[ExI] video which changed my perspective

Will Steinberg steinberg.will at gmail.com
Tue Mar 29 00:41:02 UTC 2022


@Adrian:

"long term LSD use": Lol, the amount of people who use LSD and psychedelics
chronically is extremely minute.  Like I said, these drugs are meant to be
taken a few times a year, if that.  Literally once in a lifetime suffices
for major positive changes.  I didn't say effects from long term use, I
said long-term effects.  The chances of lasting negative effects from a
single small dose of psychedelics is very low, and that is how they are
typically used.  Meanwhile the way something like alcohol is typically used
DOES often lead to lasting negative effects.

"Maybe the hallucinations can be tapped to drive learning": extreme
misunderstanding of what LSD does.  You think it makes you see pink
elephants?  Like I also said, it makes you think more expansively.  You can
think multiple things at once, think faster, in more intuitive and strange
ways.  You can comprehend entire ideas that would take hours to even begin
to think about sober.  When there are hallucinations, they are things like
shifting colors and fractals.  But no, the hallucinations are not what
drives learning.  I am not somehow tapping the cool fractals I see tripping
to give me insight on problems.  Giving insight on problems is a direct
effect of the drug through its actions on thought processes.

"Insofar as the effects include reduced mental and physical capacity, they
may differ in the details but are close enough to alcohol's.": Again, this
is talking about LONG TERM PSYCHEDELIC USE which is extremely rare.  I'm
not sure what exactly you are trying to prove or if you maybe don't keep up
with current scientific literature?  Using psychedelics in a positive
manner is a pretty popular concept in contemporary science, from *gasp*
real neuroscientists and psychologists!  Your idea of the effects is based
on a misunderstanding of my phrase 'long term' and in general shows you
don't quite know what you are talking about vis a vis the modern viewpoint
on these drugs.

"Do you really not believe that this can be done without using psychedelics
at all?": Sure, it can.  You could come up with all the ideas and math
behind string theory without ever taking any physics classes or ever
reading a textbook, too.  You can build a bridge by cutting the wood with
your fucking teeth, but humans are tool-using animals because tools are
useful.  Why otherwise intelligent people reject just this one incredibly
useful tool is, again, a testament to how effective propaganda is, and
proof that intelligence/book-smarts isn't nearly the same as insight and
resistance to manipulation by craftier people.

@MB:

I imagine they were probably just unintelligent.  Also, pills in general do
tend to be stupefying, and weed can be insight-producing and awakening but
I've found it often just causes laziness and delusions of grandeur.  Pot
ideas end up usually being pretty dumb.  It's a good medicine for lots of
conditions, though.

Anyway, what I'm discussing here is psychedelics in particular, which have
a strangely bad rap.  I think they can contribute to the learning
experiences of intelligent people much like going to a museum, listening to
a symphony, watching a classic film or play, reading a book, going to a
lecture, seeing a science demonstration, &c.  But they are demonized and
people don't have enough anti-authoritarian nature to question this
demonization, I suppose.  Nobody seems to think for themselves
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