The new top comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29799013 describes what I see from shroom users better. People who do shrooms only feel like they are closer to peace, love, and empathy. In reality nothing changes, but they gain ego based on that feeling, which seems to have an opposite effect described in the linked comment (e.g. the idea that the world revolves around them).
Psychedelics are very powerful compounds acting on the infinitely complex human nervous system.
It should therefore be expected that the outcomes will be extremely variable and highly contingent on the background and predispositions of the user, the type(s) and dose(s) of the drug(s), the context of the usage of the drug (including related psychotherapy) and other events, practices and influences in the individual's life.
That being said, I have noticed, a general trend towards:
- Less combativeness, agitation and aggression. There is less tendency to want to engage in petty squabbles or incite your own (or others) negative emotional reactions.
- Openness to more creative ideas. A cynical take would be that you become more suggestible/easily influenced (and this may be a feature also). There definitely seams to be a new willingness to consider new viewpoints, new ideas and new options. You may find yourself re-engaging in old intellectual pursuits, exploring previously unsolved problems and/or using previously unrelated topics/fields in conjunction.
- In a similar vein, you may also find yourself exploring spiritual/philosophical topics, especially those related to compassion, empathy, group cohesion and 'reduced ego'. This probably looks an awful lot like hippiness lol. This may include rethinking political, social and economic attitudes.
- Generally more positive thoughts and emotions (positive valence). This often follows a period of emotional and intellectual turmoil (which may loosely coincide with a 'bad trip' at the time of ingestion or subsequently, during a period of integration). This generally, but not always, results in a long term overall improvement in mood and overall outlook.
- Psychedelics may help in getting through/integrating past trauma. This may be part of what underlies the above. Many of us live with the after-effects of trauma and being able to work past this can be life-changing. This may be a traumatic process in itself, but sometimes psychedelics facilitate approaching these issues in ways that were not previously possible. IMHO many of the most severely affected by trauma are not even aware of the fact that they're affected and this manifests in a plethora of negative outcomes. Psychedelics in a positively reinforced environment (ideally with therapy) can help tremendously here.
There are a lot of really great resources online for anyone who is interested (regardless of your level of personal experience or opinion):
Highly recommend qualiacomputing.com and qualiaresearchinstitute.org (along with the group's online videos), especially for the HN crowd looking for a more multifaceted, more 'scientifically rigorous' (I use the term loosely here lol, but I think you'll get what I mean).
I'd also recommend some of the lectures on the Oxford Psychedelic Society's website: https://oxpsysoc.org/#things
I hope you find this helpful. Psychedelics are a complex topic but overall I believe they have immense potential to help many people, including but not limited to the following. I strongly encourage anyone reading this to learn more.
- Pain syndromes, including intractable, severe, pain syndromes like cluster headaches.
- Resolving trauma (including but not limited to PTSD).
- Psychological disorders, including depression and anxiety.
- Overcoming addictions.
For any complex system such as brain you should expect any noticable effect to be negative. Brains are designed to work in a narrow corridor of environmental states and any shift away from it is likely causing a malfunction. This should be pretty obvious for anyone who understands information/entropy.
As for your list, I am yet to see any unbiased proof for any benefits beyond good mood (and even that one is still doubtful in longer term).
In my opinion like most other psychodelics users you are doing a lot of damage by providing your personal experience without also providing how non-participating users see your experience from an unaffected standpoint. As I mentioned above, you might think you are more open and empathetic, while peers might see you as a close-minded jerk.
You certainly sound like a nutjob to me because the part of your comment about expecting varied outcome contradicts even common sense about complex systems. E.g. if you insert pretty much anything into a running motor, that is not supposed to be there, the motor performance will likely drop sharply and chances are the damage will be permanent. And a motor is basically primitive in comparison to a human brain.
That's a surprisingly disparaging and unsupported reply (but I welcome the discussion).
You may want to review your comments and question whether they're a fair response to what I've written. I also wonder why you find it necessary to be so adamant and pejorative. You clearly have a strong negative bias on this issue (without any demonstrable knowledge on the topic).
I'm a physician with subspecialty qualifications and publications across multiple fields in neuroscience, so I would strongly argue against your points on the nervous system (you seam to be talking from the position of someone without biological or neuroscience training).
There is substantial 'non-biased' evidence for the utility of psychedelics. Here are just a a few publications, which may interest you:
Did someone who uses mushrooms steal your girlfriend? You clearly have no medical, biological or neuroscience background, yet keep spewing the same bad faith arguments.
I've taken a look at some of your previous posts - you come across as consistently obnoxious and uninformed yet willing to post an uncompromising opinion. Google scholar is great if you actually want to search for evidence that may counter your view (which you don't seam to).
For anyone interested in a good faith discussion on psychedelics and creativity, there are several articles (although the reductionist approach may not be the best one on this topic), but here's an example:
What is it with you starting ad-hominem? You basically don't like that I consider your comments on the topic plainly wrong and therefore dangerous, and you think that stating it along with reasons as to why they are wrong makes me a kind of bad person.
You have not pointed out any of my statements to be wrong with any kind of evidence supported contradiction.
UPD. Even that last link points out that research into creativity being boosted by psychedelics is so far inconclusive, which should be read as "does not support the statement, that psychedelics increase creativity". Considering you somehow read it as supporting your point, this kinda proves your point is based on wishful thinking rather than careful reading of research.
May I just sidekick this link into this argument.
There it states the, eventual, benefits and disadvantage of psychodelics.
The science on psychodelics is still a new thing and something maybe worthwile or not. The articles explains the relaxed belief under psychodelics theorie very well. Which is in my opinion the downside of psychodelics…but others are free to disagree and time will tell but time didnt told until know.
'Brains are designed to work in a narrow corridor of environmental states and any shift away from it is likely causing a malfunction.'
This runs completely contrary to everything we know about the structure and function of the brain. The brain's function is in no way similar to that of a motor engine.
Maybe everything you think you know (btw, what is it do you think you know exactly that supports your claim?).
I know when temperature goes up 1C the brain gets sluggish. I know food is filtered before going into blood, and is further filtered by blood-brain barrier to reduce chances of contamination thus breaking its delicate function.
Also, it does not matter if the brain function is similar to a motor, the point applies to any complex system.
I take mean spirited any time over harmful, which I believe your comments are.
If you see a problem with my statements, point to it. If we were discussing programming where my main expertise lies, I would not be directing people to read a "C++ for beginners" book, but pointed to a specific statement in one.
What exactly do you expect me to find in that course that would contradict my comments?
The new top comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29799013 describes what I see from shroom users better. People who do shrooms only feel like they are closer to peace, love, and empathy. In reality nothing changes, but they gain ego based on that feeling, which seems to have an opposite effect described in the linked comment (e.g. the idea that the world revolves around them).