
Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects - lainon
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5853825/
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rgrieselhuber
Check out Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer:
[https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Metaprogramming-Human-
Bio...](https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Metaprogramming-Human-Biocomputer-
Experiments/dp/0692217894/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527471365&sr=8-1&keywords=programming+and+metaprogramming)

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omar3550
Whoever is doing an experiment in a controlled environment (e.g. lab) and is
seeking test subjects in the bay area, please let me know.

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sova
“Extremely low doses, known as microdoses, have been anecdotally associated
with improvements in cognitive performance (Waldman, 2017; Wong, 2017) 'a
claim that urgently requires empirical verification through controlled
research' (Carhart-Harris and Nutt, 2017, p. 1103). Theoretical attempts to
account for the reported effects of microdosing have yet to emerge in the
literature and therefore present an important opportunity to future
theoretical endeavors.”

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oneman
Abstract: In all theories, psychedelic drugs are mind revealing.

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walru
It's too important in life to challenge yourself completely. That comes in
many many forms. Allowing your brain to travel to places you're not
determining is among/probably the most enlightening.

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sunyataishere
seeing the terms 'ego-disolution' and 'filtration-theory' makes me think the
author really did his homework

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alexandercrohde
I haven't tried any of the drugs described in this piece, and intend to keep
it thus.

That said, overall, I think this is a fascinating approach to reverse-
engineering the most impressive machine in existence: the human brain.

This particular article though feels hand-waivy by the end. Until we can
validate these theories of mechanics [e.g. entropic brain theory] (e.g. by
stimulating certain brain networks directly), they seem beyond speculative.

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collyw
You should try.

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empath75
This is a fantastic article and I intend to spend more time reading it in
detail.

Articles about psychedelics tend to be either dismissive or full of woo and
this takes them seriously as tools to better understand the physical basis of
human consciousness.

A major thing I took away from my experience with lsd and mdma was how
impossible it seemed that such a small amount of material could so utterly
transform my experience of the world.

Anything that does that seems like it must be a powerful tool for
understanding what the brain does. I’m glad that scientists and the
establishment are finally taking it seriously.

I think the first and second waves of scientific research (as he calls them)
ran aground after the early pioneers couldn’t resist evangelizing. The current
generation seems to have learned the dangers of becoming another Timothy Leary
and have remained clinical and detached in their descriptions.

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blkhp19
As someone who recently tried MDMA, I second this. Marijuana gives me intense
anxiety, so I was very nervous to take something “hard” like MDMA. I couldn’t
be happier that I took the risk and tried it.

I suspect that my first time “rolling” permanently changed pathways in my
brain in one of the best ways possible; on MDMA, I experienced what it felt
like to feel unconditional love for complete strangers around me. I genuinely
felt like I cared and wanted to connect with everyone. I saw beauty in people
I wouldn’t even notice in my normal, routine life. This, of course, was an
artificially created and temporary feeling, but 6 months later, I still feel
the affects from that night.

After trying MDMA, I’m convinced that the fastest way to change yourself is
through drugs. Neuroplasticity goes down as you get older, but it seems like
certain drugs can accelerate changes to your brain anyways. I have yet to try
psychedelics, but can understand how they would have similar, mind altering
affects.

I recognize a lot of this is pseudoscience and needs to be better understood,
so I’m happy to see research is being done. Drugs can be a very dangerous
thing, but they can also have some extremely positive affects. Figuring out
how to maximize benefits while reducing risk is something that I believe will
benefit many people.

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collyw
Politicians ban this. The world would be a better place if the people in
control took some.

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eqdw
I guarantee you that they are taking some.

The hypocrisy is infuriating

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bwang29
It seems like the filtration theory still produced by far the most significant
impact to our current understanding of psychedelic effects.

What I was surprised to learn was most research in this domain clearly
distinguish adult and non-adult, and the filtration theory implies that kids
or younger adults are more creative, have more imaginary freedom, and less
emotionally stable - meaning they're naturally more "on drug" \- make me
wonder if 1 year old really feel like sky-high everyday.

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MikkoFinell
The problem is the theory implies that people with brain damage should
experience psychological effects similar to those induced by psychedelic
drugs, and we don't see anything like that.

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iaml
Have you seen "my beautiful broken brain"(2014) ? It's exactly about that
happening to one person. Trailer:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSfpA3AEKmY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSfpA3AEKmY)

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MikkoFinell
No hadn't seen it.

