How does LSD alter the neurological receptors, so that it produces

bumpi

serotonine receptors

https://theconversation.com/magic-mushrooms-expand-your-mind-and-amplify-your-brains-dreaming-areas-heres-how-28754

>This finding of a similar pattern to dream activity is intriguing. While the psychedelic state has been previously compared with dreaming, the opposite effect has been observed in the brain network from which we get our sense of “self” (called the default-mode network or ego-system). Put simply, while activity became “louder” in the emotion system, it became more disjointed and so “quieter” in the ego system.

>Evidence from this study, and also preliminary data from an ongoing brain imaging study with LSD, appear to support the principle that the psychedelic state rests on disorganised activity in the ego system permitting disinhibited activity in the emotion system.

>>8235081
Can you please describe your experience further?

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>>8235081

mushrooms and LSD kills ("decreases in activity") the part of your brain that gives you your "sense of self", i.e. the front of your brain. they know this because muh brain scans and shit. they originally thought that because the hallucinations people reported were vivid that it increased activity but the brain scans showed the opposite. also since that part of your brain also deals with things like planning for the future and making judgments you also lose those abilities too, temporarily or longer. thus the cliche of the "flaky" acid/shroom head or people reporting about a sense of "timelessness" or "time is an illusion" or other stupid new age bullshit. they're not actually enlightened, this is simply them rationalizing the fact that they can't perceive the future any more because they are literally brain dead.

http://www.nature.com/news/psychedelic-chemical-subdues-brain-activity-1.9878

pic related

>>8235463
What is being enlightened then?

>>8235081
>How does LSD alter the neurological receptors, so that it produces the "ego death"?

Main answer is that nobody knows, primarily because we pretty much stopped research using LSD after it was a schedule 1 until roughly 10-12 years ago. (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/adt.2016.747)

What we do know, thanks to this awesome landmark paper, is that it does two main things. The first is that it expands the primary visual cortex connectivity profile, consistent with the visuals often seen with LSD us. This effect was not correlated with "ego-dissolution" and "altered meaning", however. What WAS strongly correlated was the second, more interesting effect: LSD decreases connectivity between the para-hippocampus and retrosplenial cortex. This circuit is probably key in maintaining a sense of self and ego, and by supressing this circuit, LSD leads to the dissolution of self/ego death.

Paper in question: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/17/4853.full

>>8235463
Yea maybe if you do thumbprints that are the equivalent of 10,000 doses.

>>8235463
>. they originally thought that because the hallucinations people reported were vivid that it increased activity but the brain scans showed the opposite

But that's wrong. There was definitely an increase in the visual cortex connectivity, which correlates strongly with the visual hallucinations.

>>8235469

I'm not going to define enlightenment for you, sorry buddy.

>>8235485

Yes, I've read a bit about the benefits of micro-dosing so I'm not going to say "all acid/mushrooms" are bad. Just in my experience it was too much and bad and it upsets me when people are careless about saying "hallucinogens are beneficial" when after taking the amount I took, I quite literally damaged my brain and it just completely ruined my fucking life.

>>8235496
>visual cortex
>front of the brain

Remind me to never ask you for directions. Also, the visual cortex has much less to do with your "sense of self", than the prefrontal cortex which is in the front of the brain, the part where the "activity decreased", and not the back.

>>8235504
>I'm not going to define enlightenment for you, sorry buddy.

Because there's no such thing.

>>8235504
>Remind me to never ask you for directions. Also, the visual cortex has much less to do with your "sense of self",

But I wasn't answering that question.

I was telling you your statement "they originally thought that because the hallucinations people reported were vivid that it increased activity but the brain scans showed the opposite." is wrong.

>>8235506
That's a big statement for such a little guy.

>>8235506
Yes. There is nothing special about the World. No God. No Ilumination. No Buda. Peace is a lie.

>>8235517
A much bigger statement is to say there is such a thing as enlightenment

>>8235081
you just fried your brain bruh

nothing deep to it

>>8235525
Keep telling yourself there isn't, little man.

>>8235534
enlightenment is just unaware ignorance

>>8235534

Does it make you feel big calling me little, o you enlightened one.

>>8235540
Does your denial make you feel safe in this world you know so little about?

>>8235463
good try but they actually increase brain activity.

>>8235538
unaware of what?

>>8235547
your own ignorance

>>8235544
The time we've spent "debating" this could've been better spent trying to explain to me what is that you mean by enlightenment.

>>8235553
I wasn't that anon :^)

>>8235550
ignorance of what?

>>8235553
The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts used to denote insight (prajna, kensho and satori);[1] knowledge (vidhya); the "blowing out" (Nirvana) of disturbing emotions and desires and the subsequent freedom or release (vimutti); and the attainment of Buddhahood, as exemplified by Gautama Buddha.

>>8235556
everything you dont know

>>8235565
Sounds like superhuman to me m8

>>8235504
>I quite literally damaged my brain and it just completely ruined my fucking life.

What happened?

>>8235959
Why did you delete this?

>>8235469
Knowing which job you should get

>>8235469
enlightenment is death. nirvana is to ascend from the cycle of reincarnation and be free from suffering. literally death.

>>8235972

I don't know why I posted it to begin with. Personal stories don't belong on /sci/, no matter how related they are to the topic of conversation. I'll say this, to anyone who is interested in anecdotes and self-reports of LSD and Psilocybin experiences, erowid.org has a substantial archive of these reports which people submit. If you do a survey of them and compare them to the scientific literature on the cognitive/neurological effects of LSD and mushrooms, you'll start getting a clearer picture of what is going on... [spoiler]it isn't enlightenment[/spoiler].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq3Fp-xp0l0

The debate between Jerome Lettvin and Timothy Leary on LSD at MIT from 1967.

It's worth noting, to the people who were not brought up in a religious household or have ever studied religious texts, his use of "Satan" is not literal, as in it has nothing to do with a literal "big red scary demon". The idea of a "big red scary demon that's gonna get you" is just how idiots interpret the literature (by interpreting it literally). Satan's character is a metaphor for selfish, anti-social, "bad" behavior, behavior that harms yourself and your group, which includes rationalization and denial of the existence of such behavior; people who don't take responsibility for their actions, and people who influence others to behave in the same way. Pinocchio is another story with the same theme of "what happens if you're selfish". Instead of going to "hell" he becomes an ass and is sold into bondage.

Often he is chastised for using the metaphor because he is a scientist and scientists aren't allowed to use metaphors, so I thought I would throw in a disclaimer for the confused.

>>8235517
for you

>>8236630

Another thing that's interesting about the debate, is that once Lettvin is done, you can see Leary immediately try to save face and make excuses. He's visibly nervous, no longer enlightened, but panicked. The LSD guru doubting himself after 20 minutes of largely non-technical rebuttal. Is this really who people want as their leader? Is this the path that people want to follow?

>>8235545
ok sure just keep believing what you read on 420chan

>>8236105
No, not really.

>>8236779
Not that guy but he is right...kinda. If you read the study posted above.

>The mPFC, PCC and thalamus are thought to act as 'connector hubs' that have a pivotal role in co-ordinating the flow of information through the brain2, and the researchers say that this accounts for the effects of hallucinogens, which induce a state of “unconstrained cognition”.
>In his 1954 book The Doors of Perception, novelist Aldous Huxley, who famously experimented with psychedelics, suggested that the drugs produce a sensory deluge by opening a “reducing valve” in the brain that normally acts to limit our perceptions. The new findings are consistent with this idea.

They reduce the activity in the regions of the brain that act as inhibitors, putting the brain in a state of “unconstrained cognition”. So it basically opens the floodgates.

>>8236663
If you want to meet a beautiful soul who understands the lessons learned from LSD experimentation far better than Leary, you should look up Leary's partner from Harvard, Ram Dass. I personally am much more interested in what he has to say than listening to Leary's drivel.

>>8235504
I did something stupid/something bad happend to me
-> it has to be the same for everyone
maybe take a applied statistics lecture or some shit
Biking ain't beneficial cause the last time I biked, I fell off and had pain in my knee sheeeeeiiiit

>>8237007
Most people wouldn't gain a thing from doing psychedelics. In fact, a lot of people would just fuck themselves up. I do believe, however, if you understand what you can gain from psychedelics and reflect deeply about the thoughts you've encountered while on them, you can gain some personal insight. It won't be related to anything about the world, just something personal. That is what I believe anyway from my experiences with these drugs.

I know people who fucked themselves up on them, people who've learned and gained a great deal in an intensely personal way from them, and people who waste their time thinking about "the nature of time" and shit like that while on them.

>>8236903
>>8235545
Increasing brain activity doesn't make it a good thing, if that's what you're trying to imply.

>>8237024
>Therapeutic potential
>Nutt and his colleagues suggest their results could explain some of the therapeutic effects of psilocybin. Depression involves hyperactivity in the mPFC, leading to the pessimistic outlook and pathological brooding characteristic of the condition, so mPFC deactivation could alleviate those symptoms.
>The researchers also observed reduced blood flow to the hypothalamus, and suggest that this explains anecdotal reports that psychedelics alleviate symptoms of cluster headaches, which are associated with increased hypothalamic activity.

Again back to that study. It *can* be a good thing. Though, this in no way means that you should go out and self-medicate.

>>8237031
I never said it can't be a good thing. In fact
>mPFC deactivation could alleviate those symptoms
says the converse of what I said, namely,
>Increasing brain activity doesn't make it a good thing
Really, any system involving lots of variables like this is inherently extremely complicated. There could be "good" consequences depending on the goals you wish to achieve and there could be "bad" ones. In essence, it's neither good nor bad.

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You're all retarded. Take LSD and feel good. The end. We'll all die and rot in the ground sooner or later so why not expand your reality as far as you can while you're still alive?

Acid is a tool not a game. If acid fucked up your head, you had bad acid. End of story

>>8235081
I can't really tell you about the chemicals, but the experience known as "ego death" is actually the natural state.
We were born without a sense of self and only learned through our intereaction with others to feel seperate. The sense of "I" needs constant reaffirmation, so it doesn't drop away.

Ego death simply means direct perception. I know that LSD can help you with it, but it can happen in many ways, especially when being alone. Our mind is like a muddy glass of water which needs to be left alone to perceive reality clearly.

So, I'm not an expert on LSD, but just wanted to tell you that your approach might be misleading. Buddhists see enlightenment as the normal state and "our" western, ego-based personalities as the "dream state".

>>8237107
>We were born without a sense of self and only learned through our intereaction with others to feel seperate.
Speak for yourself, nigga. I was born with a gigantic ego.

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I never believed in """""ego death"""""" since the dinguses who perpetrate this idea are quite egotistical in saying their ego died and achieved enlightenment while yours is still around, AND they now know more about philosophy and QM and God than you do

>>8237698
I've met a lot of Buddhists, and I've never met one who thought he/she was enlightened.

>>8237698
After the end of the trip ego keeps coming back.

>>8237842
That's why so many hippies went to Asia in the 60's and 70's. They were looking for answers the drugs didn't provide.

i cant possibly grasp how big infinity is, but if it includes a certain combination of events and the things leading up to that events, and the resulting point of all those precise events leads to the end result of wanting to fuck a trap, then infinity is a lot bigger then i thought

The way LSD works and to a better extent, Research Chemicals, is the disabling of your waking conscious

>>8237922
Maybe. There some things to liberate yourself - sex, extreme sport, meditation, silence in mind -but... There still something in life that make you a prisoner again and again.

>>8237944
I agree. These things which cause suffering and discontentment are desire, aversion, and delusion. Buddhist training teaches us to recognize these things and try to lessen their impact on our lives. It really is just that simple.

>>8235469
One would only know after experiencing it.

>>8237943
I want to add on to this that it disables both your waking and sleeping conscious, and creates a new one altogether.

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>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide#Pharmacology
>Exactly how LSD produces its effects is unknown, but it is thought that it works by increasing glutamate release in the cerebral cortex and therefore excitation in this area, specifically in layers IV and V.

First, it binds to dopamine and serotonin receptors. Since it works with such small doses, it's effects can't be from receptor competiton - it must send a signal which the brain amplifies.

There's evidence that LSD changes gene expression;

>http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v26/n5/full/1395848a.html
>A Single Dose of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Influences Gene Expression Patterns within the Mammalian Brain

Which is what Robert Anton Wilson was saying;

>http://deoxy.org/8circuit.htm
>Circuit VII is best considered, in terms of 1977 science, as the genetic archives, activated by anti-histone proteins

He's referring to histone acetylation, where the addition of acetyl groups transforms heterochromatin to euchromatin so it can be copied and transcribed into enzymes and protiens.

I'm not making this up, either;

>http://www.pnas.org/content/72/3/837.full.pdf
>Recently we reported that d-lysergic acid diethylamide(LSD) affects the brain at the level of covalent modification of chromosomal proteins (6). Moderate dosages of the drug were found to increase the acetylation of specific histones in the rabbit brain 30min after intravenous drug administration.

It grants you a new identity, where you exist as a timeless archtype embedded in an amoral field of quantum state purturbations - Indra's web. This new identity isn't focuses on the needs or wants of a single human body, and it treats depression by making you think that your own death is just one scene in an endless, recurring play.

>>8235584
I'm an overreacting, big giant pussy and I can't handle my shit so therefore I will blame it solely on a mind-altering substance rather than take responsibility for my own stupidity.

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>>8238123

But, histone acetylation suggests that DNA has something to do with consciousness. This claim, too has evidence to support it;

>http://elifesciences.org/content/3/e03896v2
>“These results point to the nucleus of neurons as the potential locus of the engram in Aplysia.”

Moreover, there's evidence of genetic memory;

>http://www.nature.com/news/fearful-memories-haunt-mouse-descendants-1.14272
>Fearful memories haunt mouse descendants
>Genetic imprint from traumatic experiences carries through at least two generations

Which, again, is what RAW was talking about;

>http://deoxy.org/8circuit.htm#c7
>The seventh brain kicks into action when the nervous system begins to receive signals from WITHIN THE INDIVIDUAL NEURON, from the DNA-RNA dialogue. The first to achieve this mutation spoke of "memories of past lives," "reincarnation," "immortality," etc
>A sense of the inevitability of immortality and interspecies symbiosis comes to all circuit VII mutants; we now see that this, also, is an evolutionary forecast, since WE STAND RIGHT NOW ON THE DOOR-STEP OF EXTENDED LONGEVITY LEADING TO IMMORTALITY.

I made a post here; >>8237109 where I talk about synthetic cannabinoids.

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>people that think theyre deep cause they took acid once

>>8235081

>ego death

>In the death and rebirth mythology ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition

Why do we discuss mythology on science board?

>The concept is also used in contemporary spirituality and in the modern understanding of eastern religions to describe a permanent loss of "attachment to a separate sense of self

>>8236663
Cheers for the insight and info bro.

>>8235556
>>8235547
trying to sound deep but just asking retard questions.

>>8235555
people who think they know the reality, or being more enlightmented, are acctually the really (not just average) really stupid ones. and your pedantic attitude just confirm it.