Aya

[Roly Poly Oly-Garch]

What is this self-indulgent shit?

I think I relate. Like, this one time my buddy ate some booms and shit his pants. We were at a party and had to leave in a hurry. Laughed our asses off all the way home.

I think it's kind of like that.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I got an intensive tutorial in how the mind formulates it's model of reality, how thoughts come about, how decisions are evaluated and made, the role that physiological inputs and reflexes play in the currently active personality and, more importantly, how to influence and override most of my own memeplex more or less at will.

Needless to say, in the hands of a 15/16 year old stoner burnout and borderline alcoholic this toolkit proved to be a disaster of hilarious proportions. 30 years on and I'm still learning to fly this fucking thing 

This...in abundance.

Not unlike when you get that really cool bios that let's you fuck with memory timing, core voltages, and ALL THE THINGS--eventually you come to this horrible realization that, you know, maybe they were set that way for a reason...and even if not, maybe I should have figured out what the fuck I was doing BEFORE I started mucking around with it.

Yup. One of the hardest lessons was what I call the "dependency forest" the way that the structure hangs together as a series of interlocking trees, growing outward from core nodes and branching repeatedly to form our current mind. Changing little bits at the top (even whole swathes at a time) is pretty harmless and can be very useful but, the deeper you go, the more the butterfly effect kicks in with a vengeance. Of course, when you're suddenly granted superuser privileges who the fuck wants to piss around changing the colour scheme, right?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What is this self-indulgent shit?

Nobody cares about science anymore.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I love science but, when it comes to consciousness there essentially isn't any or rather, they're just getting started

It seems to actually loosen the glial scaffolding that holds axodendritic synapses in place, allowing some of the connections to separate and new connections to form

So science has observed the tiny little cells that make consciousness happen and it appears that the connections between them can be re-jiggered (neuroplasticity?) and certain plants can facilitate this. How is this information useful to me? Well it isn't really but scale it up a bit and it might follow (after another decade or two of research) that consciousness can be edited.

While I'm waiting for science to discover this, I'm more than happy to discuss tried and tested semantic systems for cognitive engineering, some dating back to the stone age and some of which have been scientifically proven to, yanno, loosen glial scaffolding and shit.

For some reason tho, these non-scientific approaches seem to throw a whole bunch of panties into turmoil round here so, yeah, fuck that noise.

[Doktor Howl]

What is this self-indulgent shit?

Nobody cares about science anymore.

DRUGS R MORE BETTER.  THERE'S FAIRIES AND CRONES.

[Doktor Howl]

.
For some reason tho, these non-scientific approaches seem to throw a whole bunch of panties into turmoil round here so, yeah, fuck that noise.

The world has had enough bliss-ninny gurus.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

.
For some reason tho, these non-scientific approaches seem to throw a whole bunch of panties into turmoil round here so, yeah, fuck that noise.

The world has had enough bliss-ninny gurus.

But it's like, maaaan, like the Mother Goddess, and I know stuff, like ALL the stuff, and shit.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Because that's totally useful information. Just blow your mind, and then you can be right forever and in perpetuity because you got Enlightened. That's it, the end. No need to fuss around with learning stuff, you did it and you're done.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What is this self-indulgent shit?

Nobody cares about science anymore.

DRUGS R MORE BETTER.  THERE'S FAIRIES AND CRONES.

SCIENCE DON'T KNOW NOTHING, TAKING DRUGS IS CONSCIOUSNESS ENGINEERING THAT GOES BACK FOREVS.

[Doktor Howl]

Because that's totally useful information. Just blow your mind, and then you can be right forever and in perpetuity because you got Enlightened. That's it, the end. No need to fuss around with learning stuff, you did it and you're done.

Who needs rationalism when you can sit in the corner and smear your feces on the wall?   

[Doktor Howl]

What is this self-indulgent shit?

Nobody cares about science anymore.

DRUGS R MORE BETTER.  THERE'S FAIRIES AND CRONES.

SCIENCE DON'T KNOW NOTHING, TAKING DRUGS IS CONSCIOUSNESS ENGINEERING THAT GOES BACK FOREVS.

I am fascinated by Holist's aversion to actual science.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What is this self-indulgent shit?

Nobody cares about science anymore.

DRUGS R MORE BETTER.  THERE'S FAIRIES AND CRONES.

SCIENCE DON'T KNOW NOTHING, TAKING DRUGS IS CONSCIOUSNESS ENGINEERING THAT GOES BACK FOREVS.

I am fascinated by Holist's aversion to actual science.

I'm kind of fascinated by the totally dismissive response to my attempt at participating, like "oh so research has found the mechanisms by which certain hallucinogens can help rewire debilitating physical responses to traumatic memories? Oh, well, that's all theoretical, I'ma talk about subjective experiences through my cultural filter".

I was like, this is interesting and I know something about it, but apparently what I find fascinating about it is completely invalid because maiden mother and crone. Which surely can't be experiences that are the result of reframing experiences in a vulnerably plastic brain in light of a particular cultural background, it must be some glorious Universal Truth, because fuck science what does it know anyway.

Besides, doing a ton of hallucinogens at 17 makes you Forever Wise. You can just stop, secure in the knowledge that you had universal enlightenment, and never try again.

[Dildo Argentino]

The constant hostility and strawmanbuilding really does grind. I tell you about impressions I gathered during a pretty fucking freaky profound trip, you infer my attitude towards science and my world view. That is so unscientific, Woman-who-has-yo-justify-herself-all-the-time and Underappreciated-man-who-has-found-solace-in-grump! Although I don't think it is the only thing worth caring about, I do care about science. A lot. In fact I am beginning to suspect I care about it a great deal more than either of you.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

I was interested in the science. I mean if you're gonna fuck around with your headmeats, might as well have an idea of what you're doing to it, right? I've found this thread really helpful in that regard as i've been wondering if a psychedelic experience might be good for me. I have a bunch of negative thought patterns sometimes and I've been thinking that a trip like that might be enough to help rewire some of that fucked up thinking. I've only ever messed with pot, which unless its the right strain, will put me right to sleep, and the one time i took Welbutrin, which just made my head hurt. Salvia looks manageable and might do the trick, though some people tell me all it does is cause ten seconds of pins-and-needles sensation.

[xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed)]

I was interested in the science. I mean if you're gonna fuck around with your headmeats, might as well have an idea of what you're doing to it, right? I've found this thread really helpful in that regard as i've been wondering if a psychedelic experience might be good for me. I have a bunch of negative thought patterns sometimes and I've been thinking that a trip like that might be enough to help rewire some of that fucked up thinking. I've only ever messed with pot, which unless its the right strain, will put me right to sleep, and the one time i took Welbutrin, which just made my head hurt. Salvia looks manageable and might do the trick, though some people tell me all it does is cause ten seconds of pins-and-needles sensation.

Salvia isnt a very good babbys first psychadelic. Ive yet to have a "good" trip on it, and from what I gather from around the internets there really isnt a good trip to have on it, just a not as pants shittingly horrifying one. Not that it wasnt useful, insightful ect, its just you want to stretch out your mental sphincter a bit before you tackle it. Psilocybin sounds like what youre looking for. If youre too lazy to grow shrooms then just brew up some morning glory tea.