[codeshaman]

If we really believe in scientific progress, then we must accept that, compared to some time in the future, our current understanding of the Universe is akin to people thinking the world was flat some time in the past.

Maybe the Universe's scale compared to our physical form has a purpose. Maybe it's intended to not be traversed physcally. Maybe that's the most obvious conclusion an intelligent life form might draw from analyzing it's scale ?

Maybe in the future we will understand it just like the aliens we're looking for did a long time ago - that the way to communicate in this Universe does not involve physical travel or physical signals.

Just look up some pictures of Pablo Amaringo - a shaman making drawings of his trips on ayahuasca. Notice the 'aliens' and the galaxies and the the distant worlds that he is visiting while tripping.

Anyone who has been on powerful psychedelic trips would agree that there is a lot of stuff to explain there, besides just the brain reaction to a chemical. Stuff like traveling through time, out of the Universe, into the microcosmos, before and after life, etc.

People did this for thousands of years - they used terms such as 'spirits', 'beings' and 'gods' to describe who they made contact with.

But what if those substances are more than just intoxicants, what if they really trigger some unknown mind-space-time gateway which we haven't yet tapped scientifically, which makes space and time travel possible. What if we could approach this scientifically and actually make these trips predictable and repeatable ?

What if the aliens are actually just high tech savages using advanced psychedelic drugs + mind machines to travel and explore time and space, while sitting in a forest around a fire ?

We should start exploring the inner space just like we are exploring the outer space. When will we see $100m invested in that ? :)

[furyofantares]

> We should start exploring the inner space just like we are exploring the outer space. When will we see $100m invested in that ? :)

We already have: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/why-spend-...

And I'm sorry to tell you that I think brain science does a good job at explaining perception when intoxicated without invoking "other stuff out there"

[codeshaman]

Yes yes, the brain, the mapping, the neural network... the physical, chemical, electrical thing that if wired properly would produce consciousness...

It would be so easy if it were that easy...

And brain science can't explain too much, because it couldn't research these substances, since they're illegal everywhere in the world.

Edit:

Long story short - take the red pill and you'll see for yourself how little we understand about the mind and the Universe.

[furyofantares]

Brain science has a very long way to go for sure, and legislation had impeded studying certain substances, yes. But there has been research on perception and its limitations and this leads to an understanding where it is not remotely surprising that a substance could cause severe misperceptions undetected by the owner of the brain -- it happens continuously to all brains even when they are not tripping.

[johnchristopher]

I'll juste leave this quote here:

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"

[eli_gottlieb]

Let me add: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U

[johnchristopher]

I enjoyed that ! Thank you.

[eli_gottlieb]

And maybe the entire progress of science over centuries and millenia has taught us that the crazy stuff we see when tripping isn't real in the slightest.

[rokhayakebe]

Maybe we were not supposed to cross the Sea. Maybe the reason we did not have wings is so that we do fly across nations. Maybe the reason we are different skin color and speak different languages is so that we remain each in our clan.

Or maybe, the Creator just said "let me see how far these guys will go?"