstuart 4y ago
> Alcohol makes you dumb So does canabis (albeit in a rather creative way). I love the stuff but it's definitely better in smaller and infrequent doses.
- thefaux 4y ago
  Yeah, proper dosing of cannabis is tricky. I think used sparingly and in small doses it can be helpful for many creative practices. It is very easy to take too much or use it too often because the feeling of being high can be so pleasurable (except when you get paranoid and it's the absolute worst). It also can make you feel very inflated, which is a great feeling in the moment, but kind of embarrassing when you look back at the reduced quality of what you actually produce when high. Still, I think there is value in it since I have had useful insights while high that motivated me when I sobered up and was better able to execute on my inflated ambitions. Alcohol, on the other hand, I have really not found especially helpful for creativity. YMMV.
  - pstuart 4y ago
    Oh, the flights of fancy that cannabis inspires is painful because once the haze clears it's not likely to ever go further than that peak moment (all talk, no walk -- at least for myself)
throwayyy479087 4y ago
Ehhh - having a whiskey on a porch in the mountains in the fall is up there
- christophilus 4y ago
  Throw in a cigar or pipe, and it’s my favorite guilty pleasure.
  - CoastalCoder 4y ago
    Wouldn't that extinguish the cigar?
    - Chris2048 4y ago
      No, it would ignite the liquid.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
deltasevennine 4y ago
Let's be real. Thinking is not the most pleasurable thing in the world. A certain class of people like to believe this but they're lying to themselves.
- metadat 4y ago
  Low-brow casual dismissals and blanket generalizations such as this one make for boring and un-curious conversations.
  - CoastalCoder 4y ago
    Someone's claim isn't necessarily factual. People can lie to themselves, or lie about themselves to others. I consider it a fair point of discussion.
  - OkayPhysicist 4y ago
    Because it's not actually anyone's truth. If "thinking" was more pleasurable than, say, skydiving, or playing with a baby, or a drug-fueled orgy, than you'd see a lot more people dropping out of society to go be hermits than anything else. Instead, we look around, and see that vices fall into a handful of categories: trick the brain into making the feel-good chemicals (risk-taking, sex, good food) or sticking the feel-good chemicals in there yourself (drugs, booze). I'm not going to assert that I know the greatest pleasure possible. Someone's probably out here stretched out on MDMA while cliff-jumping into a volcano or some likewise truly insane shit. But I can assert that that person is experiencing pleasure unfathomable by anyone who asserts that the greatest pleasure is "thinking".
    - zooch 4y ago
      I don't know if it's so cut-and-dry. By that logic why doesn't everybody just do amphetamines all day. Probably some integral of pleasure is part of the equation, and it depends on you preference for pleasure distribution. But maybe I'm blurring the line between pleasure and fulfillment.
jcpst 4y ago
> and thinking is the most pleasurable thing in the world. That is definitely something to be grateful for. I too, enjoy thinking deeply, and abstain from Alcohol when trying to solve problems. But thinking can also be torture and sometimes I just want to drown out all the depression and anxiety. Alcohol is good for delaying that. Only problem is it’s a temporary fix, and the agony comes back stronger. Alcohol is also good for dumbing yourself down to the same intellectual level as a social group. The reason I’m working towards being a nondrinker is so I can confront my mental issues in a healthy way, and so my kids don’t see me destroy myself as they grow up.
- lo_zamoyski 4y ago
  You seem to be describing a misuse of alcohol, if anything. It's not the case that you either drink excessively or abstain completely. Enjoying a drink, even to relax, is not principally a way of coping with mental illness. It is enjoyable. Indeed, a drink (not too much; I'm not talking about drunkenness) can actually make you better at thinking (Ballmer peak comes to mind; there are some studies that corroborate this I remember seeing). Perhaps this is the result of relaxation. Of course, if you find it adversely affecting you, then you owe it to yourself to abstain.
  - jcpst 4y ago
    Sure, good points. I don’t mean to portray it as binary. Back in my gigging days, we called it “the perfect buzz”. 1-2 drinks before performing worked well- but more than that did not. I only share so much because for some of us it’s a very slippery slope. I used to not be aware of _why_ I was drinking so much. I do really enjoy the taste of a craft beer, or a decent bourbon. The part I’m working on now is balance. I don’t want to get to where I _have_ to stop drinking.
rjh29 4y ago
Funny, I drink alcohol to stop thinking.
- epolanski 4y ago
  Don't we all.
- JodieBenitez 4y ago
  Yup... I used to drink to stop thinking too. Too bad I had to stop because health issues, because I sure love not to think.

pstuart 4y ago

> Alcohol makes you dumb So does canabis (albeit in a rather creative way). I love the stuff but it's definitely better in smaller and infrequent doses.

thefaux 4y ago
Yeah, proper dosing of cannabis is tricky. I think used sparingly and in small doses it can be helpful for many creative practices. It is very easy to take too much or use it too often because the feeling of being high can be so pleasurable (except when you get paranoid and it's the absolute worst). It also can make you feel very inflated, which is a great feeling in the moment, but kind of embarrassing when you look back at the reduced quality of what you actually produce when high. Still, I think there is value in it since I have had useful insights while high that motivated me when I sobered up and was better able to execute on my inflated ambitions. Alcohol, on the other hand, I have really not found especially helpful for creativity. YMMV.
- pstuart 4y ago
  Oh, the flights of fancy that cannabis inspires is painful because once the haze clears it's not likely to ever go further than that peak moment (all talk, no walk -- at least for myself)

throwayyy479087 4y ago

Ehhh - having a whiskey on a porch in the mountains in the fall is up there

christophilus 4y ago
Throw in a cigar or pipe, and it’s my favorite guilty pleasure.
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  Wouldn't that extinguish the cigar?
  - Chris2048 4y ago
    No, it would ignite the liquid.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

deltasevennine 4y ago

Let's be real. Thinking is not the most pleasurable thing in the world. A certain class of people like to believe this but they're lying to themselves.

metadat 4y ago
Low-brow casual dismissals and blanket generalizations such as this one make for boring and un-curious conversations.
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  Someone's claim isn't necessarily factual. People can lie to themselves, or lie about themselves to others. I consider it a fair point of discussion.
- OkayPhysicist 4y ago
  Because it's not actually anyone's truth. If "thinking" was more pleasurable than, say, skydiving, or playing with a baby, or a drug-fueled orgy, than you'd see a lot more people dropping out of society to go be hermits than anything else. Instead, we look around, and see that vices fall into a handful of categories: trick the brain into making the feel-good chemicals (risk-taking, sex, good food) or sticking the feel-good chemicals in there yourself (drugs, booze). I'm not going to assert that I know the greatest pleasure possible. Someone's probably out here stretched out on MDMA while cliff-jumping into a volcano or some likewise truly insane shit. But I can assert that that person is experiencing pleasure unfathomable by anyone who asserts that the greatest pleasure is "thinking".
  - zooch 4y ago
    I don't know if it's so cut-and-dry. By that logic why doesn't everybody just do amphetamines all day. Probably some integral of pleasure is part of the equation, and it depends on you preference for pleasure distribution. But maybe I'm blurring the line between pleasure and fulfillment.

jcpst 4y ago

> and thinking is the most pleasurable thing in the world. That is definitely something to be grateful for. I too, enjoy thinking deeply, and abstain from Alcohol when trying to solve problems. But thinking can also be torture and sometimes I just want to drown out all the depression and anxiety. Alcohol is good for delaying that. Only problem is it’s a temporary fix, and the agony comes back stronger. Alcohol is also good for dumbing yourself down to the same intellectual level as a social group. The reason I’m working towards being a nondrinker is so I can confront my mental issues in a healthy way, and so my kids don’t see me destroy myself as they grow up.

lo_zamoyski 4y ago
You seem to be describing a misuse of alcohol, if anything. It's not the case that you either drink excessively or abstain completely. Enjoying a drink, even to relax, is not principally a way of coping with mental illness. It is enjoyable. Indeed, a drink (not too much; I'm not talking about drunkenness) can actually make you better at thinking (Ballmer peak comes to mind; there are some studies that corroborate this I remember seeing). Perhaps this is the result of relaxation. Of course, if you find it adversely affecting you, then you owe it to yourself to abstain.
- jcpst 4y ago
  Sure, good points. I don’t mean to portray it as binary. Back in my gigging days, we called it “the perfect buzz”. 1-2 drinks before performing worked well- but more than that did not. I only share so much because for some of us it’s a very slippery slope. I used to not be aware of _why_ I was drinking so much. I do really enjoy the taste of a craft beer, or a decent bourbon. The part I’m working on now is balance. I don’t want to get to where I _have_ to stop drinking.

rjh29 4y ago

Funny, I drink alcohol to stop thinking.

epolanski 4y ago
Don't we all.
JodieBenitez 4y ago
Yup... I used to drink to stop thinking too. Too bad I had to stop because health issues, because I sure love not to think.