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2006-07-12 Home Front: Culture Wars

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Posted by Deacon Blues 2006-07-12 10:59|| || Front Page|| [11127 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Mmm... north facing sheep pasture in October. Three months and counting.

Posted by Howard UK 2006-07-12 13:02|| 2006-07-12 13:02|| Front Page Top

#2 We are constantly surrounded by massive amounts of sensory input. We can only make heads or tails out of reality by ignoring most of it. Then from that fraction we allow in, we have to further discriminate by interpreting that fraction with very strict abstracts, such as size, shape, color, etc.

If it can't be made to fit our abstracts then we ignore it. Then, finally, that little bit that is left goes into the memory and computational part of our brains. And both of those are very lossy and prone to error.

Drugs can interfere with this carefully tuned system, and briefly remind us that we don't have a clue to what is really going on around us.

Some years ago, a very potent anti-depressant, desipramine hydrochloride, was approved for use in the US as one of the few anti-depressants they had back then. Even though it had all sorts of serious side-effects.

The Japanese continued to test this drug long after as many as 2 million Americans had been taking it. They reached the disturbing conclusion that the drug "softened" those rigid abstracts that we use for perception, with utterly unknown and unpredictable consequences.

In real terms, by injecting this drug into the optic center of the brain of ordinary cats, within a few weeks the cats' brains were re-taught to see with monocular vision. Their other eye still worked, and still sent signals to the brain, but those signals were utterly ignored.

That powerful. It is still prescribed in the US, in much reduced quantity from its heyday. And we still have no idea as to its long-term consequences.

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-07-12 13:24|| 2006-07-12 13:24|| Front Page Top

#3 interesting comments.

Question though ... how can it "make" them spiritual if they already hold deep religious convictions. Sounds like it just allows them to escape the bonds of their bodies and get closer to the spiritual world.

Soo...the Indians and other ancient tribes were on to something!

Posted by 2b 2006-07-12 14:42|| 2006-07-12 14:42|| Front Page Top

#4 Wow, man, look at those sounds!

Posted by Steve">Steve 2006-07-12 14:43|| 2006-07-12 14:43|| Front Page Top

#5 I talked to gawds granny once after 23 or was it 29 no, it was 19, I thinks. She seemed nice for being a deity and all.

Posted by HalfEmpty 2006-07-12 14:46|| 2006-07-12 14:46|| Front Page Top

#6 My best New Years ever - A South China Sea beach, an M16, and magic mushrooms.

Posted by buwaya 2006-07-12 15:23|| 2006-07-12 15:23|| Front Page Top

#7 ...a lingering sense of spirituality

Oh. Is that what it was?

Posted by tu3031 2006-07-12 15:25|| 2006-07-12 15:25|| Front Page Top

#8 Howard, Harlow common in about 6 weeks.

Posted by phil_b">phil_b 2006-07-12 17:04|| http://autonomousoperation.blogspot.com/]">[http://autonomousoperation.blogspot.com/] 2006-07-12 17:04|| Front Page Top

#9 "If you take psilocybin and go watch 'Friday the 13th,' I can guarantee you won't have a mystical experience," he said.

Unless you're Charles Manson.

These drugs are tools - very powerful tools. Their effects run the gamut from the most harrowing paranoid nightmares to the most beatific bliss. And most people significantly adjust their worldviews accordingly after especially powerful experiences.

Google "DMT" and "god molecule" for more related info.

My best New Years ever - A South China Sea beach, an M16, and magic mushrooms.

And they can be a hell of a lot fun under the right circumstances - or so I've heard.

Posted by xbalanke 2006-07-12 20:14|| 2006-07-12 20:14|| Front Page Top

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