6 ms·

Psychedelics in problem-solving experiment

167 points by gasull 12y ago

darkFunction 12y ago
Googling around turned up some pretty interesting results from programmers specifically: http://www.reddit.com/r/Psychonaut/comments/1n93n4/the_lsd_microdosing_experiment/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Psychonaut/comments/1n93n4/the_lsd_m...
- im3w1l 12y ago
  Given the subtlety of the effects, I would like to see blinded washout crossover.
  - adbge 12y ago
    Gwern did a convincingly rigorous self-experiment with LSD microdosing. [1] He sums it up as, "No beneficial effects reached statistical-significance and there were worrisome negative trends. LSD microdosing did not help me." [1] http://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing http://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing
GuiA 12y ago
If you're interested in the topic, I highly recommend the book "What the Dormouse Said", which explores amongst other things the impact of psychedelics on computing. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said Timothy Leary also has a chapter in "The Art of HCI design" in which he explores parallels between psychedelics and computer interaction. http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Human-Computer-Interface-Design/dp/0201517973/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1409428536&sr=8-4 http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Human-Computer-Interface-Desig...
- arketyp 12y ago
  I came here to mention the first title. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall LSD not only reached the computer scientists early on, it more or less was introduced via such academic circles. The other day I reflected on the fact that the project I have been working on for the last 3 years have such strong connections with my first psychedelic experience. Sometimes I wonder about the worth those things, questioning what ultimately can be gained from that so-called ineffable, even as a source of inspiration. And I'm the first one to trivialize it too, to debunk it as pretty much any intoxication. But then again, you can shrug it off, it doesn't hurt you, or change you: it's only significant if you are open to it. So it just seems to me that it would be silly to be cynical about something like that, to doubt the good of something that really just opens your mind a bit.
- spiritplumber 12y ago
  If anyone cares, this is the complete Tim Leary photo archive. A while ago I was asked to help curate it, and my payment was getting to keep a copy on my site, as long as it doesn't show up on search engines. http://robots-everywhere.com/leary_gallery/index.php http://robots-everywhere.com/leary_gallery/index.php There's also a dosbox setup for Leary's Mind Mirror software. http://robots-everywhere.com/portfolio/games/mmirror_port/ http://robots-everywhere.com/portfolio/games/mmirror_port/
  - GuiA 12y ago
    Awesome! Thanks!
ardemue 12y ago
Some people have experimented with micro-dosing (~0.1 to 0.2g dry of) psilocybin mushrooms at shroomery.org, especially: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/17315584/fpart/1/vc/1 http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/17315584... . He seems to have observed an increase in focus and productivity at work (editor of some kind). Unfortunately he stopped posting abruptly.
- Theodores 12y ago
  > he stopped posting abruptly... That is the slight problem, mega-dosing types have probably independently arrived at some coherent theory of everything many times yet not got as far as writing it down. The 'increased focus...' is probably comparing micro- to mega- dosing, not 'reality'. At least the Beatles were able to complete albums with words written whilst off their trolleys, few others seem to manage it. Really if there is to be research in the wonders of various psycho-active drugs, the hard part, writing it down, in a form that makes sense in the 'real world' is where research needs to be conducted.
  - ardemue 12y ago
    > The 'increased focus...' is probably comparing micro- to mega- dosing, not 'reality'. A typical mushroom taker can only trip once a week or once every two weeks (as tolerance builds up very quickly). That means one or two weeks of "reality" between (mega-dose) trips.
poke53281 12y ago
Myself, I used LSD to learn calculus -- or rather, to overcome a lifelong crippling phobia/anxiety of mathematics, which allowed me to rapidly learn calculus. When I was 21, I encountered John Lilly's theories of cognitive metaprogramming with psychedelics, and I designed a trip to convince myself -- at a really primal level -- of the fundamental beauty, power, and accessibility of math. 12 hours after dosing, my fear of mathematics was gone forever, and I spent the rest of the summer acing a series of intensive calculus courses. 17 years later, I've co-founded three successful and highly maths-intensive companies. I am certain that I could not have done this without the drugs. I do hope that some day the world will wake up and realise how much of a wrong turn it took in banning psychedelic research; it has the potential to be a power for good unlike anything else.
- meowface 12y ago
  This sounds quite incredibe. In fact, very incredible, considering you just registered that account and this is your only post. But I believe you may be telling the truth. Do you think the same could be applied for other disciplines, like programming and computer science?
  - jayherdabell 12y ago
    Or she or he wanted to stay anonymous/safe while admitting to the use of psychedelics. If you believe, then why do you doubt?
    - meowface 12y ago
      Creating a throwaway is perfectly reasonable for disclosing something like this. I just remain skeptical of all sorts of claims like these. But I am leaning towards his telling the truth.
  - poke53281 12y ago
    Yes, this is a dummy account; my regular account here has 4497 karma, but is linked to my real name. The conservatism of some of my clients -- and the fairly public role I sometimes must play -- is such that I'd rather not have my former illegal exploits broadcast quite yet. Hopefully you can understand! In answer to your question: yes, I very much believe that it can be applied to programming and computer science -- and in fact already has been. Much of the early development of those disciplines was directly influenced by psychedelics.[1] I personally haven't tried to apply psychedelics to programming/CS in the same explicit way as I did for math, but I've found that the general visualisation skills developed over about a decade of fairly steady experimentation -- tripping about 3-4 times per year -- have been invaluable in solving constraints problems, visualising codeflow, etc. But one could argue, in that case, that I might have developed the same skills without psychedelics, since it was a slow development over many years. Whereas in the case of the "mathematics trip", the cognitive change literally happened overnight. 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said
lelifer 12y ago
just do DMT, its like..creative rocket science.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
codeshaman 12y ago
Here is a very interesting talk about this study (and on the subject), by James Fadiman, one of the researches on the team: Scientific Problem Solving with Psychedelics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtL5fafpRKc&list=SP4F0vNNTozFTJCv1cvvUyB11CRR62uee8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtL5fafpRKc&list=SP4F0vNNToz... From the talk: "It's not 'take psychedelics and you can understand quantum mechanics'. But if you understand quantum mechanics and you take a psychedelic, you may really understand quantum mechanics"
Energy1 12y ago
Can LSD alter sexuality? Any studies on that one? Thanks.

167 points by gasull 12y ago

Googling around turned up some pretty interesting results from programmers specifically: http://www.reddit.com/r/Psychonaut/comments/1n93n4/the_lsd_microdosing_experiment/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Psychonaut/comments/1n93n4/the_lsd_m...

im3w1l 12y ago
Given the subtlety of the effects, I would like to see blinded washout crossover.
- adbge 12y ago
  Gwern did a convincingly rigorous self-experiment with LSD microdosing. [1] He sums it up as, "No beneficial effects reached statistical-significance and there were worrisome negative trends. LSD microdosing did not help me." [1] http://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing http://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing

GuiA 12y ago

If you're interested in the topic, I highly recommend the book "What the Dormouse Said", which explores amongst other things the impact of psychedelics on computing. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said Timothy Leary also has a chapter in "The Art of HCI design" in which he explores parallels between psychedelics and computer interaction. http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Human-Computer-Interface-Design/dp/0201517973/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1409428536&sr=8-4 http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Human-Computer-Interface-Desig...

arketyp 12y ago
I came here to mention the first title. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall LSD not only reached the computer scientists early on, it more or less was introduced via such academic circles. The other day I reflected on the fact that the project I have been working on for the last 3 years have such strong connections with my first psychedelic experience. Sometimes I wonder about the worth those things, questioning what ultimately can be gained from that so-called ineffable, even as a source of inspiration. And I'm the first one to trivialize it too, to debunk it as pretty much any intoxication. But then again, you can shrug it off, it doesn't hurt you, or change you: it's only significant if you are open to it. So it just seems to me that it would be silly to be cynical about something like that, to doubt the good of something that really just opens your mind a bit.
spiritplumber 12y ago
If anyone cares, this is the complete Tim Leary photo archive. A while ago I was asked to help curate it, and my payment was getting to keep a copy on my site, as long as it doesn't show up on search engines. http://robots-everywhere.com/leary_gallery/index.php http://robots-everywhere.com/leary_gallery/index.php There's also a dosbox setup for Leary's Mind Mirror software. http://robots-everywhere.com/portfolio/games/mmirror_port/ http://robots-everywhere.com/portfolio/games/mmirror_port/
- GuiA 12y ago
  Awesome! Thanks!

ardemue 12y ago

Some people have experimented with micro-dosing (~0.1 to 0.2g dry of) psilocybin mushrooms at shroomery.org, especially: http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/17315584/fpart/1/vc/1 http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/17315584... . He seems to have observed an increase in focus and productivity at work (editor of some kind). Unfortunately he stopped posting abruptly.

Theodores 12y ago
> he stopped posting abruptly... That is the slight problem, mega-dosing types have probably independently arrived at some coherent theory of everything many times yet not got as far as writing it down. The 'increased focus...' is probably comparing micro- to mega- dosing, not 'reality'. At least the Beatles were able to complete albums with words written whilst off their trolleys, few others seem to manage it. Really if there is to be research in the wonders of various psycho-active drugs, the hard part, writing it down, in a form that makes sense in the 'real world' is where research needs to be conducted.
- ardemue 12y ago
  > The 'increased focus...' is probably comparing micro- to mega- dosing, not 'reality'. A typical mushroom taker can only trip once a week or once every two weeks (as tolerance builds up very quickly). That means one or two weeks of "reality" between (mega-dose) trips.

poke53281 12y ago

Myself, I used LSD to learn calculus -- or rather, to overcome a lifelong crippling phobia/anxiety of mathematics, which allowed me to rapidly learn calculus. When I was 21, I encountered John Lilly's theories of cognitive metaprogramming with psychedelics, and I designed a trip to convince myself -- at a really primal level -- of the fundamental beauty, power, and accessibility of math. 12 hours after dosing, my fear of mathematics was gone forever, and I spent the rest of the summer acing a series of intensive calculus courses. 17 years later, I've co-founded three successful and highly maths-intensive companies. I am certain that I could not have done this without the drugs. I do hope that some day the world will wake up and realise how much of a wrong turn it took in banning psychedelic research; it has the potential to be a power for good unlike anything else.

meowface 12y ago
This sounds quite incredibe. In fact, very incredible, considering you just registered that account and this is your only post. But I believe you may be telling the truth. Do you think the same could be applied for other disciplines, like programming and computer science?
- jayherdabell 12y ago
  Or she or he wanted to stay anonymous/safe while admitting to the use of psychedelics. If you believe, then why do you doubt?
  - meowface 12y ago
    Creating a throwaway is perfectly reasonable for disclosing something like this. I just remain skeptical of all sorts of claims like these. But I am leaning towards his telling the truth.
- poke53281 12y ago
  Yes, this is a dummy account; my regular account here has 4497 karma, but is linked to my real name. The conservatism of some of my clients -- and the fairly public role I sometimes must play -- is such that I'd rather not have my former illegal exploits broadcast quite yet. Hopefully you can understand! In answer to your question: yes, I very much believe that it can be applied to programming and computer science -- and in fact already has been. Much of the early development of those disciplines was directly influenced by psychedelics.[1] I personally haven't tried to apply psychedelics to programming/CS in the same explicit way as I did for math, but I've found that the general visualisation skills developed over about a decade of fairly steady experimentation -- tripping about 3-4 times per year -- have been invaluable in solving constraints problems, visualising codeflow, etc. But one could argue, in that case, that I might have developed the same skills without psychedelics, since it was a slow development over many years. Whereas in the case of the "mathematics trip", the cognitive change literally happened overnight. 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said

lelifer 12y ago

just do DMT, its like..creative rocket science.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

codeshaman 12y ago

Here is a very interesting talk about this study (and on the subject), by James Fadiman, one of the researches on the team: Scientific Problem Solving with Psychedelics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtL5fafpRKc&list=SP4F0vNNTozFTJCv1cvvUyB11CRR62uee8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtL5fafpRKc&list=SP4F0vNNToz... From the talk: "It's not 'take psychedelics and you can understand quantum mechanics'. But if you understand quantum mechanics and you take a psychedelic, you may really understand quantum mechanics"

Energy1 12y ago

Can LSD alter sexuality? Any studies on that one? Thanks.