[extropy-chat] baloney in the memetic superstructure

[spike]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-
> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Jef Allbright
...
> >
> > So now I ask myself how I got the notion to start with.  spike...
> 
> Spike, you and I are about the same age...

Jef the tragic part is we lived down the street from
each other for a couple years and never met face to
face.  How did we let that happen?  {8-[

> ... Reader's Digest which, in the 60s, published some extremely dramatic
articles...

Ja, they are good at that.  {8^D

...
> flying out of windows and such...

That I vaguely remember in TV shows.  "I can flyyyyyy..."  
(cue decreasing pitch whistle sound, followed by a muffled 
boom, much like the sound Wile E. Coyote made on a regular 
basis.)

> If I remember correctly, the articles
> also tended to conflate LSD use with death by other drugs by prominent
> examples of non-Christian living such as Janis Joplin and Jim
> Morrison...

Ja, I honestly do not recall if the notion actually came
from Readers Digest or other sources, but had it come
from the Digest I would have had exactly zero reference
points to disprove it.  My home town was squaresville 
USA.  I never knew other places were any different.

>  I was only in my first decade of life, but I remember
> reading the Digest each month and then laughing to my mother about how
> obvious was its propaganda, whether about the dangers of drugs, rock
> music, or communism...

Jef thou Philistine!  Hey at least they were right about
the communism part.  {8^D  

> 
> Later, in my early twenties I researched LSD both objectively and
> (briefly) subjectively, and learned that the physical risk is quite
> minimal.  It does open one up to understanding the crucial importance
> of subjective viewpoint, but I think it does pose a very real danger
> in terms of accentuating a tendency to experience "aha" moments and
> mistake them for true understanding.
> 
> - Jef

Interesting insight Jef.  I do hope my comments are not
interpreted by anyone as saying I think LSD and other
drugs are not dangerous, just the opposite.  I see plenty
of dangers there.  My previous comments say that fatal
overdose with LSD is not one of the dangers, which is
a misunderstanding that I carried around for decades.  Like
Humphrey Bogart, I was misinformed.

My two closest friends from childhood both ended up 
seriously screwed up, first from drugs, later from
alcohol (that being far cheaper than drugs).  Both were 
trying to sober up at 40, but last time I was with them 
they both made a comment I found interesting.  The biggest 
challenge they faced in staying sober was that after more 
than two decades of drugs and alcohol, nothing seemed fun 
to them.  Everything was boring, the world a dull gray, 
kinda like Dorothy's place back in Kansas.  It was almost 
as if the endorphin glands were worn out.  They couldn't get 
no satisfaction.

spike