LSD AND PHILOSOPHY

[reasonemotion]

"Talking to a friend the other day about computers, he was telling me the story of how the person / people who developed the silicon chip (IBM 'thinktanks' maybe?) were using LSD as their main way of figuring out just how to do this. I think the main development was part of the 'space race' so this mid-late 60's does fit with a massive amount of worldwide LSD use by intillectuals."

Recently watched latest Mad Men Season 5, Episode 6, subject was LSD. I thought Weiner the creator of MM, made light of the effects LSD can have on people. While researching this, I came upon the above and wondered if in the 1960s LSD was as widely and commonly used, not for recreational purposes (for want of a better word) but for the purpose of invention as stated above.

[SpheresOfBalance]

"Talking to a friend the other day about computers, he was telling me the story of how the person / people who developed the silicon chip (IBM 'thinktanks' maybe?) were using LSD as their main way of figuring out just how to do this. I think the main development was part of the 'space race' so this mid-late 60's does fit with a massive amount of worldwide LSD use by intillectuals."

Recently watched latest Mad Men Season 5, Episode 6, subject was LSD. I thought Weiner the creator of MM, made light of the effects LSD can have on people. While researching this, I came upon the above and wondered if in the 1960s LSD was as widely and commonly used, not for recreational purposes (for want of a better word) but for the purpose of invention as stated above.

Well the 60's was the time to do it, for all those people that chose a clandestine source, as the last 'good' basement chemist in the US was Tim Skully, who made Orange Sunshine, but he got busted in 1968. Since then, you don't know what you're getting. But back in the day the rich managed to get a hold of pharmaceutical grade LSD-25. To be honest though, I don't know how viable using LSD would be for development of any product, because according to Timothy Leary, ideally one should only do it once a year, at the very most, once every six months. That would severely lengthen one's development time.

--"Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc. said, "Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life.""
--"In a 2004 interview, Paul McCartney said that The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" are about LSD. John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr also experimented with the drug, although McCartney cautioned that "it's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the Beatles' music.""
--"Kary Mullis is reported to credit LSD with helping him develop DNA amplification technology."
--"Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World became a user of psychedelics after moving to Hollywood, CA. He was at the forefront of the counterculture's experimentation with psychedelic drugs, which led to his 1954 work The Doors of Perception. Dying of cancer, on November 22, 1963, he asked his wife to inject him with 100 µg of LSD. He died from the cancer later that day."
--"Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970. In 1984, he stated that he had been under the influence of LSD during the game."
--Wikipedia--

[chaz wyman]

"Talking to a friend the other day about computers, he was telling me the story of how the person / people who developed the silicon chip (IBM 'thinktanks' maybe?) were using LSD as their main way of figuring out just how to do this. I think the main development was part of the 'space race' so this mid-late 60's does fit with a massive amount of worldwide LSD use by intillectuals."

Recently watched latest Mad Men Season 5, Episode 6, subject was LSD. I thought Weiner the creator of MM, made light of the effects LSD can have on people. While researching this, I came upon the above and wondered if in the 1960s LSD was as widely and commonly used, not for recreational purposes (for want of a better word) but for the purpose of invention as stated above.

The story is bogus.
You can't invent anything using LSD. Some drugs like cannabis are claimed to enhance music playing. From my experience it ruins rhythm and so playing drums is shit. But you know this when you play back - and you realise it only makes you THINK the music is better.
LSD, especially in the large doses taken in the 60s tends to make you incapable of any organised activity requiring a process or co-operation.

I will say that in general the social and personal step you take when you decide to flaunt convention (and the law) and take responsibility of your own body out of the hands of the state and into your own hands, as well as the expansion of mental horizons that drugs provides can make you a much better and self-defining person (as long as you are not the addictive type), is to be recommended and can provide your creative juices more latitude when you are straight - or straighter.
So drugs can be good; they definitely can give you a wider perspective on life.

[The Voice of Time]

I think it got more to do with releasing certain parts that are repressed perhaps or otherwise stored away or hindered.

Alcohol, you all now, has a tendency to make people "creative", or at least, not smart enough to understand that something is stupid. And I would think it to be the same with most other drugs also: they just make you think a different way, and depending on the situation that may be a bloody good way, but for most people I would think it just makes you bloody stupid or disillusioned.

If you already ARE really smart though, alcohol has a tendency at liberating your brain and freeing a lot of brain capacity. Whether or not you can control this freed capacity is another thing. But I don't find it improbable that you can discipline your mind to work properly while intoxicated, and somehow find a way of using the freed capacity systematically, or at least more accurately than screaming out into the night of drunkenness.

[SpheresOfBalance]

Don't be confused, there is a difference between drug types.
Depressants slow you down, i.e., alcohol, barbiturates, narcotics, etc.
Stimulates, speed you up, i.e., caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, etc.
Hallucinogens, (my favorite), open the doors of perception, i.e., marijuana, peyote, psilocybe, and LSD-25 (ergot), etc.
Notice that the Hallucinogen category are all natural organic plants, with the exception of LSD-25 which was the 25th level of isolation of the hallucinatory compounds found in ergot.

Personally, while I've tried many drugs as an experiment, so as to know the truth of them, I've never taken anything intravenously, only both orally and via inhalation have I taken drugs, and I've found that some make you crazy, such that I left them alone. The first in the list of Hallucinogens above has been my staple, because I have a philosophy about "ALL" drugs, whether legal or otherwise, which is: "Always use the drug, never allow the drug to use you." Which is why I quit smoking cigarettes over 20 years ago, they were my only addiction!

Edit: quite to quit

[chaz wyman]

I think it got more to do with releasing certain parts that are repressed perhaps or otherwise stored away or hindered.

Alcohol, you all now, has a tendency to make people "creative", or at least, not smart enough to understand that something is stupid. And I would think it to be the same with most other drugs also: they just make you think a different way, and depending on the situation that may be a bloody good way, but for most people I would think it just makes you bloody stupid or disillusioned.

If you already ARE really smart though, alcohol has a tendency at liberating your brain and freeing a lot of brain capacity. Whether or not you can control this freed capacity is another thing. But I don't find it improbable that you can discipline your mind to work properly while intoxicated, and somehow find a way of using the freed capacity systematically, or at least more accurately than screaming out into the night of drunkenness.

Of all the drugs I have tried and abandoned, alcohol was the only one that meant I could still continue playing the drums.
One good pint of beer to loosed up the muscles and I was off!!
You are right about drugs releasing repression, but so often excessive amounts do more harm than good.

[SpheresOfBalance]

I'm reminded of a funny little song by Taj Mahal titled "Nobody's Business But My Own"
Here's the chorus:

"Champagne don't drive me crazy
Cocaine don't make me lazy
Ain't nobody's business but my own
Candy is dandy and liquor is quicker
You can drink all the liquor down in Costa Rica
Ain't nobody's business but my own"

And while I agree with the business issue I really don't see the cocaine issue at all, and believe it should be swapped with Champagne, but then that line would be a lie as well.

All I can say, is to remember my Philosophy on "all" drugs, as that shall keep you well.

[The Voice of Time]

All I can say, is to remember my Philosophy on "all" drugs, as that shall keep you well.

Important point of experience the one of Chaz. Good philosophy that of SoB. But I reckon it's not an easy task really either, and very person-dependant. A philosophy doesn't help if you are a disorderly person by nature, for instance, or you just don't have the qualities while drunk.

[chaz wyman]

All I can say, is to remember my Philosophy on "all" drugs, as that shall keep you well.

Important point of experience the one of Chaz. Good philosophy that of SoB. But I reckon it's not an easy task really either, and very person-dependant. A philosophy doesn't help if you are a disorderly person by nature, for instance, or you just don't have the qualities while drunk.

True.
Using drugs effectively and safely is all about knowing thyself. It's about control and moderation.
Luckily I am not the addictive type; I even managed to quit tobacco - a drug that is by far more addictive than anything else I have tried.
Some people can't even behave on alcohol - for them I'd advice them to go with cannabis to chill them. But some folks don't do well on any drugs.

[SpheresOfBalance]

All I can say, is to remember my Philosophy on "all" drugs, as that shall keep you well.

Important point of experience the one of Chaz. Good philosophy that of SoB. But I reckon it's not an easy task really either, and very person-dependant. A philosophy doesn't help if you are a disorderly person by nature, for instance, or you just don't have the qualities while drunk.

My philosophy, or I guess, more appropriately, axiom, as I've already said: "Always use the drug, never allow the drug to use you," IMHO, says it all. I mean who wants to be the tool of a chemical, or the pusher of that chemical, for that matter? I believe that if you enter into drug use, and I mean 'all' drugs, whether prescribed or not, with the idea that you must always control it and not allow it to control you (addiction), and you constantly monitor yourself and even go so far as to ask your loved ones and closest friends to supply you with honest report, there should be no problems. But I guess you're right, as with drugs I've always been self disciplined, but not with some other things, so I guess I'm fortunate that I took drug use seriously, of course I believe everyone should take seriously, that which may have potential, to cause your death.

[chaz wyman]

All I can say, is to remember my Philosophy on "all" drugs, as that shall keep you well.

Important point of experience the one of Chaz. Good philosophy that of SoB. But I reckon it's not an easy task really either, and very person-dependant. A philosophy doesn't help if you are a disorderly person by nature, for instance, or you just don't have the qualities while drunk.

My philosophy, or I guess, more appropriately, axiom, as I've already said: "Always use the drug, never allow the drug to use you," IMHO, says it all.

Pretty much the advice I'd give to teenagers who had made the decision to try drugs when I was a teacher.
"If you are going to do drugs, don't let the drugs do you."

.

[Knut]

Don't be confused, there is a difference between drug types.
Depressants slow you down, i.e., alcohol, barbiturates, narcotics, etc.
Stimulates, speed you up, i.e., caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, etc.
Hallucinogens, (my favorite), open the doors of perception, i.e., marijuana, peyote, psilocybe, and LSD-25 (ergot), etc.
Notice that the Hallucinogen category are all natural organic plants, with the exception of LSD-25 which was the 25th level of isolation of the hallucinatory compounds found in ergot.

Personally, while I've tried many drugs as an experiment, so as to know the truth of them, I've never taken anything intravenously, only both orally and via inhalation have I taken drugs, and I've found that some make you crazy, such that I left them alone. The first in the list of Hallucinogens above has been my staple, because I have a philosophy about "ALL" drugs, whether legal or otherwise, which is: "Always use the drug, never allow the drug to use you." Which is why I quit smoking cigarettes over 20 years ago, they were my only addiction!

Edit: quite to quit

can anyone explain how drugs enhance spiritual experience?

[reasonemotion]

A friend of mine was found dead in his apartment two weeks ago. He was a habitual user of cocaine. Always in control, had his own successful business, apartment, three Jaguar car. He was dead two days before he was found. I went to his funeral last week. He had taken almost twice the amount thought to be safe. It is obvious cocaine won the deal that day. RIP Chris.

[chaz wyman]

A friend of mine was found dead in his apartment two weeks ago. He was a habitual user of cocaine. Always in control, had his own successful business, apartment, three Jaguar car. He was dead two days before he was found. I went to his funeral last week. He had taken almost twice the amount thought to be safe. It is obvious cocaine won the deal that day. RIP Chris.

From your description he sounds like a cliche coke addict.
Coke is second only to tobacco for addictiveness.

[reasonemotion]

I have no experience with drugs, except of course when prescribed antibiotics.
I read about the Marsh Chapel Experiment and would appreciate your opinions, if you feel so inclined.

The Marsh Chapel Experiment

The Marsh Chapel Experiment (a.k.a. "the Good Friday Experiment") was run by Walter N. Pahnke, a graduate student in theology at Harvard Divinity School, under the supervision of Timothy Leary and the Harvard Psilocybin Project. The goal was to see if in religiously predisposed subjects, psilocybin (the active principle in psilocybin mushrooms) would act as a reliable entheogen.