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I remember talking to somebody in the medical industry once. I don't remember exactly what his job was, but he told me that he had done some work with opiate ad
by ufmace 12y ago
I remember talking to somebody in the medical industry once. I don't remember exactly what his job was, but he told me that he had done some work with opiate addicts. Supposedly, their brains themselves can get so powerfully addicted to the drugs that it actually generates phantom pain in order to force the user to get more opiates to make it go away. Every test they can run shows that the addict is actually feeling real pain, but there is absolutely nothing physically wrong to cause it. The idea that the brain can work on that level, actually causing artificial sensations to trick our conscious mind, is both amazing and scary.
- MichaelGG 12y agoForget physical pain. Opiates make the mental pain, the pain of existence go away. Stress, business problems, finances, it's all manageable with opiates. Most people don't know just how much better human existence can be with a bit of tweaking to our chemistry. We accept we're no longer in our ancestral environment, why can't we accept that our default chemistry is suboptimal?
- stefantalpalaru 12y agoSuboptimal in what way? We create, develop, improve because we are unsatisfied, not because we are happy.
- MichaelGG 12y agoI don't think that's accurate. Certainly some people work jobs just to get cash to pay bills. But plenty of people create for the fun of it. Our brains operate suboptimal because we can not control their state. We get worried when it provides no benefit. We get sad and troubled when we shouldn't. We experience intense pain with no way to shut it off. We lose focus, even when we really want to concentrate. Everyone should have the capability and choice of modifying their brain chemistry on demand. Your premise that people should be forced to be unnecessarily unsatisfied because some of them might go on to do great things is cruel.
- frozenport 12y ago>>Our brains operate suboptimal because we can not control their state. This is backwards, our brains are us. >>We lose focus, even when we really want to concentrate. This is a microcosm of the dangers involved, in modifying brain chemistry. Consider things like hyperfocus or working straight on amphetamine leading to shit code. >>Our brains operate suboptimal because we can not control their state. Many of the things you want can be achieved well by a machine or somebody without emotion? Do we want this? >>Your premise that people should be forced to be unnecessarily unsatisfied because some of them might go on to do great things is cruel. Its hard to decouple satisfaction from drive, and willpower - we have rather blunt instruments and current drugs build real dependency problems making it almost impossible to stop. Today's drugs don't do what you are talking about.
- Apofis 12y agoThe pain of wanting is a very powerful pain. This is why the road to enlightenment requires you to give up your want.
- girvo 12y agoThe mental pain of existence, all existential issues, all of it fades away before you've even removed the needle from your vein. I always described heroin to those who ask about my experiences as "blissful apathy in a needle". And yes, I've been clean for three years, but whenever I'd go through withdrawals every single nerve ending would be on fire and I'd be hypersensitive to pain. It's an interesting phenomenon. Part of that is caused by your brain downregulating it's own endorphin receptors, as you're providing it with something else that's much more powerful: you take away that stimulus and it takes your body and mind a while to adjust and upregulate those receptors again.