[qbxk]

it seems like you're a bit too comfortable with thinking that just because the hallucinations are hallucinations they must be useless. alcoholics see snakes and rats and vermin, and that's not very much help to anybody. but all these psychedelic folks are hallucinating higher orders of intelligence that understand their trauma and can help them? hallucination or not, seems like a useful thing to have access to. far more than shadows of snakes, for sure

[tsimionescu]

As the other commenter pointed out, I'm not at all claiming they are useless. I actually think it's more likely than not that the hallucination itself is what is having the therapeutic effect, that it's not a side effect at all. And even if that's not true, I think it's still very wise for the one experiencing it to engage with the hallucination.

All I'm saying is that none of this makes it even slightly remotely possible that it is anything other than a hallucination.

And note: they are not hallucinating a higher level of intelligence, they are hallucinating a way to accept their own trauma in the form of an entity that appears more intelligent. Just like when writers create a super-intelligent alien in a movie, they don't actually create something more intelligent than humans.

Now, if they were seeing an entity that explained new ways of solving partial differential equations to them, then I would say that the external entity hypothesis merits some investigation.

[slfnflctd]

I'm deeply appreciative of the voice of reason in these discussions. My parents raised me in a demon haunted world, and having access to the intellectual tools which brought me out of that world fills me with gratitude toward those who helped make them widely available and continue to do so.

[adammarples]

I have had dreams where I listen to songs and marvel at the incredible skill of the songwriter, and sadly accept that I could never have 1/10th of that skill. It was a surprise for me to reflect back on the dream and realise that of course because it was my dream I was in fact the song writer too, somehow also able to listen to it with no idea what would come next. The mind is a fascinating thing.

[sdenton4]

Was the song actually that good, or did your brain simply tickle the 'appreciation for incredible beauty' neurons while playing back some Nickelback memories?

[andrewflnr]

I'm pretty sure I've experienced both, actually. Occasionally bits of it, melody or words, will survive in my memory that I think are actually good, if only I could reconstruct the rest of it. Other times I'm pretty sure there was nothing actually there.

[lupire]

The bit you remember might be great. The part you don't remember might never have existed. I've often "solved" problems in semi-lucid sleep, by brainstorming an idea and pursuing it, but when I push, the idea doesn't makes sense, or is meaningless, not just wrong.

[andrewflnr]

Could be. ¯ \ _ ( ツ ) _ / ¯

[adammarples]

Almost certainly the latter. But how would I know...?

[amenhotep]

The trick is that you're not just generating the song; you're generating the experience of listening to the song. Much more efficient :)

[andrewflnr]

They didn't imply the hallucinations were useless. Rather the opposite in fact.