Also may explain why they can be damaging to younger people. Like disturbing plants before their root system (filtration system) takes root tends to kill or damage the plants entire lifespan.
That is a really, really poor and flawed metaphor. It is completely arbitrary and there's no logic or reasoning behind it.
The "filtration system" that is talked about here is not comparable to a root system, or, in other words, any life-sustaining or life-promoting system.
Rather, a malignantly overgrown filtration system is the root cause of feelings of disconnectedness, deprivation, and subsequent depression, that are so common nowadays.
A societal tendency to bulk up the "filtration system" to pathological dimensions is the reason why there is an opioid epidemic in North America right now. Thanks to our massive filtration systems we have filtered out most that is good about the human race, and have managed to build a civilization/economic system that is so dehumanized, cutthroat, unfair, lifeless and ultimately unfulfilling and meaningless, that most of us subjects walk around in a daze, in states of deep emotional deprivation, just looking for something, anything, to either anesthetize those painful feelings (opioids and other downers), or distract us from them (social media, porn, television, VR..."entertainment").
Like everywhere in nature, balance is the key to a healthy state. We have erred, for centuries, on the side of boosting the filtration system through whatever means were available, and have managed to build very effective and tall walls within ourselves that separate us from our fellow men, from the environment, and even from deeper strata of our own consciousness. Now, we are reaping the harvest of that - a mankind that is plagued by mental illness, carrying out environmental destruction wherever you look.
But I digress. What I really wanted to say is - please, don't draw parallels between the "filtration system" and a root system. Really, most of us would benefit from downsizing the filtration system a notch or twenty...unlike plants, where cutting away roots would be of little benefit.
As someone who has spent close to 40 hours in VRChat so far (not to mention how many tweaking avatars in Blender and Unity), I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Of all the VR experiences out there nothing beats the ability to just make whatever skin you want for yourself and go around roleplaying in virtual worlds with other people. Or show off your creativity with shaders. You can be a walking shadertoy of your own design and awe people with raytraced fractals or whatever you wish. And it's free! It honestly feels like an early internet forum.
I believe there have been studies done on the detrimental effects of regular marijuana use on adolescents and resulting (permanently) impaired cognition.
Having smoked way too much marijuana in my early life, it seems fairly obvious that regular drug use is potentially damaging to the developing brain (or any brain for that matter), independent of how interesting or intense the experiences while under the influence may be.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted - when eaten, THC is metabolised into 11-OH-THC, which is much more potent that THC. If you eat too much, cannabis has psychedelic effects that are not present when smoking/vaping, and some people compare the 'trippy' effects to those of LSD or mushrooms.
it is absolutely generally considered a psychedelic. like I said eat a few grams of hash and tell me it's not. it has been used that way in world religions for thousands of years.
The "filtration system" that is talked about here is not comparable to a root system, or, in other words, any life-sustaining or life-promoting system.
Rather, a malignantly overgrown filtration system is the root cause of feelings of disconnectedness, deprivation, and subsequent depression, that are so common nowadays.
A societal tendency to bulk up the "filtration system" to pathological dimensions is the reason why there is an opioid epidemic in North America right now. Thanks to our massive filtration systems we have filtered out most that is good about the human race, and have managed to build a civilization/economic system that is so dehumanized, cutthroat, unfair, lifeless and ultimately unfulfilling and meaningless, that most of us subjects walk around in a daze, in states of deep emotional deprivation, just looking for something, anything, to either anesthetize those painful feelings (opioids and other downers), or distract us from them (social media, porn, television, VR..."entertainment").
Like everywhere in nature, balance is the key to a healthy state. We have erred, for centuries, on the side of boosting the filtration system through whatever means were available, and have managed to build very effective and tall walls within ourselves that separate us from our fellow men, from the environment, and even from deeper strata of our own consciousness. Now, we are reaping the harvest of that - a mankind that is plagued by mental illness, carrying out environmental destruction wherever you look.
But I digress. What I really wanted to say is - please, don't draw parallels between the "filtration system" and a root system. Really, most of us would benefit from downsizing the filtration system a notch or twenty...unlike plants, where cutting away roots would be of little benefit.