Psychedelics, mushrooms in particular, are essential tools for any wise programmer. Very very powerful, only to be consulted on rare occasions, but immensely valuable in solving intractable problems.
We essentially owe our profession to psychedelic explorations by pioneers of software engineering. Companies who drug test developers are ignorant of this history, and are the enemies of the digital revolution.
Brilliant, beautiful languages and programs came from these pioneers, and it's likely because of their rich neural networks, enhanced by psychedelics as seen in the Wired article. The ability to connect humanistic art and feeling with symbolic systems and code requires a sophisticated neural network. Psychedelics help build the mental infrastructure for software development that actually benefits humans.
I would love to see any stats or info about the relative consumption of psychedelics- both kind and amount- among engineers at specific companies or types of software firms.
Had my first acid trip a few weeks ago at a friend's place. I had brought my netbook to do some work on the train.
Midway through the trip I thought, "Wait a minute! My eyes are so open now. I can see patterns and bigger pictures like never before in my life. If I try doing some programming right now my abilities will be godlike."
I opened up my netbook, fired up Vim and was immediately distracted by the blinking cursor going up and down.
I find sleep to work most of the time. But yeah, once I was so stressed out I was constantly breaking out into cold sweats and felt like I was gonna vomit. Went camping on a Saturday and took acid. Left feeling more refreshed than I have ever had in my life.
Suppose someone who knows your friend's dog asks if it's a very stupid idea to get LSD from one of the "darknet" markets. What would the owner of the dog's dog friend reply? Would his sister-in-law who may or may not exist know about any pointers on how to find a trustworthy source (to actually get the correct quality) on such a platform?
Sorry, any insights and perspective shifts brought on through tripping can be made just the same if you work on it through life experience instead of relying on a drug to enlighten you.
I say this as someone who has had many psychedelic experiences and programs.
The article's title is somewhat misleading, because it talks about how one of the main chemicals (psilocybin) temporarily creates or encourages connections between typically unconnected parts of the brain. The effect is temporary, and reverts when the drug wears off.
I tried psilocybin once and I had a great time. However, I strongly feel like it changed me. The problem is that I've never been someone that felt depressed. I'm a "the glass is half full" kind of guy.
Well, you hear all over how psilocybin can help people who are depressed. For me, it was quite the opposite. I woke up in the morning, and I couldn't even get out of the bed. Work felt like a chore. This lasted a few months, and it was horrible. The only thing that got me through it was the thought that this wasn't me. This was chemicals in my brain. I was a positive person, I could be again. I could be myself again.
Anyway, fast forward to now, I feel a lot better. My outlook on life really changed, and I'm sure people could say that I act differently. I don't regret trying it, nor do I regret the experience it made me live afterward. I could never understand depression. How could those people simply not get on with their lives and be happy? Well, I know now.
temporarily creates or encourages connections between typically unconnected parts of the brain
Does this imply that you could potentially practice connecting those "typically unconnected parts" (through meditation or other) such that this substance would have little or no effect on you neurologically?
Yes, but a seven course meal unlike anything you've ever had will give you a bit more of an experience than the dollar menu at a new fast food chain you've never been to.
Everything you experience, may (and I'm not saying it's a definite) be learning, but to assign equal weight to all experiences is obviously naive.
Interesting that while the brain is interconnected the way it's depicted in the article, people report having mystical experiences (eg see God), traveling vast distances through galaxies and strange worlds, see spirits of plants and objects, see themselves as a small insignificant part of the large organism that is Earth and at the same time, realise that they are immortal and that this life is one of an infinity of others and that they are God.
The larger the dose, the deeper the experience and I would speculate that the number of brain parts interconnected is even higher and the connecting lines even thiker.
Why is that ? What would happen if 100% of the brain would start exchanging information like this?
What if we could connect only the blue or green areas?
Psychedelics are the new unexplored frontier in science.
Imagine a technology (or drug) which allows selecting which networks in the brain to interconnect (temporarily). This could be used to design new mental abilities, train or enhance existing ones.
I'm really pleased that the taboo regarding these substances is slowly being lifted. I'm also happy that more and more people will take these substances and as a consequence will "expand their minds".
Ken Kesey wrote two of my favorite books "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1962) and "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1964), but basically produced nothing of much merit after that.
I'm convinced that his subsequent over-indulgence in psychedelics destroyed his ability to produce great literature.
One thing I consistently saw in people that tried these substances is that abusing them -- heavy, careless use -- can be very harmful. I would not recommend it. I saw a few people in my youth who kind of just "never came back."
They seem able to produce beneficial effects in moderation and if treated with respect. I suppose that's true of lots of other powerful technologies. Treat them with respect and they can work well, but abuse them and they'll harm you.
The late Bob Wallace (Microsoft) experimented with low dose psychedelics as aid to programming.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wallace
Undoubtedly there are more, but they keep understandably silent about it. Even more interesting would be (to me) programmers who would use meditative practices. Techniques - or better named attitudes - like mindfulness, self-awareness, the ability to take a step back to look at the bigger picture also aid in all areas of life. I was presently surprised to hear someone talk about mindfulness in relation to programming on a developer conference (Arrrrcamp):
http://beatimpostorsyndrome.net/actions.html
About other programmers, I think it's telling "Why the luck stiff" referred to John Lilly's metaprogramming of the mind in his famous kaleidoscopic Ruby guide page 107:
"You might be inclined to think that metaprogramming is another hacker word and was first overheard in private phone
calls between fax machines. Honest to God, I am here to tell you that it is stranger than that. Metaprogramming began with taking drugs in the company of dolphins."
"We learn. But first we learn to learn. We setup programming in our mind which is the pathway to further programming. (Lilly is largely talking about programming the brain and the nervous system, which he collectively called the biocomputer.)
Lilly’s metaprogramming was more about feeding yourself imagery, reinventing yourself, all that. This sort of thinking links directly to folks out there who dabble in shamanism, wave their hands over tarot cards and wake up early for karate class. I guess you could say metaprogramming is New Age, but it’s all settled down recently into a sleeping bag with plain old nerdiness. (If you got here from a Google search for “C++ Metaprogramming”, stick around, but I only ask that you burn those neural pathways that originally invoked the search. Many thanks.)"
For sure mushrooms and psylocybin are unsuitable for programming, but low doses of cocaine, acid or 2C-* might have their value. The best programmer however learns to meta-program and hack his mind without chemicals.
I've maintained a regular meditation practice 2 years sitting for ~30 mins a day. The benefits are most noticeable when dealing with other people and if I have an important meeting with a client I'll meditate shortly before, which undoubtably improves the outcome.
It helps reduce the influence of my ego over these interactions. This in turn lowers my clients' guard and reduces their egos as well. Less ego makes meetings less about politics and more about solving real problems.
More generally, meditation has helped me maintain focus on my work and made me less susceptible to distractions.
Don't forget about the risks of taking psilocybin. I myself had a psychosis triggered by them, no fun at all (believe me) and in many cases not reversible.
Jesus, when I read the comments it seems that most programmers are on drugs while coding. No wonder most of the code out there is so shitty. If you need drugs in order to be creative, that's pretty sad.
Have you ever taken psychedelics? Did you even read the article? You cannot judge things you are ignorant of.
Also, none of the programmers in the comments are high while coding. Some who have used psychedelics only told it gave them more insight in i.e. patterns and structures.
To me personally, psychedelics saved my life. One trip showed me exactly what to do to be happy again and ever since my life is going exactly how I want it. Before I was living the life other people expected me to live, without even being aware of that (like the majority of people).
Using drugs to escape might be sad, but using psychedelics to expand your mind is something I could recommend to almost anyone. There's a lot of wisdom hidden inside of us that is mostly supressed by the way we are nurtured, psychedelics make us connect to this again and teach us to be our real selves.
[+] [-] michaelvkpdx|11 years ago|reply
We essentially owe our profession to psychedelic explorations by pioneers of software engineering. Companies who drug test developers are ignorant of this history, and are the enemies of the digital revolution.
Brilliant, beautiful languages and programs came from these pioneers, and it's likely because of their rich neural networks, enhanced by psychedelics as seen in the Wired article. The ability to connect humanistic art and feeling with symbolic systems and code requires a sophisticated neural network. Psychedelics help build the mental infrastructure for software development that actually benefits humans.
I would love to see any stats or info about the relative consumption of psychedelics- both kind and amount- among engineers at specific companies or types of software firms.
[+] [-] andrey-p|11 years ago|reply
Midway through the trip I thought, "Wait a minute! My eyes are so open now. I can see patterns and bigger pictures like never before in my life. If I try doing some programming right now my abilities will be godlike."
I opened up my netbook, fired up Vim and was immediately distracted by the blinking cursor going up and down.
[+] [-] penprog|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] here_you_go|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ghuntley|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tesq|11 years ago|reply
I say this as someone who has had many psychedelic experiences and programs.
[+] [-] osconfused|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rhgraysonii|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] api|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hockeybias|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jeremysmyth|11 years ago|reply
This is not to be confused with earlier findings that are more permanent but are psychological rather than neurological in effect, such as those found at http://www.livescience.com/16287-mushrooms-alter-personality... and http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201110/p...
[+] [-] Raphmedia|11 years ago|reply
I tried psilocybin once and I had a great time. However, I strongly feel like it changed me. The problem is that I've never been someone that felt depressed. I'm a "the glass is half full" kind of guy.
Well, you hear all over how psilocybin can help people who are depressed. For me, it was quite the opposite. I woke up in the morning, and I couldn't even get out of the bed. Work felt like a chore. This lasted a few months, and it was horrible. The only thing that got me through it was the thought that this wasn't me. This was chemicals in my brain. I was a positive person, I could be again. I could be myself again.
Anyway, fast forward to now, I feel a lot better. My outlook on life really changed, and I'm sure people could say that I act differently. I don't regret trying it, nor do I regret the experience it made me live afterward. I could never understand depression. How could those people simply not get on with their lives and be happy? Well, I know now.
[+] [-] jpwagner|11 years ago|reply
Does this imply that you could potentially practice connecting those "typically unconnected parts" (through meditation or other) such that this substance would have little or no effect on you neurologically?
[+] [-] dang|11 years ago|reply
Ok, we changed the title to the first part of the photo caption.
[+] [-] murbard2|11 years ago|reply
That said, one should keep in mind that, technically, everything you experience changes your brain -- it's called learning.
[+] [-] codyb|11 years ago|reply
Everything you experience, may (and I'm not saying it's a definite) be learning, but to assign equal weight to all experiences is obviously naive.
[+] [-] codeshaman|11 years ago|reply
Why is that ? What would happen if 100% of the brain would start exchanging information like this? What if we could connect only the blue or green areas?
Psychedelics are the new unexplored frontier in science.
Imagine a technology (or drug) which allows selecting which networks in the brain to interconnect (temporarily). This could be used to design new mental abilities, train or enhance existing ones.
I'm really pleased that the taboo regarding these substances is slowly being lifted. I'm also happy that more and more people will take these substances and as a consequence will "expand their minds".
[+] [-] xefer|11 years ago|reply
Ken Kesey wrote two of my favorite books "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1962) and "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1964), but basically produced nothing of much merit after that.
I'm convinced that his subsequent over-indulgence in psychedelics destroyed his ability to produce great literature.
[+] [-] api|11 years ago|reply
They seem able to produce beneficial effects in moderation and if treated with respect. I suppose that's true of lots of other powerful technologies. Treat them with respect and they can work well, but abuse them and they'll harm you.
[+] [-] fiatmoney|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fsiefken|11 years ago|reply
About other programmers, I think it's telling "Why the luck stiff" referred to John Lilly's metaprogramming of the mind in his famous kaleidoscopic Ruby guide page 107:
"You might be inclined to think that metaprogramming is another hacker word and was first overheard in private phone calls between fax machines. Honest to God, I am here to tell you that it is stranger than that. Metaprogramming began with taking drugs in the company of dolphins."
"We learn. But first we learn to learn. We setup programming in our mind which is the pathway to further programming. (Lilly is largely talking about programming the brain and the nervous system, which he collectively called the biocomputer.) Lilly’s metaprogramming was more about feeding yourself imagery, reinventing yourself, all that. This sort of thinking links directly to folks out there who dabble in shamanism, wave their hands over tarot cards and wake up early for karate class. I guess you could say metaprogramming is New Age, but it’s all settled down recently into a sleeping bag with plain old nerdiness. (If you got here from a Google search for “C++ Metaprogramming”, stick around, but I only ask that you burn those neural pathways that originally invoked the search. Many thanks.)"
For sure mushrooms and psylocybin are unsuitable for programming, but low doses of cocaine, acid or 2C-* might have their value. The best programmer however learns to meta-program and hack his mind without chemicals.
[+] [-] wefarrell|11 years ago|reply
It helps reduce the influence of my ego over these interactions. This in turn lowers my clients' guard and reduces their egos as well. Less ego makes meetings less about politics and more about solving real problems.
More generally, meditation has helped me maintain focus on my work and made me less susceptible to distractions.
[+] [-] blimblab|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fapjacks|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] auggierose|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mvanvoorden|11 years ago|reply
Also, none of the programmers in the comments are high while coding. Some who have used psychedelics only told it gave them more insight in i.e. patterns and structures.
To me personally, psychedelics saved my life. One trip showed me exactly what to do to be happy again and ever since my life is going exactly how I want it. Before I was living the life other people expected me to live, without even being aware of that (like the majority of people).
Using drugs to escape might be sad, but using psychedelics to expand your mind is something I could recommend to almost anyone. There's a lot of wisdom hidden inside of us that is mostly supressed by the way we are nurtured, psychedelics make us connect to this again and teach us to be our real selves.
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
[deleted]