<story><title>Brains on Drugs: How tinkering with consciousness became a societal sin</title><url>https://thebaffler.com/latest/brains-on-drugs-semley</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>elvis10ten</author><text>What is the value prop? I usually ask my friends who have tried various drugs about their experiences &amp;#x2F; how they felt.&lt;p&gt;I find out for most things I’m able to do them without drugs: introspection, joy, shamelessness, behavioral changes, appreciative for small things, etc.&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I just “randomly” texted some of my friends that “I loved them” (they thought I was high). Similarly, when I’m in a club I can dance for 5 hours straight —- almost as if nobody was there. I feel (light) depression sometimes but appreciate that it’s a part of life. Etc.&lt;p&gt;Maybe the thing I’m missing is an out of body experience or completely “losing control”? But what is the value prop for me is something I can’t answer yet.</text></item><item><author>dmje</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve always personally been of the opinion that people who don&amp;#x27;t entertain any thoughts of poking their consciousness in some way are missing the point of life. If you don&amp;#x27;t ask &amp;quot;why am I here&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;what&amp;#x27;s this all about&amp;quot; then things get pretty bland pretty quickly. And as soon as you do ask these questions then techniques to properly get into the exploration pretty soon lead you to techniques to expand horizons - therapy, meditation - and yeh, drugs.&lt;p&gt;Dependency (on anything) is clearly bad but a gentle dabble in order to explore our world, our brains and the relationship between them seems to me to be necessary, healthy and ...well, fun.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>drblast</author><text>The value prop is the dissolution of your own ego.&lt;p&gt;We experience reality filtered through our senses and our own concept of &amp;quot;self,&amp;quot; which is an incredibly limited view of the world. Imagine being able to see&amp;#x2F;experience a less filtered version of reality, if only for a short period of time.&lt;p&gt;Or imagine expanding the frequencies of visible light you can see. That alone could certainly be a catalyst to change your perspective on many things.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not so much &amp;quot;losing control&amp;quot; as it is &amp;quot;losing unconscious bias.&amp;quot; Loss of control is not the goal.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s also one of those things that you have to experience to understand, and even then, sober you won&amp;#x27;t completely understand.&lt;p&gt;But done right, these experiences can be incredibly important to people. If it&amp;#x27;s not for you, fine, but it&amp;#x27;s funny how many people with zero experience with these substances think there can&amp;#x27;t be anything worthwhile there.</text></comment>
<story><title>Brains on Drugs: How tinkering with consciousness became a societal sin</title><url>https://thebaffler.com/latest/brains-on-drugs-semley</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>elvis10ten</author><text>What is the value prop? I usually ask my friends who have tried various drugs about their experiences &amp;#x2F; how they felt.&lt;p&gt;I find out for most things I’m able to do them without drugs: introspection, joy, shamelessness, behavioral changes, appreciative for small things, etc.&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, I just “randomly” texted some of my friends that “I loved them” (they thought I was high). Similarly, when I’m in a club I can dance for 5 hours straight —- almost as if nobody was there. I feel (light) depression sometimes but appreciate that it’s a part of life. Etc.&lt;p&gt;Maybe the thing I’m missing is an out of body experience or completely “losing control”? But what is the value prop for me is something I can’t answer yet.</text></item><item><author>dmje</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve always personally been of the opinion that people who don&amp;#x27;t entertain any thoughts of poking their consciousness in some way are missing the point of life. If you don&amp;#x27;t ask &amp;quot;why am I here&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;what&amp;#x27;s this all about&amp;quot; then things get pretty bland pretty quickly. And as soon as you do ask these questions then techniques to properly get into the exploration pretty soon lead you to techniques to expand horizons - therapy, meditation - and yeh, drugs.&lt;p&gt;Dependency (on anything) is clearly bad but a gentle dabble in order to explore our world, our brains and the relationship between them seems to me to be necessary, healthy and ...well, fun.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nlnn</author><text>I think for many, it&amp;#x27;s that they&amp;#x27;re not able to do those things you do without some form of help. I know many people with major social anxiety that (for better or worse) use alcohol (modest amounts, none are heavy drinkers) to get over that to dance and talk with people.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;ve expressed that the experience has lessened the fear for them, and they&amp;#x27;re better able to do those things (to a small extent at least) without drinking, but would never have been able to so without the initial nudge.&lt;p&gt;FWIW, I&amp;#x27;ve got a friend that sounds exactly like you - he&amp;#x27;s pretty much always sober, but is super outgoing, dances all the time, and talks to anyone enthusiastically. He&amp;#x27;s sometimes been asked to leave clubs we&amp;#x27;ve been at as bouncers assumed he was high on something, and been refused alcohol as bar staff thought he&amp;#x27;d had too much already.</text></comment>