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theturtletalkstoday at 8:06 PM5 repliesview on HN

I read many years ago that psychedelics are what lead to the formation of consciousness. And it’s supported by the fact that psychedelics are also a network like the brain is. And when taking them, your brain experiences plasticity and that’s what allows profound changes.

A big part of our consciousness is the default mode network (which is a default of how we operate day to day, things we think about, etc). Psychedelics allow us to change that DMN, but may it have created it too?


Replies

anramontoday at 8:55 PM

> psychedelics are what lead to the formation of consciousness

This reads like recycled lamarckism.

talon8635today at 8:25 PM

How are psychedelic chemical compounds “a network”? Are you referring specifically to fungal mycelium? Of course there a tons of non psychedelic mushrooms and tons of non-mushroom psychedelics

fugalfervortoday at 8:47 PM

There is no evidence of that. What you say is not supporting, but rather "conveniently makes sense".

I don't dispute the utility of psychedelics. But I have observed (and this is anecdotal) that the fanatic devotees of the drugs tend to engage in magical thinking around the power/history/whatever of psychedelic substances, no matter their intelligence or accomplishment, or rigorous critical thinking in other areas.

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plufztoday at 8:17 PM

Just for clarification. The default mode network is what activates when we are at rest or ”not focused on the outside world”. Ie daydreaming and mind wandering, even if it also can be active during detailed thinking.

It has also been shown to have negative correlation to networks in the brain associated with attention.

titanomachytoday at 8:17 PM

> psychedelics are also a network like the brain is

Sorry to be rude, but what the hell does that mean?

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