
How and Why Silicon Valley Gets High - allenleein
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/opinion/elon-musk-burning-man-drugs-lsd.html
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stinos
_No one does a stupid tweet on weed like they might on alcohol,” he said. “The
most that happens is that you get lazy and eat badly.”_

Is just one sentence illustrating the general lack of depth in this article.
Already starting with the reporter, seemingly never having tried any of the
mentioned drugs, rejecting the possible effects they could have on beforehand
and without first-hand experience. Erm, is this reporting?

Also, just cherry-picking here as other commenters are already pointing out
other mistakes, but with respect to weed: saying the most that happens is 'get
lazy and eat badly' is so extremely misguided I can hardly believe anyone says
that. The most that happens to me is close to a full trip on mushrooms for
instance, thoughts going everywhere, creativity all over the place, extremely
detailed self-reflection, sometimes profound dissociation, including visual
and auditory hallucinations. Granted that depends on dosage, circumstances,
tolerance, way of administration, but it does show that the 'just weed'
sentiment needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

~~~
caboteria
I agree that the piece is pretty vapid, but it's clearly labelled as an
opinion piece so it's explicitly _not_ reporting.

~~~
stinos
Fair point, but in the first sentence the writer uses the word reporter when
referring to herself so I kinda missed the opinion thing.

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mirimir
This is a totally ridiculous article.

> That is why everyone he knows microdoses, saving the longer-acting drugs
> like Ecstasy for the rare occasions when they want to party and relax.

I presume that "microdoses" means LSD, but who knows. MDMA is _not_ per se
longer-acting than LSD or Psilocybe spp.

~~~
TheCoelacanth
Doesn't LSD last like 2x as long as MDMA?

~~~
mirimir
They're so different that's it's very hard to say. The LSD peak lasts 2-6
hours, depending on the dose. Effects trail off gradually after that.
Marijuana intensifies them dramatically, however, and produces something like
a secondary peak. And short-term memory gets totally nuked, which can be very
frightening. So I don't recommend that, unless you have an experienced friend
around.

Anyway, I've never stayed awake long enough (without redosing or taking some
other drug) to tell when LSD effects become imperceptible. Effects are pretty
much gone after 6-8 hours sleep. But the next day, or even the next week or
two, you can clearly feel some effect. There's also transient tolerance.

I don't have much experience with MDMA. I was never very impressed with the
visuals. I liked the body vibes, albeit too much like amphetamines. It's great
for dancing and intimate sex, as everyone knows. And yes, the effects don't
last for more than several hours, unless you take a lot and/or redose.

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quackerhacker
As a coder, the only real drug I’ve ever really needed has been caffeine. This
didn’t start until recently so I’m not sure if I can attribute it to age
(early 30’s). My real dependence on caffeine is mainly due to staying up too
late the night before (like right now, about 0200 here) and needing to get up
and function with 5hrs of sleep and maintain my mental acuity for the workload
I have.

To give you an idea of my caffeine intake...about 2 venti black coffees and an
8oz Red Bull.

~~~
wmeredith
You may know this, but you're kidding yourself if you think your mental acuity
is anything near optimal on 5 hrs of sleep. I don't care what you're drinking.

~~~
quackerhacker
It takes about an hour before I can start churning clean code and start any
code reviews, so I think I’m ok. Really, it’s the 3 in the afternoon feeling
that is the drain for me. Alertness fades and I can’t even listen to music
without an occasional syntax error.

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Dowwie
Everyone isn't microdosing. You're not missing out. This article doesn't
belong in the NYTimes.

~~~
bfuller
Of course people microdosing are a minority. But that doesnt mean you are not
missing out. LSD should be used as a last resort for people with treatment
resistant adhd/depression, but it can be a total miracle drug. I wonder why
you are so quick to bash a drug that is increasingly being shown to be
effective.

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Simulacra
I use to take adderall until I discovered its a false prophet and hurts way
more than it helps. Marijuana would help calm my brain after a busy day of
coding, but as I get older I'm looking for more ways to do better without the
drugs.

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Symmetry
Gwern did a blind experiment with microdosing and didn't find any effects.

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

~~~
someguy101010
[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01965761](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01965761)

Roland Fischer did an experiment in the 70s and found that students on lsd
were able to identify parallel lines more accurately.

Iirc in gwerns experiment he dosed every day, and lsd tolerance builds pretty
fast.

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tootahe45
Must be make sh*t up day.

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mrarjen
This is a rather flat article that doesn't go into the whole thing properly.
And it has a rather anti drugs hint to it, if anyone wants to know some more
about drugs from users/expert, who have a normal constructive conversation,
i'd recommend this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM8WDZIhs3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM8WDZIhs3M)

~~~
rwnspace
Agreed, I was hoping for something a bit more substantive. The following
podcast episode with Cole Marta is what turned me on to learning more about
research into Ketamine and MDMA.

[http://www.duncantrussell.com/episodes/2016/9/14/dr-cole-
mar...](http://www.duncantrussell.com/episodes/2016/9/14/dr-cole-marta)

~~~
mrarjen
Thanks for sharing, I'll look into this one as well. And researching these
drugs is rather interesting, there has only been very limited papers due to
bans on active substances.

Also channels like:
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRQKXtIGcK1yEnQ4Te8hWQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRQKXtIGcK1yEnQ4Te8hWQ)
are interesting to see people take these substances, but still everyone can
have different effects from the same thing.

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fmajid
I've never done drugs or even tobacco, but Steve Jobs claimed dropping acid
changes your perspective on reality and was a big factor in his success. That
gives me pause.

~~~
GGfpc
It can also trigger undiagnosed mental conditions like schizophrenia.

~~~
m_fayer
I would think it's self-evident that chemically (forcibly) modifying your
perspective and the timbre of your subjective/emotional experience, a change
that without chemical assistance would be slow, difficult to achieve, and
often impossible, would not be entirely safe. But, safety isn't everything.

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dhnsmakala
Not that many people take drugs in Silicon Valley...at least not most devs I
know.

