How and Why Silicon Valley Gets High

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/opinion/elon-musk-burning-man-drugs-lsd.html

by allenleein • 8 years ago

45 48 8 years ago

mrarjen2• 8 years ago

This is a rather flat article that doesn't go into the whole thing properly. And it has a rather anti drugs hint to it, if anyone wants to know some more about drugs from users/expert, who have a normal constructive conversation, i'd recommend this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM8WDZIhs3M

rwnspace• 8 years ago

Agreed, I was hoping for something a bit more substantive. The following podcast episode with Cole Marta is what turned me on to learning more about research into Ketamine and MDMA.

http://www.duncantrussell.com/episodes/2016/9/14/dr-cole-mar...

mrarjen2• 8 years ago

Thanks for sharing, I'll look into this one as well. And researching these drugs is rather interesting, there has only been very limited papers due to bans on active substances.

Also channels like: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRQKXtIGcK1yEnQ4Te8hWQ are interesting to see people take these substances, but still everyone can have different effects from the same thing.

mirimir2• 8 years ago

This is a totally ridiculous article.

That is why everyone he knows microdoses, saving the longer-acting drugs like Ecstasy for the rare occasions when they want to party and relax.

I presume that "microdoses" means LSD, but who knows. MDMA is not per se longer-acting than LSD or Psilocybe spp.

TheCoelacanth• 8 years ago

Doesn't LSD last like 2x as long as MDMA?

mirimir2• 8 years ago

They're so different that's it's very hard to say. The LSD peak lasts 2-6 hours, depending on the dose. Effects trail off gradually after that. Marijuana intensifies them dramatically, however, and produces something like a secondary peak. And short-term memory gets totally nuked, which can be very frightening. So I don't recommend that, unless you have an experienced friend around.

Anyway, I've never stayed awake long enough (without redosing or taking some other drug) to tell when LSD effects become imperceptible. Effects are pretty much gone after 6-8 hours sleep. But the next day, or even the next week or two, you can clearly feel some effect. There's also transient tolerance.

I don't have much experience with MDMA. I was never very impressed with the visuals. I liked the body vibes, albeit too much like amphetamines. It's great for dancing and intimate sex, as everyone knows. And yes, the effects don't last for more than several hours, unless you take a lot and/or redose.

bfuller6• 8 years ago

the peak of MDMA is more like 1.5 hrs. A good lsd dose will have you peaking for 6 hours.

tootahe45• 8 years ago

Must be make sh*t up day.

fmajid• 8 years ago

I've never done drugs or even tobacco, but Steve Jobs claimed dropping acid changes your perspective on reality and was a big factor in his success. That gives me pause.

GGfpc• 8 years ago

It can also trigger undiagnosed mental conditions like schizophrenia.

m_fayer• 8 years ago

I would think it's self-evident that chemically (forcibly) modifying your perspective and the timbre of your subjective/emotional experience, a change that without chemical assistance would be slow, difficult to achieve, and often impossible, would not be entirely safe. But, safety isn't everything.

jdavis7032• 8 years ago

And speaking from personal experience, so can stressful activities like child birth. The human mind is complex, the best we can hope for is better educating people about mental health.

acct17713• 8 years ago

Sounds like a diagnosis to me.

hycaria• 8 years ago

Acid felt like a circle jerk with myself to be quite honest.

acct17713• 8 years ago

Coincidentally, that sounds exactly like the drug Steve Jobs would enjoy!

saiya-jin2• 8 years ago

It's extremely powerful experience, you simply can't get anything similar in any other way. Your whole concept of reality will be blown away, even physical aspects of your existence disappear (like your body and most senses we take for granted). hard to describe with mere words.

Will you realize some hidden truth about the nature of the universe? Most probably not. Will it teach you something about yourself and your mind? Most definitely yes.

Can this change you forever? Of course it can, and many it will. Can this trigger any dormant mental disease? Absolutely. Any profoundly shocking experience can, even binge drinking - met one person who ended up on lifelong schizophrenia treatment because of alcohol.

kaffeemitsahne• 8 years ago

Can this trigger any dormant mental disease?

This always seems like such a strange rhetoric to me. If a drug "triggers" a "dormant disease" that you wouldn't have gotten if you hadn't taken the drug, why not just say the drug caused the disease?

quackerhacker2• 8 years ago

As a coder, the only real drug I’ve ever really needed has been caffeine. This didn’t start until recently so I’m not sure if I can attribute it to age (early 30’s). My real dependence on caffeine is mainly due to staying up too late the night before (like right now, about 0200 here) and needing to get up and function with 5hrs of sleep and maintain my mental acuity for the workload I have.

To give you an idea of my caffeine intake...about 2 venti black coffees and an 8oz Red Bull.

zaarn5• 8 years ago

You can replace the Red Bull with another black coffee and a glass of orange juice, the effective contents are the same.

I also absolutely do recommend to drink an acidic juice in the morning before any coffee, it brightens up the day significantly.

mercer2• 8 years ago

I also absolutely do recommend to drink an acidic juice in the morning before any coffee, it brightens up the day significantly.

Could you elaborate on that?

jdavis7032• 8 years ago

If I'm working from home all I need is caffeine. But regularly working out of a large open-office floor plan I need help keeping focused and keeping my anxiety down, neither of which caffeine is particularly good for.

wmeredith• 8 years ago

You may know this, but you're kidding yourself if you think your mental acuity is anything near optimal on 5 hrs of sleep. I don't care what you're drinking.

quackerhacker2• 8 years ago

It takes about an hour before I can start churning clean code and start any code reviews, so I think I’m ok. Really, it’s the 3 in the afternoon feeling that is the drain for me. Alertness fades and I can’t even listen to music without an occasional syntax error.

bfuller6• 8 years ago

You're kidding yourself if you think every human has the same sleep needs. For me 5 to 7 hours is optimal, 8 hours or more leaves me sluggish for the day.

dhnsmakala• 8 years ago

Not that many people take drugs in Silicon Valley...at least not most devs I know.

Simulacra• 8 years ago

I use to take adderall until I discovered its a false prophet and hurts way more than it helps. Marijuana would help calm my brain after a busy day of coding, but as I get older I'm looking for more ways to do better without the drugs.

stinos4• 8 years ago

No one does a stupid tweet on weed like they might on alcohol,” he said. “The most that happens is that you get lazy and eat badly.”

Is just one sentence illustrating the general lack of depth in this article. Already starting with the reporter, seemingly never having tried any of the mentioned drugs, rejecting the possible effects they could have on beforehand and without first-hand experience. Erm, is this reporting?

Also, just cherry-picking here as other commenters are already pointing out other mistakes, but with respect to weed: saying the most that happens is 'get lazy and eat badly' is so extremely misguided I can hardly believe anyone says that. The most that happens to me is close to a full trip on mushrooms for instance, thoughts going everywhere, creativity all over the place, extremely detailed self-reflection, sometimes profound dissociation, including visual and auditory hallucinations. Granted that depends on dosage, circumstances, tolerance, way of administration, but it does show that the 'just weed' sentiment needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

zone411• 8 years ago

I believe the tech executive quoted meant it in the sense "the worst that happens."

stinos4• 8 years ago

Ah, that's certainly possible. But then one could still argue there's definitely worse experiences than just being lazy on weed though, depending on the definition of 'bad' in this case.

caboteria• 8 years ago

I agree that the piece is pretty vapid, but it's clearly labelled as an opinion piece so it's explicitly not reporting.

stinos4• 8 years ago

Fair point, but in the first sentence the writer uses the word reporter when referring to herself so I kinda missed the opinion thing.

shady-lady• 8 years ago

Just taking issue with the 'Erm, is this reporting' line. Most news things are reported through observation, not participation.

stinos4• 8 years ago

I'm aware, but in my opinion there could have been some more detailed observation/research leading to deeper insight than just Ecstasy will make me a nicer person (doubt it).

Dowwie• 8 years ago

Everyone isn't microdosing. You're not missing out. This article doesn't belong in the NYTimes.

acct17713• 8 years ago

Or, you weren't sure who the NYT were.

bfuller6• 8 years ago

Of course people microdosing are a minority. But that doesnt mean you are not missing out. LSD should be used as a last resort for people with treatment resistant adhd/depression, but it can be a total miracle drug. I wonder why you are so quick to bash a drug that is increasingly being shown to be effective.

Symmetry• 8 years ago

Gwern did a blind experiment with microdosing and didn't find any effects.

https://www.gwern.net/LSD-microdosing

someguy101010• 8 years ago

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01965761

Roland Fischer did an experiment in the 70s and found that students on lsd were able to identify parallel lines more accurately.

Iirc in gwerns experiment he dosed every day, and lsd tolerance builds pretty fast.

How and Why Silicon Valley Gets High

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