[jamescontrol]

This is one of two reasons why I decided to not try anything, ever.

1. What if it’s the most amazing thing ever, like ADHD medication, what if you get insanely productive, and you then have to go back to being mediocre?

2. What if it triggers something bad. If I get 10% worse at focusing on a solving a problem?

Nope

[PragmaticPulp]

> 1. What if it’s the most amazing thing ever, like ADHD medication, what if you get insanely productive, and you then have to go back to being mediocre?

Probably a good time to remind everyone that ADHD medication will not actually make you insanely productive forever. Good for treating genuine ADHD, but trying to use it like a limitless pill just leads to tolerance, dependence, and burnout.

The more involved doctors will actually start people on low doses and titrate up so patients don’t get the wrong idea about what the medicine is supposed to be doing for them. It’s usually the people who took too high of a dose they borrowed from a friend in college or something who have an idea that stimulants are a magic limitless pill without consequences.

[themagician]

That's probably not true. You'll try (and probably already have) all sorts of drugs which are deemed, by some government authority, to be "safe" which have all sorts of nasty side effects. Many "totally safe" drugs have much worse effects than psychedelics.

You will get 10% worse at focusing on solving a problem and then 20% just as a result of aging and there's nothing you can do about it. Your eyes will get old, your vitreous will start to detach and you'll start to see what looks like worms floating around in your eyes. Again, nothing you can do about it. Your hearing too will slowly start to degrade. High frequencies will fade to dust and those below them will become more apparent and, in some cases, become quite annoying.

[willio58]

I can speak to #1. If you take a normal amount, you will not be productive at all in terms what we all feel society demands of us. All ideas of productivity fall away when you trip. Social pressures fall away, you become a kid again in a way. Fascinated by looking at grass breathing in a meadow. You still think familiar thoughts, but in a vastly different way.

Now, if you microdose that’s a different story. I tried microdosing for a month years back at a remote job. I found it made me more able to connect with others. Like I didn’t want to hop off a meeting right away. It gave me some extra creativity when coding, but didn’t increase the output of my code.

I completely respect anyone who doesn’t want to try though, there are even some psychedelics that scare me and I’ve done quite a bit!

[phonypc]

>All ideas of productivity fall away when you trip.

Counter anecdote: I tend to compulsively clean my apartment on mushrooms.

[knallfrosch]

That's why I never smoked a single nicotine cigarette. If I like it, I'll be an addict. If I don't, it was wasted.

[willio58]

I’ve done similar. I’ve actually smoked many cigarettes but I’ve never bought nicotine myself. I’ve seen both of my parents piss away thousands of dollars and years of their lives to cigarettes, but damn a hit of a vape can be fun with friends

[jimbob45]

Or #3: You didn’t personally meet the chemist to know what you really took and now you don’t even know what’s causing your life’s problems.

[dieselgate]

Without getting into opinions this made me think of a Richard Feynman quote about abstaining from substances, along the lines of "I like how I think and didn't want to do anything to possibly change that." To each their own and much respect for doing what works best for you.

[Obertr]

and on the other side you may get insanely creative and change your life for the better and build something valuable to the humanity.

Tradeoff is clear for me.

[PKop]

This will never happen, and is an absurd cope for people that just want their fix and to be addicts without feeling bad.

[cogitoergofutuo]

I’m sorry, but are you saying that drugs categorically can not lead to inspiration that can help creativity?

Aldous Huxley would like a word…

[Obertr]

how would you argue the fact that you don't develop addiction to this stuff?