[ExI] Religious Idiocy Triumphs Over Science Yet Again

Will Steinberg steinberg.will at gmail.com
Fri Dec 11 22:54:02 UTC 2015


I just don't understand particularly why you would believe that besides
cultural bias.  Do you know what receptors psychedelics act on?  Do you
have evidence that the insights would be poorer than "sobriety"?  Sobriety
a diverse collection of mental states, and drugs add another state.  What
makes whatever mental state you were in, not on drugs, when you gained some
insight, valid?  Isn't the state of your brain right now a fairly
stochastic phenomenon which may or may not produce valid insights?
Sobriety is full of illusion too.  I honestly suggest you go try some.

Another effect of psychoactive you CANNOT have without them is: being able
to look at receptor affinities and compare effects.  If one takes two drugs
with different affinities for the 5HT1 or GABAB or CB2 receptor, then one
can compare effects and gain insight on what it feels like to have sets of
those particular receptors active.  It is very valuable in neuroscience.
And there's a long history of enthusiastic scientists using themselves as
subjects.

I ought to stop self incriminating though.  So, this is all theoretical.
Or a joke.  Or both.
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