I want Robert Kolker to take acid

[Serapis Bey]

...and I mean it.

I am but a simple man. I've taken a few classes -- calculus, physics, electronic engineering, etc. But I'm still left with barely a layman's understanding of the Higher Mysteries.

However, when I was younger, I had my Drug Days where I dove headfirst into the world of psychedelics.

Many things were learned, transformations took place, many things fell by the wayside. They are no panacea. But one impression I was left with just how powerful such substances were in opening the mind to new vistas of perception.

There are many in the "underground" who lament the way such drugs became popularlized by folks like Timothy Leary and others as sort of "hippy" "party" thing, and I concur with that assessment. Rick Strassman is one such scholar.

The negative press brought on by the abuse of such chemicals sounded the death knell for any serious investigation into what might be possible.

Everyone has their own take on what the experience is like, but since I pride myself on being exceptionally self-aware during such experiences, I'll offer my impressions as one who, at the time, was a devotee of Rand and rationality.

First of all, nothing in your sober, conscious imagination could ever produce the phantasmagoria experienced while under the influence. It is clear that unused portions of the brain are "awakened." Gurdjieff has his concept of the "kundebuffer" which is the idea that we are still animals who by necessity have to filter out a vast portion of all the available sensory input in order to secure basic survival needs. Drugs like LSD remove this filter and allow one to be flooded with novel sensory input.

Furthermore, it seems that what occurs under the inflluence is that the "normal" state of consciousness turns inward to the fundamental physiological and neurochemical processes which produce the phenomenon of consciousness in the first place. One is, in effect, closer to the physical medium in our meat-brains from whence consciousness arises.

An example: many people have reported the experience of "knowing" what it is to be some other organism or object. A story that comes to mind is an individual who stated he knew intimately what it was like to be some prehistoric reptile, how it felt to be on a warm rock as a cold-blooded creature soaking in the rays of the sun in order to foster the heating of one's blood. I'm sure many reading can imagine in mental images what this would be like, and scoff at the suggestion that such an experience is any different, no doubt aided by the "hallucinatory" effects of the drug. As someone who has "been there", I can assure you the experience is utterly unlike anything you can imagine while sober. Could this be "cellular memory" recapitulating our evolutionary phylogeny?

Furthermore, others have similar tales about being objects like a table. Even more interesting are those who have experienced what it is like to be an atom.

Delusion? Perhaps. But getting back to the title of this post, I have had powerful experiences where the very nature of reality itself was impressed upon me, but I didn't have the mental horsepower to properly decode it. As a relatively simple person, I can only tell you that I was flooded with impressions about the nature of light, the speed of light and its upper boundary, and how much of that was of Prime Importance. Notions of asymptotes also spun around my brain. One time I found myself staring at a point source, and winding out of that point were four animals. I later learned that what I was observing were the 4 Fundamental Forces, (weak, strong, EM, and Gravity), even though I had no conscious knowledge of such! I suspect my brain was anthropomorphizing my perception through primitive symbols.

All of this is to say that there is something there. I recall WISHING I was smarter in order to make sense of it all, but barring that, wishing that smarter folks than I could go through the experience to draw something authoritative from it. I recall thinking, "if only serious physicists could look at this..."

Since I have now had the pleasure of reading Kolker's exceptional comprehension of such things, I can't help but remember my previous sentiments, and now wish for someone as buttoned-down and straight-laced as he to undergo the experience. Wishful thinking? Probably.

Nevertheless, rumor has it that Feynman was someone who partook of such chemicals.

And here is an article which shows that Francis Crick's discovery of the helical nature of DNA was born out of his experience with LSD.

An interesting YouTube video:

Help us Bobi Ba'al Kenobi, you're our only hope

Help us Bobi Ba'al Kenobi, you're our only hope

Help us Bobi Ba'al Kenobi, you're our only hope...

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

The has to be the funniest headline ever posted on OL.

LOL...

Michael

[jts]

This is your brain on acid.

[Serapis Bey]

This is your brain on acid.

Do you have any actual knowledge of the subject, or do you simply regurgitate knee-jerk spasms of fear when faced with anything you are unfamiliar with?

LSD is NOT physically harmful. Myths about it causing "chromosome damage" were simply hype, and have been proven wrong.

There are contraindications for people who are succeptable to schizophrenia or who suffer from bipolar disease, however.

LSD is derived from ergot. A natural substance.

Educate yourself, and stop spreading disinformation.

[KacyRay]

Man, those were the days...

I second everything SB says in the OP (and in comment #4 - although I cannot watch the streaming video I can only speculate it was the typical misinformative "Drugs R bayudd, mmkay???" propaganda you see in typical high school SADD meetings.)

Except... I don't really know who Robert Kolker is... just yet. But I will.

[syrakusos]

KacyRay, Robert Kolker is Ba'al Chatzaf. A retired physicist, he recently argued with retired physicist

Dennis L. May on whether the universe is infinite in time or eternal in space or both or neither.

See here:

We must continue to go into space for humanity

http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=131805

[BaalChatzaf]

I will not voluntarily consume any substance that interferes with my high cognitive and rational functioning.

Not in a million years and not for any amount of money, be it fiat or bullion.

The only organ I cherish like my life is my brain.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[BaalChatzaf]

KacyRay, Robert Kolker is Ba'al Chatzaf. A retired physicist, he recently argued with retired physicist

Dennis L. May on whether the universe is infinite in time or eternal in space or both or neither.

See here:

We must continue to go into space for humanity

http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=131805

A retired mathematician and algorithmer ( software maven). Physics is a hobby for me, not a profession or occupation. My relation to physics is analogous to the relation of being a trail watcher to the lawyers. In some courts geezers attend jury selection and trials which are open to the public. They generally have no professional education or training in law but the sharper geezers develop some handy dandy empirical rules to determine who gets picked for a jury and who is dismissed. Some of them are so good that lawyers actually hire them to given them an educated guess as to which of their juror choices is likely to be challenged by the opposition.

I can read papers in physics because of my mathematical training, but I have not nor will I ever get the kind of intuition that a really good physicist needs. I can critique an experiment but I do not have the talent to design an intricate experiment. I can spot mathematical errors or weaknesses in a physics paper but I cannot write a good original paper myself. I am handy to have around for error checking and that is about it.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Serapis Bey]

I will not voluntarily consume any substance that interferes with my high cognitive and rational functioning.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Not even coffee?

Come on, maaann. Don't be a square. Don't you want to be part of the Cool Crowd? Feynman did it!

http://www.famousscientists.org/14-famous-scientists-inventors-who-experimented-with-drugs/

Oh well. Guess I'll have to dump my stash on Dennis then.

[Serapis Bey]

I can read papers in physics because of my mathematical training, but I have not nor will I ever get the kind of intuition that a really good physicist needs.

*ahem*

[caroljane]

I will not voluntarily consume any substance that interferes with my high cognitive and rational functioning.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Not even coffee?

Come on, maaann. Don't be a square. Don't you want to be part of the Cool Crowd? Feynman did it!

http://www.famousscientists.org/14-famous-scientists-inventors-who-experimented-with-drugs/

Oh well. Guess I'll have to dump my stash on Dennis then.

Don't listen to him, Dennis! Unless all your ancestors were rock-solid sane and you have never been depressed in your life.

Oddly the rejection Baal derives from rational judgement, I made purely through instinct. I was offered psychedelics at around 18, when they were believed to be harmless, a least as far as I knew. I just felt terrified and refused them. I knew my mind was nothing special (you learn that your first year at university) but I also knew I did not want to perceive or imagine more stuff than it was already capable of.

Years later I had my first episode of severe clinical depression (which I did not realize at the time or seek any treatment for...it was not known about then, again as far as I knew). Years after that it recurred. Once I had a psychotic episode complete with delusions. Of course by this time I had a name on it (my husband hauled me to the doctor when I fell apart during the happiest period of my life).

If I had not followed my instinctive fear reaction at 18, I might not even have lived to marry, let alone to be 113.

[syrakusos]

I can read papers in physics because of my mathematical training, but I have not nor will I ever get the kind of intuition that a really good physicist needs. I can critique an experiment but I do not have the talent to design an intricate experiment. I can spot mathematical errors or weaknesses in a physics paper but I cannot write a good original paper myself. I am handy to have around for error checking and that is about it.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Yeah, I can relate to that. I mean, we teach relativity and quantum or heck, billiard balls and light bulbs, to millions of kids each year and have done so for almost 100 years. But a million smart kids cannot be boiled down and distilled into one genius. Myself, I never had a problem criticizing the works of others, but I really received encouragement from one of my criminology professors. In a research methods class, we had to critique two journal papers a week. After the first class, I went to his office and asked him if it was reasonable to expect undergraduates to pass judgment on peer-reviewed papers. He replied, "It is not so hard." He said that finding arithmetic mistakes in unfortunately common.

As a technical writer, I get my head around all kinds of things I never could have invented.

[Brant Gaede]

Fire! The wheel! I coulda done it!

--Brant

just give a match, will ya?

[caroljane]

Fire! The wheel! I coulda done it!

--Brant

just give a match, will ya?

lol ...take a bow and borrow my lighter

[Serapis Bey]

Don't listen to him, Dennis!

Don't listen to her, Dennis!

First time's free. ;)

Anyway, in my disappointment over Bob's response, I have to say this is the image I have of the good Mr. Kolker in my mind:

[caroljane]

Get thee behind us Serapis!

That is just how I see Baal too.

[caroljane]

I vote he make it his avatar. I would love to see that face everyday.

[9thdoctor]

Oh well. Guess I'll have to dump my stash on Dennis then.

Which one, me? Yeah right. Just so no OLers get the wrong idea, Serapis is chronically stash-less. He's all grasshopper, no ant ethic; no planning beyond the range of the moment. And then there's the curse he lives under, but I'm going to leave the details of that well-founded superstition dark.

Anyone heard of Silk Road? Any experiences to share?

http://reason.com/blog/2013/04/29/vice-interviews-silk-road-black-market-d

[Serapis Bey]

Oh well. Guess I'll have to dump my stash on Dennis then.

Which one, me? Yeah right. Just so no OLers get the wrong idea, Serapis is chronically stash-less. He's all grasshopper, no ant ethic; no planning beyond the range of the moment. And then there's the curse he lives under, but I'm going to leave the details of that well-founded superstition dark.

Anyone heard of Silk Road? Any experiences to share?

http://reason.com/blog/2013/04/29/vice-interviews-silk-road-black-market-d

I've heard mixed things. Apparently many people have had no problem, but some of my more paranoid druggie/hacker friends think the encryption can be be broken at certain server points.

Why don't you give it a whirl and let me know how it goes?

[Serapis Bey]

In a surprising example of synchronicity (or just the Higher Powers looking in on our conversation here) Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD, died yesterday at 102. No relation to Daunce, sources confirmed.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/lsd-inventor-al/

[KacyRay]

Moment of silence....

[Serapis Bey]

Moment of silence....

Yes, he deserves one.

I wasn't aware until today that the image I posted in the OP was done by Alex Grey. Facepalm. I shoulda known. Now there's a guy who owes his career to Hofmann. He's holding a memorial service at his "Sacred Mirrors" gallery in a few days.

Let us not despair. As all the old acidheads said when Leary passed: "[Hofmann]'s not dead. He's just on the outside looking in."

If you've had the experience, you know how there's a certain truth to that statement.

[9thdoctor]

In a surprising example of synchronicity (or just the Higher Powers looking in on our conversation here) Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD, died yesterday at 102.

Dude, he died 5 years ago. And I could swear we talked about it at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann

[Serapis Bey]

In a surprising example of synchronicity (or just the Higher Powers looking in on our conversation here) Albert Hoffman, the discoverer of LSD, died yesterday at 102.

Dude, he died 5 years ago. And I could swear we talked about it at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann

D'oh! I've got egg on my face

I'm going to have a word with the individual on my Facebook who posted that Wired article.

*scuttles away*

[KacyRay]

Hah!

Well.... interestingly enough, loss of accurate time perception is one of the features of an acid trip.

Maybe if you take enough, it will become 2008 again.