And the thread gets killed. Surprise surprise. I wish I knew why, so I know what bad behavior to not repeat here, but nobody is required to provide a reason for killing a thread, so I'm just confused. Maybe it was an editor with a prejudice against drugs? No way to know.
I put a lot of effort into this post. Many longstanding members thought it was intellectually interesting. I was trying to contribute, in good spirit.
In short, this sucks.
I'll do a few drawings for you anyway. What's your email? Or send me a note at palish at gmail dot com.
It may have been killed for the drug-specific talk, or maybe because it was considered 'off-topic' in some way. But the site has been designed to be as transparent as possible, which means many of us have 'show-dead' on so that we can see past the editors.
The editor that killed this made a mistake. Editor, you should ask yourself: "what would pg do?" I really do not think the answer is kill the story. You, editor, have been offended by one of the taboo Things You Can't Say and reduced to censorship. Being offensive to a sizable minority is absolutely not a reason to kill a story and without your clarification there is no other reason. The Steve Jobs connection alone should give this story sufficient hacker cred. It certainly is intellectually interesting and is being discussed maturely. Keep in mind that Ask HN stories are already vote weighted.
Fortunately, there has been good discussion anyways and anyone that already commented will continue to see the story. I wouldn't worry about the killing too much.
How many people flagged it? I'd expect a large number.
Just because Steve Jobs tried it, doesn't make it useful. I'm sure some entrepreneurs have killed people or been tried for fraud. Undoubtedly those actions altered them as people, and perhaps even led to their eventual success. But it'd be a mistake to start copying them.
It does seem likely that it was flagged to death without editor intervention. I would hope an editor undeads it, offending a minority of people is not a good reason for a story staying dead.
If stories like that stay about, it'll drive a lot of people away from HN. Which IMHO would be a shame.
There's obviously a lot of people who are 'pro drugs', and we've already had more than enough marijuana stories.
In terms of actual interestingness, I'm sure anyone who is curious can search on google for first hand accounts of what being on drugs does/feels like.
I also find it quite morbid. In the same way I would had the OP had expressed a curiosity to know how it feels to cut off his leg.
(I'm not offended, and I don't think most people who flagged it are. I just don't think it's a good post for a site like this).
Once again though, be useful to see on each article how many people flagged it.
Well, this particular tack was generating some interesting discussion.
Also, taking LSD is not like "cutting off your leg", no matter how much you may believe it to be. If you really want to talk about limbs, then taking LSD is more like growing an extra arm for a few hours. Wouldn't you like to try that in a risk-free manner?
I don't think there's been all that many stories about acid. If those became a common occurence, then I'd start flagging them too. As far as I can see, there's only one of these here now.
You're not offended enough to call the OP an idiot? Flagging or downvoting is one thing, but personal insults are, well, personal.
Anyway, apparently even PG thinks that sometimes driving a lot of people away from HN may not necessarily such a bad thing, as evidenced by the Erlang incident. I'm not pro drugs, by the way. I am against addictive and destructive drugs, having seen at first hand what it can do to people. However, I do try to keep an open mind about experimenting if it's just the one time and if it won't cause lasting damage.
Lastly:
In terms of actual interestingness, I'm sure anyone who is curious can search on google for first hand accounts of what being on drugs does/feels like.
The OP did ask us for experiments to try, and there were a lot of interesting suggestions, of which I think not all could have been found on google. That made it interesting for me, on a "I wonder if we could do X while tripping" level, and isn't that sort of mentality what hacking is about?
If stories like that stay about, it'll drive a lot of people away from HN.
[Citation needed]. If a lot of low-quality "stories" like this stay about, then maybe. But the greater danger is attracting trolls / low-caliber people, not losing the current people. The current people are here to stay.
There's obviously a lot of people who are 'pro drugs', and we've already had more than enough marijuana stories.
This is neither. I was specifically trying to be scientific about this. Just because I am dropping acid once does not make me pro-drug. I have seen the harm that uncontrolled use of recreational drugs can cause. I am also agnostic to the whole debate surrounding drug use. All I care about is the experience. Also, thoughtless labels like "pro-drug" and "anti-drug" simply hinder progress. The world is not black or white.
In terms of actual interestingness, I'm sure anyone who is curious can search on google for first hand accounts of what being on drugs does/feels like.
That was not what my post was about, which you would know had you actually read and understood it. This was supposed to be an opportunity for people to have an interactive experience. Sure, if they had a specific question for me, I could answer it thoroughly. But more importantly, if they had something they wanted me to do, I could probably just do it and report back to them what it was like.
I also find it quite morbid. In the same way I would had the OP had expressed a curiosity to know how it feels to cut off his leg.
First off, one definition of morbid is, "ghoulish: suggesting the horror of death and decay; 'morbid details'". Taking one dose of acid once is certainly not going to cause long-term detrimental effects along the lines of death or decay!
(I'm not offended, and I don't think most people who flagged it are. I just don't think it's a good post for a site like this).
Once again though, be useful to see on each article how many people flagged it.
Why don't you feel that this was a decently creative, intellectually interesting post? Because isn't that what this site is about, to be intellectually satisfying? As I have mentioned, I put a good amount of effort into this, so a comment such as "well, my personal opinion is that I don't think this is very good" is totally not useful in any way. Provide reasons, man.
Lastly, on a personal note, why did you have to keep trying to destroy the one thing I thought I could contribute in the last couple months? Judging by the negative karma count of most of your comments in this thread, your views are not shared among your peers. What you are doing is generating noise. You are basically acting trollish. Simply stating your opinions is rather useless, don't you think? Perhaps you don't back up what you say because you can't, because it's my own body on the line, not yours. As far as I can tell, you have nothing more substantial than a "drugs are bad" attitude. Which is basically a witch-hunt attitude.
If you have any shred of respect for me or for my contributions to the site over the years, you'll just stop talking about this, because at this point, the damn thread is dead already, so anything further you have to say on the topic would just be an emotional act, whether that be to insult me personally or to just "get something off your chest", shall we say. It saddens me that you put so little effort into communicating your thoughts, even when I put so much effort into communicating mine. I would expect that kind of thing from a new member, but the worst part is that you've been here since the beginning. Maybe you're just having a bad day. Who knows.
And no, we don't need to see how many people have flagged an article, because that would cause people to focus on the 'meta' aspect of the site; that is, instead of aggregating cool content, people would be whining about why the current content doesn't satisfy their oh-so-high standards. Which is what you are doing. Which I specifically...
>> "This was supposed to be an opportunity for people to have an interactive experience"
Yeah I don't really want to take part in drug experiments. I'm busy coding.
>> "Lastly, on a personal note, why do you have to keep trying to destroy the one thing I thought I could contribute in the last couple months?"
Because you are trying to destroy a useful community. If you win, I'll stop reading hacker news. That's why I kept re-iterating my views, without a care for the downmods. I like hacker news. I want to keep liking it.
>> "Lastly, on a personal note, why did you have to keep trying to destroy the one thing I thought I could contribute in the last couple months?"
I didn't kill it... whoever did, thankfully agrees that it's not a good post for HN.
It's possible that it was killed for liability reasons. LSD possession is illegal in the U.S; if they didn't kill it at #1, they might be seen as encouraging illegal behavior. I remember that when I was an admin on a decent-sized web forum, we had to kill all threads that were about drug use, filesharing, or any other illegal activities, no matter how stupid the laws in question were.
aw come on, this post makes no sense. You specifically asked to not have a meta discussion around killing the story, you specifically asked for it to just be flagged, and yet here you are, crying for a meta discussion?
I think one of the most important things you can do is meditation. By meditate, I mean completely stop your thoughts at will, clearing your head entirely and then maintaining that state comfortably and indefinitely. If you can't do that unassisted, practicing in an alternative mental state can help.
It will definitely go beyond altering your perceptions to altering the way in which you think. You will have new thought patterns that you have never had before, just like with cannabis.
I've never taken drugs (apart from prescribed medication, pain relief, coffee, and similar). I've never smoked, and I've never had alcohol (except inadvertently in cooked food). Si I have no experience.
I have too much respect for my brain. I live my life on its ability to do stuff that's rare and unusual, and I don't want to mess with its abilites. I've occasionally been curious, but not enough to "mess with the machines" and Feynman put it.
I'm told that first trips can be benign, but equally they can be really bad. The risks are real, and experts are still divided over how much long term damage can be done even from one experience.
But you've clearly thought about it, and since you've decided then I'm sure you've already taken all this into account, and some stranger saying "Don't Do It!" won't make much difference.
But if you deliberately affect the mind's ability to think and perceive, why should you trust any "observations?"
>I'm told that first trips can be benign, but equally they can be really bad. The risks are real, and experts are still divided over how much long term damage can be done even from one experience.
One tab is a mild dose in the range of LSD dosages, it is likely to be 1/4th the strength of one unit of LSD from the hippie era. The risks are indeed real but are overstated. Flashbacks as discussed in DARE are effectively nonexistent and are a symptom of PTSD. It takes a monster of a trip to trigger PTSD. The greater, somewhat realistic risk is triggering latent mental illness.
But if you deliberately affect the mind's ability to think and perceive, why should you trust any "observations?"
Why should you trust any observations now?
Psychedelics have one important side-effect: they make you realise how tenuous the link between your brain and reality is. You may think reality is something tangible, reliable, objective... what you find after a psychedelic trip is that actually, things can be otherwise, and all you need is a few micrograms of a simple molecule. Considering that your brain manufactures enormous amounts of other chemicals, that should raise questions about quite what this "reality" thing is and how much it can be trusted.
Worth adding: those are good questions, worth asking.
This is a pretty typical response that I've heard many times. When I read your comment I hear: "I am comfortable with my brain and I don't want to do anything to change the way it works."
And yet, you talk about how you take medication, pain relievers, coffee, etc. Do you know how pain medication works? It messes with your brain.
The phrase "change your mind" means to reconsider things you once accepted as truth. You seem to be opposed to this idea; I see it as a beautiful opportunity.
> When I read your comment I hear:
> "I am comfortable with my brain and
> I don't want to do anything to change
> the way it works."
And there is an element of truth in that.
> you talk about how you take medication,
> pain relievers, coffee, etc. Do you know
> how pain medication works?
Actually, yes. I've assisted with clinical trials on both analgesics and anasthesia.
> It messes with your brain.
Not really, no. Not in the same way.
Further, the ones I've taken have been subjected to long standing double-blind clinical trials. It's pretty well understood how they work, and their short and long term effects. Certainly more than other stuff.
> The phrase "change your mind" means to reconsider
> things you once accepted as truth. You seem to be
> opposed to this idea; I see it as a beautiful
> opportunity.
That's your opportunity. I "change my mind" regularly by reading, studying, and generally improving my knowledge and abilities. I don't "change my mind" when I change or reconsider my opinion. My mind is the same, although the conclusions I draw may be different because of further analysis, etc.
Studies have shown that there are risks associated with drug usage that you can't control, and are unpredictable. You may be willing to run those risks, and participate in others doing so. That's your choice. I'm not.
By "messes with your brain", I mean it alters what your "normal" conscious state is. I don't think you can really argue with this, but have at it.
You mention reading, studying, etc. This is all well and good, but your approach to these problems comes from a state of mind that while dynamic, is quite predictable. A + B = A + B. What a drug like LSD does is allow you to use your mind differently. It isn't really worth explaining and is better left to experience, but I consider myself pretty well educated and I still consider taking LSD to be one of the best things I ever did in my life. It breaks down your ego and lets you see things in a completely different way. It's probably not for everyone.
Bottom line is: If you've never had the urge to explore what a significant change in consciousness provides, then it's not for you.
LSD is ingrained in the hacker/Bay Area counterculture. Steve Jobs referred to his LSD experiences as one of the most important things in his life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs
I admire your scientific mind, but I have to wonder what made you decide to try this. I agree that experiments would be interesting, but what would be even more interesting are your results to outside observers. I would record yourself so you can go back and see everything (and hopefully put the pieces together). Make sure whatever you use has a good timestamp. I wouldn't recommend being alone, but that might not be possible. All I can say is be safe.
Do you have a blog? I would write up your findings and post them there (maybe the video too, if it's appropriate), then submit it as a link here.
The first piece of advice is good. Do it in a safe environment you control, ideally with someone else who has already taken psychedelics before. Oh, and make sure you both take psychedelics, at the same time. Otherwise you might get a bad trip form feeling paranoid about them.
The second piece of advice is only useful if you want to give him a reason to freak out and have a bad trip. LSD is one of the safest mind-altering drugs around. As far as I know the chances of it triggering psychosis based on a single dose, a single time, are pretty much nil. Regular users might go nuts, but then anyone who spends a significant portion of their life on LSD is pretty much nuts to begin with.
Actually there is a small (very small) grain of truth to what he's saying.
If you have a history of mental illness (Schizophrenia in particular) in your family, it can bring it on faster. Meaning: people who go crazy from doing psychedelics would have been crazy anyhow.
I would suggest you approach LSD very thoughtfully, with reverence, as if it were a pilgrimage. Don't take it too seriously, but do try to gain some perspective on things that are important to you. I kept a journal of my experiences.
Another note: Don't try to control things. The one thing you will quickly realize on LSD is the faster you allow yourself to surrender and take things as they come, the faster you will be able to gain powerful insight into how your mind works. Attempting to control things will just hinder progress.
If you get scared, don't worry: think of fluffy pink cotton candy. Seriously, if you do get really anxious and for whatever reason scared, just let yourself be scared. The faster you allow the emotions conquer you, the faster they fade away. If you are terrified, the best thing to do is to /be terrified/ instead of trying to /not/ be terrified. One of them will take you forward, one of them will put you in a thought loop.
Have fun and enjoy yourself. LSD is to this day, one of the single most important experiences of my life.
Edit:
Also, remember when you're coming up (it should take at least an hour, sometimes as long as two), you will start to think about how you shouldn't have done this and how you might go crazy and never be okay again. This is a completely normal thought that almost every rational person has during the first hour or so. Just let things happen how they will, put in some good music and be comfortable. Those feelings pass quickly.
When you're coming down it can be kind of nerve racking because you might be tired and want to go to bed but you can't. The best thing to do in this situation IMO is to go on a walk.
Finally, I wouldn't believe the hype about being paranoid around non-psychonauts. The first time I ever indulged I was with two sober friends in public, and I had no trouble maintaining. LSD is remarkably easy to snap yourself out of if you take an appropriate dose (1 tab if it's your first time, I never took more than 1 ever, and I spaced them out 6 months)
Bad is not a big problem if you have any of: tranquilizers, antidepressants or any codeine-containing drug at hand. I also used music when I felt I might be diving into a bad.
I took 2 tabs for the first time, was alone at night, it was the most exciting experience in my life. But no other trip after that was like the first one. After 5 o6 experiences I learned to have safe trips in the streets among crowds. I learned to understand electronic music and some other genres of art better. Finally, started writing music myself. Thank you LSD.
Generally speaking, psychoactive drugs will radically alter your state. Your state will scale according to your mood and well-being. If you trip with a group of people in a good mood and adventurous spirit you will have a great trip. On the other hand, if you are tripping with a group of individuals who are emotionally unstable or generally prejudice towards new experiences, don't do it.
As a rule of thumb, do it with people you're comfortable around and would trust with your life, pick a controlled environment, stay positive, be curious, and mentally prepare yourself for a ride you will never forget.
Otherwise, test-drive some psyclocibin (shrooms) first, as it is a much more mild psychedelic.
Shrooms are not always "much more mild"... the only advantage they have is that shroom trips are much shorter. However, LSD has a "speedy" side-effect which kind of puts you in a good mood as you get higher, whereas shrooms usually have the opposite - a slight feeling of malaise centered around your stomach, which can help start your trip badly.
That said, I agree that starting easy is a good idea.
He said he already did salvia which makes a good introduction because fully 50% of people have negative experiences on it and it's magnitude of alteration is stronger than LSD's magnitude of alteration. Getting through an experience like that unscathed is a good sign of one's general aptitude for not freaking out.
I've never done acid, but the one common thing I've heard from those who have is that texture and repetition become very intense. Try to find a few things before your trip with cool patterns or textures, and record your perceptions of them.
See if you still discern stereograms. In fact, try it before and after the acid and see if there are any differences, like how fast you see the hidden image, etc.
I'd say don't do it. Seriously, why? What if it has some funamental negative impact on your brain? You'll satisfy your curiosity (well, with one tab you will probably only wonder what it "really" feels like because that probably isn't enough to get much of an effect) but at what cost?
Very appropriate. Karry Mullis, Nobel prize winning inventor of polymerase chain reaction (a widely used technique for taking a small amount of DNA and amplifying it billions of times, useful for DNA testing and beyond) conceived of PCR with the help of LSD. There is less well substantiated rumors that Crick also had help from LSD.
It's basically impossible to overdose on acid, but it's certainly possible to take too much and have a bad trip. Since you've taken salvia you should be able to handle it though.
Make sure you have a day or two afterwards to relax. LSD completely alters perception of reality. You'll need a day or two to reconstruct what it means to be a normal human, preferably not spent in a cubicle.
I strongly recommend getting a sitter, someone you trust who can quietly keep an eye on you.
have fun, stay safe. and remember
frankly, I suspect as soon as you start tripping you'll lose all motivation to perform experiments.
/so ive heard
62 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 71.1 ms ] threadI put a lot of effort into this post. Many longstanding members thought it was intellectually interesting. I was trying to contribute, in good spirit. In short, this sucks.
I'll do a few drawings for you anyway. What's your email? Or send me a note at palish at gmail dot com.
It may have been killed for the drug-specific talk, or maybe because it was considered 'off-topic' in some way. But the site has been designed to be as transparent as possible, which means many of us have 'show-dead' on so that we can see past the editors.
The discussion lives. Good luck, and be safe.
Try http://www.drugs-forum.com/index.php
Fortunately, there has been good discussion anyways and anyone that already commented will continue to see the story. I wouldn't worry about the killing too much.
I can't believe this has never been submitted... I checked with and without the www. subdomain. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=581050
Just because Steve Jobs tried it, doesn't make it useful. I'm sure some entrepreneurs have killed people or been tried for fraud. Undoubtedly those actions altered them as people, and perhaps even led to their eventual success. But it'd be a mistake to start copying them.
There's obviously a lot of people who are 'pro drugs', and we've already had more than enough marijuana stories.
In terms of actual interestingness, I'm sure anyone who is curious can search on google for first hand accounts of what being on drugs does/feels like.
I also find it quite morbid. In the same way I would had the OP had expressed a curiosity to know how it feels to cut off his leg.
(I'm not offended, and I don't think most people who flagged it are. I just don't think it's a good post for a site like this).
Once again though, be useful to see on each article how many people flagged it.
Also, taking LSD is not like "cutting off your leg", no matter how much you may believe it to be. If you really want to talk about limbs, then taking LSD is more like growing an extra arm for a few hours. Wouldn't you like to try that in a risk-free manner?
I don't think there's been all that many stories about acid. If those became a common occurence, then I'd start flagging them too. As far as I can see, there's only one of these here now.
Anyway, apparently even PG thinks that sometimes driving a lot of people away from HN may not necessarily such a bad thing, as evidenced by the Erlang incident. I'm not pro drugs, by the way. I am against addictive and destructive drugs, having seen at first hand what it can do to people. However, I do try to keep an open mind about experimenting if it's just the one time and if it won't cause lasting damage.
Lastly:
In terms of actual interestingness, I'm sure anyone who is curious can search on google for first hand accounts of what being on drugs does/feels like.
The OP did ask us for experiments to try, and there were a lot of interesting suggestions, of which I think not all could have been found on google. That made it interesting for me, on a "I wonder if we could do X while tripping" level, and isn't that sort of mentality what hacking is about?
[Citation needed]. If a lot of low-quality "stories" like this stay about, then maybe. But the greater danger is attracting trolls / low-caliber people, not losing the current people. The current people are here to stay.
There's obviously a lot of people who are 'pro drugs', and we've already had more than enough marijuana stories.
This is neither. I was specifically trying to be scientific about this. Just because I am dropping acid once does not make me pro-drug. I have seen the harm that uncontrolled use of recreational drugs can cause. I am also agnostic to the whole debate surrounding drug use. All I care about is the experience. Also, thoughtless labels like "pro-drug" and "anti-drug" simply hinder progress. The world is not black or white.
In terms of actual interestingness, I'm sure anyone who is curious can search on google for first hand accounts of what being on drugs does/feels like.
That was not what my post was about, which you would know had you actually read and understood it. This was supposed to be an opportunity for people to have an interactive experience. Sure, if they had a specific question for me, I could answer it thoroughly. But more importantly, if they had something they wanted me to do, I could probably just do it and report back to them what it was like.
I also find it quite morbid. In the same way I would had the OP had expressed a curiosity to know how it feels to cut off his leg.
First off, one definition of morbid is, "ghoulish: suggesting the horror of death and decay; 'morbid details'". Taking one dose of acid once is certainly not going to cause long-term detrimental effects along the lines of death or decay!
(I'm not offended, and I don't think most people who flagged it are. I just don't think it's a good post for a site like this).
Once again though, be useful to see on each article how many people flagged it.
Why don't you feel that this was a decently creative, intellectually interesting post? Because isn't that what this site is about, to be intellectually satisfying? As I have mentioned, I put a good amount of effort into this, so a comment such as "well, my personal opinion is that I don't think this is very good" is totally not useful in any way. Provide reasons, man.
Lastly, on a personal note, why did you have to keep trying to destroy the one thing I thought I could contribute in the last couple months? Judging by the negative karma count of most of your comments in this thread, your views are not shared among your peers. What you are doing is generating noise. You are basically acting trollish. Simply stating your opinions is rather useless, don't you think? Perhaps you don't back up what you say because you can't, because it's my own body on the line, not yours. As far as I can tell, you have nothing more substantial than a "drugs are bad" attitude. Which is basically a witch-hunt attitude.
If you have any shred of respect for me or for my contributions to the site over the years, you'll just stop talking about this, because at this point, the damn thread is dead already, so anything further you have to say on the topic would just be an emotional act, whether that be to insult me personally or to just "get something off your chest", shall we say. It saddens me that you put so little effort into communicating your thoughts, even when I put so much effort into communicating mine. I would expect that kind of thing from a new member, but the worst part is that you've been here since the beginning. Maybe you're just having a bad day. Who knows.
And no, we don't need to see how many people have flagged an article, because that would cause people to focus on the 'meta' aspect of the site; that is, instead of aggregating cool content, people would be whining about why the current content doesn't satisfy their oh-so-high standards. Which is what you are doing. Which I specifically...
I wouldn't bet on that.
>> "This was supposed to be an opportunity for people to have an interactive experience"
Yeah I don't really want to take part in drug experiments. I'm busy coding.
>> "Lastly, on a personal note, why do you have to keep trying to destroy the one thing I thought I could contribute in the last couple months?"
Because you are trying to destroy a useful community. If you win, I'll stop reading hacker news. That's why I kept re-iterating my views, without a care for the downmods. I like hacker news. I want to keep liking it.
>> "Lastly, on a personal note, why did you have to keep trying to destroy the one thing I thought I could contribute in the last couple months?"
I didn't kill it... whoever did, thankfully agrees that it's not a good post for HN.
I think one of the most important things you can do is meditation. By meditate, I mean completely stop your thoughts at will, clearing your head entirely and then maintaining that state comfortably and indefinitely. If you can't do that unassisted, practicing in an alternative mental state can help.
It will definitely go beyond altering your perceptions to altering the way in which you think. You will have new thought patterns that you have never had before, just like with cannabis.
I wonder if onac.id is available?
I have too much respect for my brain. I live my life on its ability to do stuff that's rare and unusual, and I don't want to mess with its abilites. I've occasionally been curious, but not enough to "mess with the machines" and Feynman put it.
I'm told that first trips can be benign, but equally they can be really bad. The risks are real, and experts are still divided over how much long term damage can be done even from one experience.
But you've clearly thought about it, and since you've decided then I'm sure you've already taken all this into account, and some stranger saying "Don't Do It!" won't make much difference.
But if you deliberately affect the mind's ability to think and perceive, why should you trust any "observations?"
One tab is a mild dose in the range of LSD dosages, it is likely to be 1/4th the strength of one unit of LSD from the hippie era. The risks are indeed real but are overstated. Flashbacks as discussed in DARE are effectively nonexistent and are a symptom of PTSD. It takes a monster of a trip to trigger PTSD. The greater, somewhat realistic risk is triggering latent mental illness.
Why should you trust any observations now?
Psychedelics have one important side-effect: they make you realise how tenuous the link between your brain and reality is. You may think reality is something tangible, reliable, objective... what you find after a psychedelic trip is that actually, things can be otherwise, and all you need is a few micrograms of a simple molecule. Considering that your brain manufactures enormous amounts of other chemicals, that should raise questions about quite what this "reality" thing is and how much it can be trusted.
Worth adding: those are good questions, worth asking.
And yet, you talk about how you take medication, pain relievers, coffee, etc. Do you know how pain medication works? It messes with your brain.
The phrase "change your mind" means to reconsider things you once accepted as truth. You seem to be opposed to this idea; I see it as a beautiful opportunity.
Further, the ones I've taken have been subjected to long standing double-blind clinical trials. It's pretty well understood how they work, and their short and long term effects. Certainly more than other stuff.
That's your opportunity. I "change my mind" regularly by reading, studying, and generally improving my knowledge and abilities. I don't "change my mind" when I change or reconsider my opinion. My mind is the same, although the conclusions I draw may be different because of further analysis, etc.Studies have shown that there are risks associated with drug usage that you can't control, and are unpredictable. You may be willing to run those risks, and participate in others doing so. That's your choice. I'm not.
You mention reading, studying, etc. This is all well and good, but your approach to these problems comes from a state of mind that while dynamic, is quite predictable. A + B = A + B. What a drug like LSD does is allow you to use your mind differently. It isn't really worth explaining and is better left to experience, but I consider myself pretty well educated and I still consider taking LSD to be one of the best things I ever did in my life. It breaks down your ego and lets you see things in a completely different way. It's probably not for everyone.
Bottom line is: If you've never had the urge to explore what a significant change in consciousness provides, then it's not for you.
Do you have a blog? I would write up your findings and post them there (maybe the video too, if it's appropriate), then submit it as a link here.
No, have someone there, but be sure that they are someone:
1) whom you trust
2) who is taking the same dose as you
3) who has done this before
- Please make sure you have someone you trust with you, in case your trip goes bad. In general, you should be in a calm environment.
- The effects of LSD last up to 12 hours, and in rare cases can trigger psychosis. Maybe a reason to reconsider?
The second piece of advice is only useful if you want to give him a reason to freak out and have a bad trip. LSD is one of the safest mind-altering drugs around. As far as I know the chances of it triggering psychosis based on a single dose, a single time, are pretty much nil. Regular users might go nuts, but then anyone who spends a significant portion of their life on LSD is pretty much nuts to begin with.
If you have a history of mental illness (Schizophrenia in particular) in your family, it can bring it on faster. Meaning: people who go crazy from doing psychedelics would have been crazy anyhow.
I would suggest you approach LSD very thoughtfully, with reverence, as if it were a pilgrimage. Don't take it too seriously, but do try to gain some perspective on things that are important to you. I kept a journal of my experiences.
Another note: Don't try to control things. The one thing you will quickly realize on LSD is the faster you allow yourself to surrender and take things as they come, the faster you will be able to gain powerful insight into how your mind works. Attempting to control things will just hinder progress.
If you get scared, don't worry: think of fluffy pink cotton candy. Seriously, if you do get really anxious and for whatever reason scared, just let yourself be scared. The faster you allow the emotions conquer you, the faster they fade away. If you are terrified, the best thing to do is to /be terrified/ instead of trying to /not/ be terrified. One of them will take you forward, one of them will put you in a thought loop.
Have fun and enjoy yourself. LSD is to this day, one of the single most important experiences of my life.
Edit: Also, remember when you're coming up (it should take at least an hour, sometimes as long as two), you will start to think about how you shouldn't have done this and how you might go crazy and never be okay again. This is a completely normal thought that almost every rational person has during the first hour or so. Just let things happen how they will, put in some good music and be comfortable. Those feelings pass quickly.
When you're coming down it can be kind of nerve racking because you might be tired and want to go to bed but you can't. The best thing to do in this situation IMO is to go on a walk.
Finally, I wouldn't believe the hype about being paranoid around non-psychonauts. The first time I ever indulged I was with two sober friends in public, and I had no trouble maintaining. LSD is remarkably easy to snap yourself out of if you take an appropriate dose (1 tab if it's your first time, I never took more than 1 ever, and I spaced them out 6 months)
I took 2 tabs for the first time, was alone at night, it was the most exciting experience in my life. But no other trip after that was like the first one. After 5 o6 experiences I learned to have safe trips in the streets among crowds. I learned to understand electronic music and some other genres of art better. Finally, started writing music myself. Thank you LSD.
As a rule of thumb, do it with people you're comfortable around and would trust with your life, pick a controlled environment, stay positive, be curious, and mentally prepare yourself for a ride you will never forget.
Otherwise, test-drive some psyclocibin (shrooms) first, as it is a much more mild psychedelic.
That said, I agree that starting easy is a good idea.
What a sad waste. Do something better with your life.
Good luck.
LSD can be very intense. Given your prior inexperience, it's probably not a "good idea" right now.
It's basically impossible to overdose on acid, but it's certainly possible to take too much and have a bad trip. Since you've taken salvia you should be able to handle it though.
Make sure you have a day or two afterwards to relax. LSD completely alters perception of reality. You'll need a day or two to reconstruct what it means to be a normal human, preferably not spent in a cubicle.
I strongly recommend getting a sitter, someone you trust who can quietly keep an eye on you.
have fun, stay safe. and remember
frankly, I suspect as soon as you start tripping you'll lose all motivation to perform experiments. /so ive heard