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by anon_acc5415 19 hours ago
> One cannot get over being colorblind. It can never go away.

Bizzare and fascinating thing, but that's perhaps not as rock-solid as it might appear.

Some (or at least 1) people have reported improved color perception post magic mushrooms.

> Though the subject reported intensification of colors while under the acute effects of psilocybin, his score on plates 1–21 improved only slightly to 15 at 12 h post-administration. However, by 24 h post-mushroom administration, his score reached 18, above the cut-off of 17 required by the Ishihara Test for classification of normal color vision,” the report states. β€œHis score peaked at 19 on day eight post-administration. At approximately four months post-mushroom administration, his score remained elevated at 18,” the researchers write.

From https://www.mdlinx.com/article/can-magic-mushrooms-solve-col...

Now, you might say, "Well, that's hogwash, maybe that guy was lying."

To which I say... I experienced it myself! During the experience, colors were significantly more vivid and saturated. (I actually think I "saw" how women for eg see more subtlety between different shades.) Sure, the breeze felt amazing, and nature and trees were peaceful... but I spent a disproportionate amount of time staring at the street and marveling at the colors.

Want a twist? I'll give you two.

1. I'm not color blind, afaik. I've done a number of (admittedly basic) tests and passed them all.

2. The substance I (alledgly) took was not mushrooms. It wasn't even a plant based - or illicit thing! It was a prescription drug/medicine!

I'll leave you to guess it if you want, semi-spoilers below.

It was a drug used (and famously known) primarily as a wakefulness agent for narcolepsy, and I might have taken the R-enantiomer of it.

1 comments

Damn, I really didn't expect to get a downvote on this. Anything I said wrong, or someone just disagreeing?

I'd think the concept of "brain tweaks can improve color vision" is a good thing.

I think the issue is that color blindness is typically the result of a physical abnormality with the rods/cones in the retina.

Your claim is essentially akin to saying a black-and-white printer could somehow print in color. It's a physical impossibility. Whether certain substances could trick the brain into believing it can see colors is another story altogether.

That said, there are forms of color blindness that are caused by neurological issues, but those are far more rare.