5 ms·

If you’re interested in accurate examples of visual effects of hallucinogens, check out /r/Replications. Some of them are shockingly accurate. Here are some goo

by takoid 11mo ago

If you’re interested in accurate examples of visual effects of hallucinogens, check out /r/Replications. Some of them are shockingly accurate. Here are some good examples: https://reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1ll9k7o/flight/ https://reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1ll9k7o/flight/ https://reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1jkajcq/that_moment_when_a_brick_wall_becomes_alive_on/ https://reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1jkajcq/that_mome... https://reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1hruv4t/just_visiting_one_of_those_hyperspace_rooms_again/ https://reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1hruv4t/just_visi...

sho_hn 11mo ago
This is very cool. I have never been on drugs and don't plan to ever change that, but it's very interesting to get an impression of the experience. I have to say it's a bit underwhelming. It's interesting how the closest analog I can think lf is early generative image AI hallucinatory stuff.
- gyomu 11mo ago
  > I have to say it's a bit underwhelming Well, yeah. It’s like watching a video of a rollercoaster on your phone, vs riding in one.
  - sho_hn 11mo ago
    It's not that it didn't occur to me. Sure I understand I'm missing the immediacy and the visceral effect here, and I presume the parallel impact on other senses. But then again if I was the sort of person that mattered to, my outlook would probably be different. I'm fine with others having different preferences. I would say to me these videos work wonders in confirming a little bit that I'm not really missing out. There's a lot of FOMO and myth-making around drugs, I think experience reports and replications are a pretty good way to make everyone's decisions more informed whether it's "for them". This could totally be some form of confirmation bias at work, but it works for me ...
    - throwforfeds 11mo ago
      The visuals are like a fraction of the experience. Personally, I get very little in terms of visuals. It’s insight, wisdom, love, and the releasing of emotional holding patterns that is the most prominent thing for me. You can read about ego death all you want, but until you actually experience that sort of thing it’s just nice words on a page. It’s why Buddha would say don’t take my word for it, do the practice and have the experience yourself. My first LSD trip is probably the most important experience of my life, and sure I saw some fractals in the clouds, but that’s close to zero percent of what was important during it.
      - shayway 11mo ago
        One of my favorite quotes, and why I don't bother trying to explain psychedelic experiences any more - "To him who has had the experience no explanation is necessary, to him who has not, none is possible."
        throwforfeds 11mo ago
        Absolutely. I've heard some Tibetan Buddhist teachers say you have to taste the chocolate for yourself, which is exactly the same sentiment.
        CuriousSkeptic 11mo ago
        This exchange reminds me a bit of the experience of becoming a parent. The permanent reconfiguration of priorities from the intense oxytocin high is also quite impossible to explain to non-parents.
      - autop0ietic 11mo ago
        It is interesting to me as my first acid trip was 30 years ago but I have never gained anything profound from the experience. My best trips were at psytrance parties as peak experiences in terms of fun. I have tripped many times alone in a dark room and basically gained nothing from the experience besides falling into an existential void. Personally, from so much experiences, reading thousands of trip reports, most the psychedelic literature up to about 2005, I think the psychedelic experience is like a blank white canvas. Some people end up with a Monet painting experience and some people end up with a Dali painting experience. Some run into a Hieronymus Bosch the first time and never try it again. You can't really make overall statements about what the blank canvas is going to be before someone starts to paint. For me, my best psychedelic experiences were better versions of my most fun nights drunk. Anything I have learned that is all that deep though I have learned from reading books. Never having a psychedelic experience I think is like never being drunk. It is really missing out on an interesting life experience but at the same time it is not this profound loss. Working out all these life problems like some kind of pyschotherapy session is for sure something that never happened to me. That just lead me to the existential void when attempted.
- margalabargala 11mo ago
  > I have to say it's a bit underwhelming. I mean, yeah, you're looking at an image on your computer screen. Seeing a video of Niagara Falls or a photo of a person at the Grand Canyon similarly capture the difference to the real thing.
- gchamonlive 11mo ago
  Our culture is very image-centric. You have to understand that the drug induced image distortions are just a very specific side-effect that is part of a larger whole. Hallucinogens act on deeper mechanisms that control from visual perception all the way to the sense of self. It can fundamentally change during the experience the way you see yourself and the world. It's not uncommon for users of LSD or DMT and psilocybin to describe the experience as getting in touch with the interconnectedness of all things. Also bad trips can be very terrifying because of how much you are exposed to the experience. Like dying or feeling the fleeting nature of existence very present in your skin. All this to say that videos don't do any of this justice. It's just a fun way to represent the image distortions.
  - sho_hn 11mo ago
    I get that, and I guess I try to extrapolate from the image-based examples to other senses and congnition in general. The image replications give me the idea that there is some generative extrapolation based on actual sensory input a seed going on, like the brain circuitry that goes and re-imagines the input consciously going haywire and growing and extrapolating into overdriven, bizarre directions. I recently read "A Brief History of Intelligence" by Bennet which spends quite a bit of time dwelling on "generative" simulation mechanisms in brain function and their role in cognition from prediction to mentalizing, and I think I can get a rough sense of how this would all click together. It makes sense why creative/artistic people may be drawn to this and could consider it a heightened form or a letting loose of their normal processes, etc. But to me it's still not that attractive. I can never shake the idea that it's a bit like driving a system past specifications and assigning meaning to malfunctions, and essentially lying to yourself. I get it's not black and white, and obviously philosophy is rife with arguments and takes on what is true experience and cognition, but given the risks and downsides I'd rather not. I'm very fine with other people occupying different points on the spectrum.
    - gchamonlive 11mo ago
      Ever heard of "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley?
    - 11mo ago
- nowittyusername 11mo ago
  I was using stable diffusion 1.5 when it came out and had my first LSD trip shortly after that, prolly like a few months. Anyways, what struck me was how similar the closed eyes visuals were on LSD compared to the generated images from stable diffusion when i was using it on low CFG and also some of my poorly trained textual inversions at the time. Watching the "training process" of the textual inversion in the early epochs made a lot of such images before the TI finally completed. Makes me think if the processes are somehow related, like if in human brains the reason we don't have experience seeing these "hallucinations" is because we have many robust subsystems that filter out the noise and make the mental model cohere on a stable world view.
- tgv 11mo ago
  It looks like visual migraine to me.
  - lostlogin 11mo ago
    Having just had a migraine end, why can’t I have this, rather than pain and vomiting?
    - tgv 11mo ago
      They're not the same thing, although visual migraines can appear at the start of a "real" migraine. It's a distortion of vision with glitchy geometric patterns that pulsate and move a bit. Here are some attempts to recreate them: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=visual+migraine+&ia=images&iax=images https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=visual+migraine+&ia=images&...
- DontchaKnowit 11mo ago
  The visuals are like 10% of the experience. The last thing you could describe psychedelics as is underwhelming. It is not possible for you to understand what the experience is like without trying it for yourself. And I am not advocating for trying them. Im not one of these evangelists. But replication images are a very weak simulacrum of what the experience is actually like.
  - andrei_says_ 11mo ago
    Exactly. Shifts in perspective, including ones embedded in beliefs, trauma patterns, habitual mental models. Thinking, perceiving, remembering out of the box… the box one does not know they are in. Here on HN we tend to be habituated in perceiving the thinking mind as correct, rational, in our control. What if it’s none of these things?
- BriggyDwiggs42 11mo ago
  It’s kinda like if the feeling you see in the videos were replicated across all of your senses. Your senses kinda blur together in an indescribable way, and it’s extremely intense, kinda all consuming.
thw_9a83c 11mo ago
The article states that "It is most commonly induced under the influence of mild dosages of psychedelic compounds, such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline." Overdose or a "bad trip" is possible with any of these three substances, so one must be extremely careful when experimenting. I can only speak about LSD, but its visual effects are based on constant and surprising visual transformations. People's faces transform into the faces of other people or animals (which can be even frightening). Non-animate objects can transform into other objects or resemble unexpected living forms. However, these initially unique visual experiences quickly become boring for people with clear objectives in their life. I don't think it's contact with a spiritual universe or anything like that. It might help (or not) if you try it once or twice.
- carrychains 11mo ago
  The visual experience is last on the list of things psychedelics are proven through clinical study to help with. Also, unless one of those objectives is to avoid the help psychedelics can provide, having clear objectives in life isn't a predictor of how helpful it will be. Finally, "contact with the spiritual universe it whatever" isn't even on the list things that actually help subjects in these studies. Cool story, though.
Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 11mo ago
All those reddit images are blocked if you don't have an account btw bevause they are flagged as "mature"
- h4ch1 11mo ago
  Use old reddit redirect extension or just prefix the URL with old.
  - lukan 11mo ago
    (Like this: https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1ll9k7o/flight/ https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1ll9k7o/fligh... https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1jkajcq/that_moment_when_a_brick_wall_becomes_alive_on/ https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1jkajcq/that_... https://www.old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1hruv4t/just_visiting_one_of_those_hyperspace_rooms_again/ https://www.old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1hruv4t/j... )
    - idiotsecant 11mo ago
      No www
      - lukan 11mo ago
        Still works.
- whilenot-dev 11mo ago
  I don't have a reddit account and none of the images above were blocked.

by takoid 11mo ago

sho_hn 11mo ago

This is very cool. I have never been on drugs and don't plan to ever change that, but it's very interesting to get an impression of the experience. I have to say it's a bit underwhelming. It's interesting how the closest analog I can think lf is early generative image AI hallucinatory stuff.

gyomu 11mo ago
> I have to say it's a bit underwhelming Well, yeah. It’s like watching a video of a rollercoaster on your phone, vs riding in one.
- sho_hn 11mo ago
  It's not that it didn't occur to me. Sure I understand I'm missing the immediacy and the visceral effect here, and I presume the parallel impact on other senses. But then again if I was the sort of person that mattered to, my outlook would probably be different. I'm fine with others having different preferences. I would say to me these videos work wonders in confirming a little bit that I'm not really missing out. There's a lot of FOMO and myth-making around drugs, I think experience reports and replications are a pretty good way to make everyone's decisions more informed whether it's "for them". This could totally be some form of confirmation bias at work, but it works for me ...
  - throwforfeds 11mo ago
    The visuals are like a fraction of the experience. Personally, I get very little in terms of visuals. It’s insight, wisdom, love, and the releasing of emotional holding patterns that is the most prominent thing for me. You can read about ego death all you want, but until you actually experience that sort of thing it’s just nice words on a page. It’s why Buddha would say don’t take my word for it, do the practice and have the experience yourself. My first LSD trip is probably the most important experience of my life, and sure I saw some fractals in the clouds, but that’s close to zero percent of what was important during it.
    - shayway 11mo ago
      One of my favorite quotes, and why I don't bother trying to explain psychedelic experiences any more - "To him who has had the experience no explanation is necessary, to him who has not, none is possible."
      - throwforfeds 11mo ago
        Absolutely. I've heard some Tibetan Buddhist teachers say you have to taste the chocolate for yourself, which is exactly the same sentiment.
      - CuriousSkeptic 11mo ago
        This exchange reminds me a bit of the experience of becoming a parent. The permanent reconfiguration of priorities from the intense oxytocin high is also quite impossible to explain to non-parents.
    - autop0ietic 11mo ago
      It is interesting to me as my first acid trip was 30 years ago but I have never gained anything profound from the experience. My best trips were at psytrance parties as peak experiences in terms of fun. I have tripped many times alone in a dark room and basically gained nothing from the experience besides falling into an existential void. Personally, from so much experiences, reading thousands of trip reports, most the psychedelic literature up to about 2005, I think the psychedelic experience is like a blank white canvas. Some people end up with a Monet painting experience and some people end up with a Dali painting experience. Some run into a Hieronymus Bosch the first time and never try it again. You can't really make overall statements about what the blank canvas is going to be before someone starts to paint. For me, my best psychedelic experiences were better versions of my most fun nights drunk. Anything I have learned that is all that deep though I have learned from reading books. Never having a psychedelic experience I think is like never being drunk. It is really missing out on an interesting life experience but at the same time it is not this profound loss. Working out all these life problems like some kind of pyschotherapy session is for sure something that never happened to me. That just lead me to the existential void when attempted.
margalabargala 11mo ago
> I have to say it's a bit underwhelming. I mean, yeah, you're looking at an image on your computer screen. Seeing a video of Niagara Falls or a photo of a person at the Grand Canyon similarly capture the difference to the real thing.
gchamonlive 11mo ago
Our culture is very image-centric. You have to understand that the drug induced image distortions are just a very specific side-effect that is part of a larger whole. Hallucinogens act on deeper mechanisms that control from visual perception all the way to the sense of self. It can fundamentally change during the experience the way you see yourself and the world. It's not uncommon for users of LSD or DMT and psilocybin to describe the experience as getting in touch with the interconnectedness of all things. Also bad trips can be very terrifying because of how much you are exposed to the experience. Like dying or feeling the fleeting nature of existence very present in your skin. All this to say that videos don't do any of this justice. It's just a fun way to represent the image distortions.
- sho_hn 11mo ago
  I get that, and I guess I try to extrapolate from the image-based examples to other senses and congnition in general. The image replications give me the idea that there is some generative extrapolation based on actual sensory input a seed going on, like the brain circuitry that goes and re-imagines the input consciously going haywire and growing and extrapolating into overdriven, bizarre directions. I recently read "A Brief History of Intelligence" by Bennet which spends quite a bit of time dwelling on "generative" simulation mechanisms in brain function and their role in cognition from prediction to mentalizing, and I think I can get a rough sense of how this would all click together. It makes sense why creative/artistic people may be drawn to this and could consider it a heightened form or a letting loose of their normal processes, etc. But to me it's still not that attractive. I can never shake the idea that it's a bit like driving a system past specifications and assigning meaning to malfunctions, and essentially lying to yourself. I get it's not black and white, and obviously philosophy is rife with arguments and takes on what is true experience and cognition, but given the risks and downsides I'd rather not. I'm very fine with other people occupying different points on the spectrum.
  - gchamonlive 11mo ago
    Ever heard of "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley?
  - 11mo ago
nowittyusername 11mo ago
I was using stable diffusion 1.5 when it came out and had my first LSD trip shortly after that, prolly like a few months. Anyways, what struck me was how similar the closed eyes visuals were on LSD compared to the generated images from stable diffusion when i was using it on low CFG and also some of my poorly trained textual inversions at the time. Watching the "training process" of the textual inversion in the early epochs made a lot of such images before the TI finally completed. Makes me think if the processes are somehow related, like if in human brains the reason we don't have experience seeing these "hallucinations" is because we have many robust subsystems that filter out the noise and make the mental model cohere on a stable world view.
tgv 11mo ago
It looks like visual migraine to me.
- lostlogin 11mo ago
  Having just had a migraine end, why can’t I have this, rather than pain and vomiting?
  - tgv 11mo ago
    They're not the same thing, although visual migraines can appear at the start of a "real" migraine. It's a distortion of vision with glitchy geometric patterns that pulsate and move a bit. Here are some attempts to recreate them: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=visual+migraine+&ia=images&iax=images https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=visual+migraine+&ia=images&...
DontchaKnowit 11mo ago
The visuals are like 10% of the experience. The last thing you could describe psychedelics as is underwhelming. It is not possible for you to understand what the experience is like without trying it for yourself. And I am not advocating for trying them. Im not one of these evangelists. But replication images are a very weak simulacrum of what the experience is actually like.
- andrei_says_ 11mo ago
  Exactly. Shifts in perspective, including ones embedded in beliefs, trauma patterns, habitual mental models. Thinking, perceiving, remembering out of the box… the box one does not know they are in. Here on HN we tend to be habituated in perceiving the thinking mind as correct, rational, in our control. What if it’s none of these things?
BriggyDwiggs42 11mo ago
It’s kinda like if the feeling you see in the videos were replicated across all of your senses. Your senses kinda blur together in an indescribable way, and it’s extremely intense, kinda all consuming.

thw_9a83c 11mo ago

The article states that "It is most commonly induced under the influence of mild dosages of psychedelic compounds, such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline." Overdose or a "bad trip" is possible with any of these three substances, so one must be extremely careful when experimenting. I can only speak about LSD, but its visual effects are based on constant and surprising visual transformations. People's faces transform into the faces of other people or animals (which can be even frightening). Non-animate objects can transform into other objects or resemble unexpected living forms. However, these initially unique visual experiences quickly become boring for people with clear objectives in their life. I don't think it's contact with a spiritual universe or anything like that. It might help (or not) if you try it once or twice.

carrychains 11mo ago
The visual experience is last on the list of things psychedelics are proven through clinical study to help with. Also, unless one of those objectives is to avoid the help psychedelics can provide, having clear objectives in life isn't a predictor of how helpful it will be. Finally, "contact with the spiritual universe it whatever" isn't even on the list things that actually help subjects in these studies. Cool story, though.

Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 11mo ago

All those reddit images are blocked if you don't have an account btw bevause they are flagged as "mature"

h4ch1 11mo ago
Use old reddit redirect extension or just prefix the URL with old.
- lukan 11mo ago
  (Like this: https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1ll9k7o/flight/ https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1ll9k7o/fligh... https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1jkajcq/that_moment_when_a_brick_wall_becomes_alive_on/ https://old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1jkajcq/that_... https://www.old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1hruv4t/just_visiting_one_of_those_hyperspace_rooms_again/ https://www.old.reddit.com/r/replications/comments/1hruv4t/j... )
  - idiotsecant 11mo ago
    No www
    - lukan 11mo ago
      Still works.
whilenot-dev 11mo ago
I don't have a reddit account and none of the images above were blocked.