
Turn On, Tune In, Drop by the Office - andrewl
https://www.1843magazine.com/features/turn-on-tune-in-drop-by-the-office
======
matthewbauer
I'm a little surprised they didn't go more into the likelihood it's just a
placebo. They mention it briefly but IMHO it seems extremely likely. <10µg is
just too low to have a chance binding to serotonin receptors. Of course if a
placebo works for you, it's hard to argue you should stop, I just think
microdosers run a risk of mismeasuring and accidentally taking a full dose of
LSD. These "day trippers" are really just playing a high-tech game of Russian
roulette (Silicon Valley roulette?) But media people seem to love exaggerating
the supposed prevalence and benefits of microdosing. I would expect more
mainstream media like The Economist to use better discretion on whether
something like this is worth popularizing.

James Fadiman is always mentioned in articles on microdosing. I think he was
the first to popularize microdosing. His approach seems to be more New Age
than scientific. I think the culture around microdosing is generally unhelpful
and possibly dangerous to those of us that want to see real research into
therapeutic psychedelics.

gwern did a self-study on microdosing that is more rigorous than anything
you'll find from Fadiman.

[https://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing](https://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing)

~~~
davymac
I did 10ug, felt like nothing. I tried again with 20ug and wow the thought
clarity is incredible. This may be because I have ADHD + GAD + Depression I'd
highly recommend it to those considering. I agree on the 10ug being placebo
territory, but it could be that those seeing the effects are those that are
likely self-medicating anyway. A normal person wouldn't notice, whereas
someone needing the bump would, just a guess.

Comments on the linked article: 20ug yay 10ug why? Hearing better:
Surprisingly yes, I definitely noticed this, and it was thoroughly confusing
at first, but my best guess is that its related to serotonin, since similar
medication has been used to treat Tinnitus (e.g. SSRI's) It seems like
serotonin is the signal amplifier dial, and mine is at a 9, people with
Tinnitus are at 11. LSD and SSRI's drop it a notch or two. (Another wild guess
based on my personal + google-lay experience) I think it aligns with what
serotonin actually does, rather than the ELI5 "anxiety" label assigned to it.
The "creativity" feels like a hippie thing to ascribe to it. I think it's
closer to reducing the noise thereby providing a clearer signal for whatever
is already on your mind... There seems to be a hint of time-dilation, in that
the racing thoughts I've had all my life, seem to slow to a "normal" speed.
I'm curious if this time-dilation aspect is what causes the weird trippy
visuals people report at higher doses... If the "signal" is light hitting the
retina, maybe serotonin modifies the rate it gets processed, like slowing down
or ramping up the FPS on a video camera. No idea why I rambled this long on
your comment, sorry haha

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hprotagonist
I do not doubt the efficacy of microdosing.

I think that albert hoffman would be a little aghast at how LSD has been
coopted so that it lets you work even harder, though. Certainly Huxley would
be.

Using a chemical that, at best, has real theraputic potential and can provide
meaningful insight into the world this way just seems tawdry to me.

~~~
nemo1618
It's right in line with the commodification of meditation and yoga. They are
being marketed as a means of improving productivity instead of ends in
themselves. Even scarier is the implication that if your job is stressing you
out, the only solution is to meditate -- i.e. _you_ are the problem, not your
job.

~~~
52-6F-62
>Even scarier is the implication that if your job is stressing you out, the
only solution is to meditate -- i.e. you are the problem, not your job.

Certainly. To go a little further I would hope that it's not something coopted
to salve one's situation, but rather to gain clarity on what your issue might
be exactly, and what you might do to resolve it -- whether that means altering
the arrangement of your time, or finding a new job, starting a family, going
back to school, picking up a new hobby, or quitting everything and joining a
monastery.

It can be useful to "quiet the mind", and observe what you are actually
thinking and feeling. Sometimes the noise of day-to-day living can be all-
consuming -- enter some platitudes about "life passing you by".

I agree with the danger of applying it as if it's that you just have to temper
your desires and placate yourself, while thinking that it's only some sort of
neuroticism that is causing any suffering in the situation.

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Bartweiss
I'm a bit weirded out by the way this article alternates between talking about
trends and demographics, and admitting it has no evidence whatsoever.

For instance:

> _Young developers and engineers, most of them male, seem to be particularly
> keen on his form of bio-hacking_

> _Although data on the number of people microdosing are non-existent, since
> drug surveys do not ask about it_

Anecdotally, I had the sense that the weirder, more drug-friendly side of the
Valley was probably _more_ gender-neutral than the rest. I could be wrong
about that, but certainly nothing in this article counts as evidence on that
point.

Similarly:

> _" The quest for spiritual enlightenment – as with much else in San
> Francisco – is fuelled by the desire to increase productivity."_

That's a baffling claim. Microdosing isn't a road to spiritual enlightenment -
it's intentionally non-hallucinatory - and the most vocal drug advocates tend
to view productivity as a route to spiritual change rather than the reverse.

This is an interesting historical take, but it seems to have hidden a shortage
of data behind vague platitudes about Valley culture.

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spraak
> The quest for spiritual enlightenment – as with much else in San Francisco –
> is fuelled by the desire to increase productivity

Uhm... really? I have strong doubts that seeking spiritual enlightenment is
motivated by increasing productivity, or that those who microdose are
predominantly doing it for spiritual purposes at all. To my mind, those things
are in diametrical opposition. What is the author even trying to say with
this?

~~~
Bartweiss
Microdosing is specifically about _avoiding_ the sort of active, vision-
causing effects that normal use of acid has. I'm really not sure how "making
sure to not have a religious experience" could be part of the quest for
spiritual enlightenment. It feels like the sort of line that sounds pithy as
long as you don't worry about accuracy.

~~~
spraak
> It feels like the sort of line that sounds pithy as long as you don't worry
> about accuracy.

Exactly!

And unrelated: I always think of Rob Pike when I hear the word pithy [0] :D

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFejpH_tAHM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFejpH_tAHM)

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Lon7
Gwern's fascinating self experiment on LSD microdosing is always worth a read
when this topic is brought up. He found that there was no measurable effect.

[https://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing](https://www.gwern.net/LSD%20microdosing)

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567arlo
Cautionary aspect: detecting mild and/or very long term deleterious effects of
nootropics/drugs is extremely difficult empirically. Something like e.g.
caffeine has been put through the ringer historically both empirically and in
terms of secondary anecdotal cultural awareness (if that counts for anything.)
But something relatively niche like this can't hope to have the necessary
resources allocated to it for sufficient study.

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SurrealSoul
I am kind of curious what the endgame of micro-dosing will be. Making a pretty
hefty assumption that there are no common side-effects, I wonder if it will
ever be as common / mainstream as caffeine is currently

