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Bill Atkinson's psychedelic user interface

(patternproject.substack.com)
425 points cainxinth | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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demiters ◴[] No.44531227[source]
Not a big fan of the ongoing productisation of transcendental, possibly brain-scrambling experiences. Keeping them somewhat less accessible tends to filter out people who don't do their homework to understand the substance and who consider it just another novel experience to try on a whim, which increases the risk of negative outcomes.
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t-3 ◴[] No.44532013[source]
I disagree. Every time I've seen someone get a "bad trip", they're people who read a lot and worked themselves into a state of anxiety over the fact that something could go wrong. If they had just approached it like "ooh lets get high and have fun" rather than "I have to do X, Y, Z or else it's going to be horrible!", they would have probably been OK. Hallucinogens have way too much gatekeeping and mysticalization around them for what they are.

Understanding the risks of buying potentially adulterated or counterfeit products is another thing entirely, which would be helped greatly by increased commodification and legalization.

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1. hampowder ◴[] No.44532129[source]
Whilst that might true as per your observations, I've also seen people do zero research, take a substance in the wrong place/frame of mind, and subsequently had a more turbulent experience than they were expecting
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2. patcon ◴[] No.44532208[source]
Yes to both.

We often attract certain types of people, and have a wealth of experience with that type.

We probably all take this as obvious knowledge. But only when I uncomfortably enter a group of people unlike me -- and feel totally alienated not just by their norms and assumptions, but their misunderstandings of my own -- only then do I truly confront the implications in a visceral, non-academic sense :)

3. esseph ◴[] No.44533742[source]
That's true with anything, though.