
Communication between brain networks in people given psilocybin - eksith
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/magic-mushroom-brain/
======
michaelvkpdx
Psychedelics, mushrooms in particular, are essential tools for any wise
programmer. Very very powerful, only to be consulted on rare occasions, but
immensely valuable in solving intractable problems.

We essentially owe our profession to psychedelic explorations by pioneers of
software engineering. Companies who drug test developers are ignorant of this
history, and are the enemies of the digital revolution.

Brilliant, beautiful languages and programs came from these pioneers, and it's
likely because of their rich neural networks, enhanced by psychedelics as seen
in the Wired article. The ability to connect humanistic art and feeling with
symbolic systems and code requires a sophisticated neural network.
Psychedelics help build the mental infrastructure for software development
that actually benefits humans.

I would love to see any stats or info about the relative consumption of
psychedelics- both kind and amount- among engineers at specific companies or
types of software firms.

~~~
andrey-p
Had my first acid trip a few weeks ago at a friend's place. I had brought my
netbook to do some work on the train.

Midway through the trip I thought, "Wait a minute! My eyes are so open now. I
can see patterns and bigger pictures like never before in my life. If I try
doing some programming right now my abilities will be _godlike_."

I opened up my netbook, fired up Vim and was immediately distracted by the
blinking cursor going up and down.

~~~
marincounty
I knew a girl who was a junior at Darthmouth. She went to a concert with her
friends on a holiday break. At said concert she took some acid. She went to
bed. She woke up and she didn't recognize the family members around her. She
got better over the years, and finally finished her degree 20 years later. I'm
not anti drug, but I think about her often. No, I have never tried anything
other than pot. Pot is too strong for my constitution. I wish I had the
personality to experiment, but I am just not willing to take the chance.

~~~
delluminatus
Look, it's good to know yourself. The probability of getting seriously messed
by acid is extremely low, but the number one risk factor for a bad trip is
being afraid of having a bad trip. Just don't worry about it and if someday
you feel curious, just relax and do it. It sounds like you have a pretty good
perspective.

Also, I will bet you that it wasn't (just) acid that fucked that girl up.
Concerts are a great place to be exposed to all kinds of interesting
substances.

~~~
acous
I don't know. The first time I tried acid on my own I was quite afraid of
having a bad trip. It turned out to be wonderful and transformative. My second
solo trip I told myself something along the lines of "just don't worry" and it
turned out pretty grim. A statement like "just relax" doesn't really compute
cleanly and depends a lot on the subject's state of mind.

For me the number one factor was my external environment.

------
jeremysmyth
The article's title is somewhat misleading, because it talks about how one of
the main chemicals (psilocybin) temporarily creates or encourages connections
between typically unconnected parts of the brain. The effect is temporary, and
reverts when the drug wears off.

This is not to be confused with earlier findings that are more permanent but
are psychological rather than neurological in effect, such as those found at
[http://www.livescience.com/16287-mushrooms-alter-
personality...](http://www.livescience.com/16287-mushrooms-alter-personality-
long-term.html) and [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-
minds/201110/p...](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-
minds/201110/psychedelics-open-the-mind)

~~~
Raphmedia
Time for an anecdotal experience.

I tried psilocybin once and I had a great time. However, I strongly feel like
it changed me. The problem is that I've never been someone that felt
depressed. I'm a "the glass is half full" kind of guy.

Well, you hear all over how psilocybin can help people who are depressed. For
me, it was quite the opposite. I woke up in the morning, and I couldn't even
get out of the bed. Work felt like a chore. This lasted a few months, and it
was horrible. The only thing that got me through it was the thought that this
wasn't me. This was chemicals in my brain. I was a positive person, I could be
again. I could be myself again.

Anyway, fast forward to now, I feel a lot better. My outlook on life really
changed, and I'm sure people could say that I act differently. I don't regret
trying it, nor do I regret the experience it made me live afterward. I could
never understand depression. How could those people simply not get on with
their lives and be happy? Well, I know now.

~~~
pmoriarty
Psychedelics are immensely powerful tools.

Like a plane, like an ocean liner, like a battleship, you can have fun with
them, but you can also blow your head apart. They should be given the utmost
respect, since they can, as you found out, radically change your life and
outlook on the world.

If you are after their psychotherapeutic effects, you would be wise to only
take them under the supervision of a trained and experienced therapist who you
respect and trust.

~~~
abuehrle
"If you are after their psychotherapeutic effects, you would be wise to only
take them under the supervision of a trained and experienced therapist who you
respect and trust."

In what countries is this possible? Are these licensed therapists in the
traditional sense, or something more like a shaman (for lack of a better
name)?

~~~
pmoriarty
It is possible in more countries than you might expect.

I strongly recommend reading _The Secret Chief Revealed_ ,[1] for a taste of
how this has been done even in countries where prohibition rages, like the US.

You would also profit from following the links. reading up on, and perhaps
contacting the various people and organizations listed in the Wikipedia
article on Psychedelic Therapy.[2]

[1] - [http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Revealed-Myron-
Stolaroff/...](http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chief-Revealed-Myron-
Stolaroff/dp/0966001966)

[2] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_therapy)

------
murbard2
As it's been pointed out, the title is a bit misleading.

That said, one should keep in mind that, technically, everything you
experience changes your brain -- it's called learning.

~~~
codyb
Yes, but a seven course meal unlike anything you've ever had will give you a
bit more of an experience than the dollar menu at a new fast food chain you've
never been to.

Everything you experience, may (and I'm not saying it's a definite) be
learning, but to assign equal weight to all experiences is obviously naive.

------
codeshaman
Interesting that while the brain is interconnected the way it's depicted in
the article, people report having mystical experiences (eg see God), traveling
vast distances through galaxies and strange worlds, see spirits of plants and
objects, see themselves as a small insignificant part of the large organism
that is Earth and at the same time, realise that they are immortal and that
this life is one of an infinity of others and that they are God. The larger
the dose, the deeper the experience and I would speculate that the number of
brain parts interconnected is even higher and the connecting lines even
thiker.

Why is that ? What would happen if 100% of the brain would start exchanging
information like this? What if we could connect only the blue or green areas?

Psychedelics are the new unexplored frontier in science.

Imagine a technology (or drug) which allows selecting which networks in the
brain to interconnect (temporarily). This could be used to design new mental
abilities, train or enhance existing ones.

I'm really pleased that the taboo regarding these substances is slowly being
lifted. I'm also happy that more and more people will take these substances
and as a consequence will "expand their minds".

------
xefer
Everything in moderation.

Ken Kesey wrote two of my favorite books "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
(1962) and "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1964), but basically produced nothing
of much merit after that.

I'm convinced that his subsequent over-indulgence in psychedelics destroyed
his ability to produce great literature.

~~~
fiatmoney
The number of great works a person produces is unfortunately something like
power-law distributed.

~~~
xefer
Yes, but Kesey himself hints that damage that was done in this interview:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Egz_ex3d_s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Egz_ex3d_s)
(~6:00)

------
fsiefken
The late Bob Wallace (Microsoft) experimented with low dose psychedelics as
aid to programming.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wallace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wallace)
Undoubtedly there are more, but they keep understandably silent about it. Even
more interesting would be (to me) programmers who would use meditative
practices. Techniques - or better named attitudes - like mindfulness, self-
awareness, the ability to take a step back to look at the bigger picture also
aid in all areas of life. I was presently surprised to hear someone talk about
mindfulness in relation to programming on a developer conference (Arrrrcamp):
[http://beatimpostorsyndrome.net/actions.html](http://beatimpostorsyndrome.net/actions.html)

About other programmers, I think it's telling "Why the luck stiff" referred to
John Lilly's metaprogramming of the mind in his famous kaleidoscopic Ruby
guide page 107:

"You might be inclined to think that metaprogramming is another hacker word
and was first overheard in private phone calls between fax machines. Honest to
God, I am here to tell you that it is stranger than that. Metaprogramming
began with taking drugs in the company of dolphins."

"We learn. But first we learn to learn. We setup programming in our mind which
is the pathway to further programming. (Lilly is largely talking about
programming the brain and the nervous system, which he collectively called the
biocomputer.) Lilly’s metaprogramming was more about feeding yourself imagery,
reinventing yourself, all that. This sort of thinking links directly to folks
out there who dabble in shamanism, wave their hands over tarot cards and wake
up early for karate class. I guess you could say metaprogramming is New Age,
but it’s all settled down recently into a sleeping bag with plain old
nerdiness. (If you got here from a Google search for “C++ Metaprogramming”,
stick around, but I only ask that you burn those neural pathways that
originally invoked the search. Many thanks.)"

For sure mushrooms and psylocybin are unsuitable for programming, but low
doses of cocaine, acid or 2C-* might have their value. The best programmer
however learns to meta-program and hack his mind without chemicals.

~~~
wefarrell
I've maintained a regular meditation practice 2 years sitting for ~30 mins a
day. The benefits are most noticeable when dealing with other people and if I
have an important meeting with a client I'll meditate shortly before, which
undoubtably improves the outcome.

It helps reduce the influence of my ego over these interactions. This in turn
lowers my clients' guard and reduces their egos as well. Less ego makes
meetings less about politics and more about solving real problems.

More generally, meditation has helped me maintain focus on my work and made me
less susceptible to distractions.

------
blimblab
Don't forget about the risks of taking psilocybin. I myself had a psychosis
triggered by them, no fun at all (believe me) and in many cases not
reversible.

~~~
fapjacks
There are risks in everything, everyday.

------
auggierose
Jesus, when I read the comments it seems that most programmers are on drugs
while coding. No wonder most of the code out there is so shitty. If you need
drugs in order to be creative, that's pretty sad.

~~~
mvanvoorden
Have you ever taken psychedelics? Did you even read the article? You cannot
judge things you are ignorant of.

Also, none of the programmers in the comments are high while coding. Some who
have used psychedelics only told it gave them more insight in i.e. patterns
and structures.

To me personally, psychedelics saved my life. One trip showed me exactly what
to do to be happy again and ever since my life is going exactly how I want it.
Before I was living the life other people expected me to live, without even
being aware of that (like the majority of people).

Using drugs to escape might be sad, but using psychedelics to expand your mind
is something I could recommend to almost anyone. There's a lot of wisdom
hidden inside of us that is mostly supressed by the way we are nurtured,
psychedelics make us connect to this again and teach us to be our real selves.

~~~
auggierose
No, I've never taken psychedelics. I don't need them. My mind is already
operating at full capacity without them. When I notice that something bothers
me, I think about it, sometimes for a month or so. Eventually I will find the
answer to the problem.

