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Silicon Valley Avant-garde Have Turned To LSD in a Bid To Increase Their Productivity (1843magazine.com)
Every three days Nathan (not his real name), a 27-year-old venture capitalist in San Francisco, ingests 15 micrograms of lysergic acid diethylamide (commonly known as LSD or acid). From a story on 1843 Magazine: From the start, a small but significant crossover existed between those who were experimenting with drugs and the burgeoning tech community in San Francisco. "There were a group of engineers who believed there was a causal connection between creativity and LSD," recalls John Markoff, whose 2005 book, "What the Dormouse Said", traces the development of the personal-computer industry through 1960s counterculture. At one research centre in Menlo Park over 350 people -- particularly scientists, engineers and architects -- took part in experiments with psychedelics to see how the drugs affected their work. Tim Scully, a mathematician who, with the chemist Nick Sand, produced 3.6m tabs of LSD in the 1960s, worked at a computer company after being released from his ten-year prison sentence for supplying drugs. "Working in tech, it was more of a plus than a minus that I worked with LSD," he says. No one would turn up to work stoned or high but "people in technology, a lot of them, understood that psychedelics are an extremely good way of teaching you how to think outside the box." San Francisco appears to be at the epicentre of the new trend, just as it was during the original craze five decades ago. Tim Ferriss, an angel investor and author, claimed in 2015 in an interview with CNN that "the billionaires I know, almost without exception, use hallucinogens on a regular basis." Few billionaires are as open about their usage as Ferriss suggests. Steve Jobs was an exception: he spoke frequently about how "taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life." In Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography, the Apple CEO is quoted as joking that Microsoft would be a more original company if Bill Gates, its founder, had experienced psychedelics. As Silicon Valley is a place full of people whose most fervent desire is to be Steve Jobs, individuals are gradually opening up about their usage -- or talking about trying LSD for the first time.
Maybe he was, in 1960.
You think that cities/towns so boring that tipping cows is a pastime don't have acid and everything else available?
At to the main point, no. Acid doesn't give you 'profound' thoughts. It lowers the standard for 'profound' until stupid ideas seem profound to you. Write your profound insights down, so you won't forget, read them when you're sober. You'll just shake your head.
The 'Book of the Subgenius' says it best: People get no insight into the universe on LSD, they are just 'Drunk as a lord'. Fooling themselves into thinking it makes them 'more creative'. Fact remains, most 'creatives' aren't. Being creative is not wearing a 'cat in the hat' hat, that's what passes for creative in grateful dead parking lots.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
If you need them, you are doing something wrong somewhere.
Nobody needs LSD. But, some people believe that their quality of life improves with occasional use. Use of LSD can absolutely be a spiritual experience. Who are you to decide that what people are doing is right/wrong?
If you are claiming they are "okay" or "needed" for "work", you are a disgusting person.
Tell us what you really think! We're all dying for your approval.
Disclaimer: I haven't dropped acid in over 15 years.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Didn't mass adoption of caffeine help spur on the Age of Enlightenment.
At to the main point, no. Acid doesn't give you 'profound' thoughts. It lowers the standard for 'profound' until stupid ideas seem profound to you. Write your profound insights down, so you won't forget, read them when you're sober. You'll just shake your head.
Can confirm. Experienced transcendental levels of profundity after hours of in-depth conversation. A group of us were convinced that we had obtained some new level of understanding which we had all managed to forget somehow.
A portable cassette recorder was obtained for the next session, and a recording made.
Upon playback, 4 fools were heard laughing and talking over each other saying "Yes! That's it! It *all* makes sense." Absolutely nothing profound was discovered.
While they're on it, agreed, most people are somewhere between pretty silly and slightly incoherent. However, in the days and week after, I think there can be some genuine carry-over effects on mindset and creativity levels. That same kind of carryover could also probably be accomplished by a long vacation, a creative bootcamp, a vision quest, an intense religious experience, and a bunch of other things, but this is one of many ways to shake things up and search for other perspectives. I'd like to see some studies before claiming with confidence it's a sure thing, or to what extent it's effective, but it's at least mildly plausible that there's some potential benefit.
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay