5 ms·

It’s pretty scary to me that so many people seemingly on whim are willing to upgrade their brain firmware. I often hear stuff like “and then my whole view on re

by rdtsc 3y ago

It’s pretty scary to me that so many people seemingly on whim are willing to upgrade their brain firmware. I often hear stuff like “and then my whole view on reality changed”. Unless there’s an easy way to upload the previous “factory image” so to speak, it feels pretty risky to experiment with that.

holoduke 3y ago
An illusive broken firmware it is. Better stay sober. Also when learning new things being sober is better. You wont get your phd using drugs. You wont get your brains to a new state using drugs. You maybe think you do, but thats a illusional defect of your brains when using drugs. Stay sober.
- mistermann 3y ago
  Is the omniscience pure rationalists experience on vanilla consciousness genuine?
- morbicer 3y ago
  Douglas Engelbart - inspired by LSD to invent computer mouse Steve Jobs stated LSD was “one of the two or three most important things I ever did in my life” Francis Crick saw the double helix of DNA on LSD Kary Banks Mullis, the biochemist who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his improvements to the polymerase chain reaction technique: “It [LSD] was certainly much more important than any courses I ever took.” Ralph Abraham claimed the insights he had while on psychedelics such as LSD profoundly influenced the development of his mathematical theories. And there's more and I am not even mentioning that most artists are using something. So yeah, if you can get Nobel prize you can definitely get PhD. You do you, I don't know what you have achieved but don't claim you posses some universal truth.
  - holoduke 3y ago
    Your examples are exceptions and are certainly not a justification. Drugs are destroying lives of a lot of people who otherwise could have good lifes.
  - gavmor 3y ago
    That Francis Crick was under the influence of LSD when he discovered the double helix structure of DNA is a widely circulated myth, but I've seen no evidence for it. In “Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code,” Matt Ridley clarifies that while Crick did experiment with LSD, it was not until several years after the discovery of the DNA structure. The discovery itself was a result of rigorous scientific research based on experimental results, including the X-ray crystallography of Rosalind Franklin.
lukan 3y ago
It is risky, but life comes with risks. And not facing risks can be risky, too. You might waste your life in boredom, instead of taking off. You also might "crap on the roof with your ass on the ground" to (miss)quote Castaneda.
rumdonut 3y ago
I agree as someone who was previously excited about the idea. Although to be honest, I think people overstate the changes. They did not last. Lots of salesmen in this industry like any other.
- jajko 3y ago
  Reprogramming? Not at all, at least not with intense mushroom experience alone and laying with closed eyes, never did ayahuasca. But understanding way way more about myself, overall brain structure, and ie where religions come from? And by far the most intense and out-of-reality/body/senses experience I could ever go through? Definitely, those few experiences will be with me till my last breath.
- herbst 3y ago
  You can't pop a trip, go to a music festival and except a new mindset. You can however use these tools to deeply connect with yourself and this is where life altering experiences happen.
quchen 3y ago
It’s less that you upgrade your firmware, but rather that some thoughts that never occurred to you are thought in such a setting. Having felt connected to nature, or even a specific tree, changes how you view trees and life in general. There are many other ways to gain such insights, like travelling or reading; any insight that resonates with you will »change your view on reality«.
orbit7 3y ago
When I had depression I used Salvia Divinorum and re-lived fragments of my childhood, I found that seemed to reset my brain back to last known good state bridging forgotten childhood memory in the short term to feeling like it was only a week ago. Certainly cured my depression though. It felt programmable with music, suspect it maybe more controllable with research. Interesting stuff strangely I found anti-addictive. Though equally could be majorily dangerous for some as it litterally sucks you out of reality and all perception of time for a bit.
mistermann 3y ago
> I often hear stuff like “and then my whole view on reality changed”. Unless there’s an easy way to upload the previous “factory image” so to speak, it feels pretty risky to experiment with that. Some people say if you keep up to date on global news, the opposite may be even more true.
fakeart 3y ago
They say such things of travel too. “It will forever change how you see the world, international travel.”
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
  I hope it's overstated cause damn do I not really feel like traveling. It's just a lot of work. I'll probably travel a little within the US but in the space of therapy stuff, I'd much rather accept that I'm simply not a travel person, than actually bother traveling.
  - bennyhill 3y ago
    No one wants to talk about all the downsides of trips that include leaving the house.. It's almost like a sizable portion of GDP has been taken over by an industry of vultures that need to fight any cleaner, safer more environmental alternative that might be successful by word of mouth alone.
vunderba 3y ago
100%. Ask any one of these people to quantify how their view on reality changed and it'll be vague transcendentalist talking points and hand waving around things like something something spiritualism, something something deeper connection with nature, something something cosmic holographic kaleidoscopic reality. On par with new age crystal healing and chakra points.
- shric 3y ago
  I'm an extreme materialist, I don't believe in gods or spirits or anything of the sort. I don't even believe in the magic some people call "free will". I first tried LSD about 10 years ago and have taken various forms of psychedelics once or twice a year since. Some of them were, without a doubt, the most profound experiences of my life. You're right about the vague transcendentalist nonsense. The problem is there are no words to describe it adequately. Despite only having pleasant experiences myself, I would never encourage any friend or stranger to try them. That is something only they can decide with their own research and risk appetite. There are absolutely serious potential consequences. I think the worst consequence for me is that I have started to like weird music like psytrance even when sober.
  - mensetmanusman 3y ago
    As a materialist, do you believe in laws of physics?
    - shric 3y ago
      I believe they're our current best approximation to how the universe behaves based on our empirical observations.
      - mensetmanusman 3y ago
        But that the universe behaves according to some laws?
        3y ago

by rdtsc 3y ago

holoduke 3y ago

An illusive broken firmware it is. Better stay sober. Also when learning new things being sober is better. You wont get your phd using drugs. You wont get your brains to a new state using drugs. You maybe think you do, but thats a illusional defect of your brains when using drugs. Stay sober.

mistermann 3y ago
Is the omniscience pure rationalists experience on vanilla consciousness genuine?
morbicer 3y ago
Douglas Engelbart - inspired by LSD to invent computer mouse Steve Jobs stated LSD was “one of the two or three most important things I ever did in my life” Francis Crick saw the double helix of DNA on LSD Kary Banks Mullis, the biochemist who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his improvements to the polymerase chain reaction technique: “It [LSD] was certainly much more important than any courses I ever took.” Ralph Abraham claimed the insights he had while on psychedelics such as LSD profoundly influenced the development of his mathematical theories. And there's more and I am not even mentioning that most artists are using something. So yeah, if you can get Nobel prize you can definitely get PhD. You do you, I don't know what you have achieved but don't claim you posses some universal truth.
- holoduke 3y ago
  Your examples are exceptions and are certainly not a justification. Drugs are destroying lives of a lot of people who otherwise could have good lifes.
- gavmor 3y ago
  That Francis Crick was under the influence of LSD when he discovered the double helix structure of DNA is a widely circulated myth, but I've seen no evidence for it. In “Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code,” Matt Ridley clarifies that while Crick did experiment with LSD, it was not until several years after the discovery of the DNA structure. The discovery itself was a result of rigorous scientific research based on experimental results, including the X-ray crystallography of Rosalind Franklin.

lukan 3y ago

It is risky, but life comes with risks. And not facing risks can be risky, too. You might waste your life in boredom, instead of taking off. You also might "crap on the roof with your ass on the ground" to (miss)quote Castaneda.

rumdonut 3y ago

I agree as someone who was previously excited about the idea. Although to be honest, I think people overstate the changes. They did not last. Lots of salesmen in this industry like any other.

jajko 3y ago
Reprogramming? Not at all, at least not with intense mushroom experience alone and laying with closed eyes, never did ayahuasca. But understanding way way more about myself, overall brain structure, and ie where religions come from? And by far the most intense and out-of-reality/body/senses experience I could ever go through? Definitely, those few experiences will be with me till my last breath.
herbst 3y ago
You can't pop a trip, go to a music festival and except a new mindset. You can however use these tools to deeply connect with yourself and this is where life altering experiences happen.

quchen 3y ago

It’s less that you upgrade your firmware, but rather that some thoughts that never occurred to you are thought in such a setting. Having felt connected to nature, or even a specific tree, changes how you view trees and life in general. There are many other ways to gain such insights, like travelling or reading; any insight that resonates with you will »change your view on reality«.

orbit7 3y ago

When I had depression I used Salvia Divinorum and re-lived fragments of my childhood, I found that seemed to reset my brain back to last known good state bridging forgotten childhood memory in the short term to feeling like it was only a week ago. Certainly cured my depression though. It felt programmable with music, suspect it maybe more controllable with research. Interesting stuff strangely I found anti-addictive. Though equally could be majorily dangerous for some as it litterally sucks you out of reality and all perception of time for a bit.

mistermann 3y ago

> I often hear stuff like “and then my whole view on reality changed”. Unless there’s an easy way to upload the previous “factory image” so to speak, it feels pretty risky to experiment with that. Some people say if you keep up to date on global news, the opposite may be even more true.

fakeart 3y ago

They say such things of travel too. “It will forever change how you see the world, international travel.”

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
I hope it's overstated cause damn do I not really feel like traveling. It's just a lot of work. I'll probably travel a little within the US but in the space of therapy stuff, I'd much rather accept that I'm simply not a travel person, than actually bother traveling.
- bennyhill 3y ago
  No one wants to talk about all the downsides of trips that include leaving the house.. It's almost like a sizable portion of GDP has been taken over by an industry of vultures that need to fight any cleaner, safer more environmental alternative that might be successful by word of mouth alone.

vunderba 3y ago

100%. Ask any one of these people to quantify how their view on reality changed and it'll be vague transcendentalist talking points and hand waving around things like something something spiritualism, something something deeper connection with nature, something something cosmic holographic kaleidoscopic reality. On par with new age crystal healing and chakra points.

shric 3y ago
I'm an extreme materialist, I don't believe in gods or spirits or anything of the sort. I don't even believe in the magic some people call "free will". I first tried LSD about 10 years ago and have taken various forms of psychedelics once or twice a year since. Some of them were, without a doubt, the most profound experiences of my life. You're right about the vague transcendentalist nonsense. The problem is there are no words to describe it adequately. Despite only having pleasant experiences myself, I would never encourage any friend or stranger to try them. That is something only they can decide with their own research and risk appetite. There are absolutely serious potential consequences. I think the worst consequence for me is that I have started to like weird music like psytrance even when sober.
- mensetmanusman 3y ago
  As a materialist, do you believe in laws of physics?
  - shric 3y ago
    I believe they're our current best approximation to how the universe behaves based on our empirical observations.
    - mensetmanusman 3y ago
      But that the universe behaves according to some laws?
      - 3y ago