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Comment by nnq | Hacker News Reader

Maybe even healthy people even should be encouraged to try psychedelics or some other potent mind altering technique at least once in their life. Maybe make it as in initiation ceremony when they reach 18 or smth. Or maybe at least for the people in leadership positions when they get there

The amount of closed-mindedness, at least amongst the high-IQ and well-educated people in our society is amazing. It's sad because most truly open-minded people in our society tend to be on the lower spectrum of intelligence and accomplishment.

We need something that can increase the openness psychologic train in intelligent and accomplished people, especially the ones in leadership positions, asap, if we want to fix our societies!

EDIT+: Toned it down a bit, hope it's less flamebaiy. It's what I wanted to day but hopefully less inflaming.

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Please don't post flamebait to HN.

Thanks for using italics rather than allcaps though! (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

This sounds like juvenile fascination and cult-like adherence to me. I’m glad these substances gave you access to insight but that’s not always the case, and some people are more than capable of having free, complete, and rich life experiences without the use of psychedelics.

Non drug users are not close minded robots.

Strongly against this, as there's no scientific evidence that exposure to mind altering substances provides long-term personality changes in openness or empathy. Additionally, as someone on the psychotic spectrum but was unable to receive diagnosis until my mid to late 20s, exposure to LSD when I was diagnosed only with mild depression would've probably sent me to the hospital and permanently ruined my life. I suspect I'm not the only one, as schizophrenia often manifests (if it's going to manifest) beyond the 18 year mark.

Excuse me, but some of us do not want to be forced to take drugs.

You're "forced" to leave in an environment with a certain structure (architecture, infrastructure) under a certain set of laws. Adding a non-damaging, mind altering temporary experience that opens people to multiple alternative thinking perspectives instead of the single one they are stuck in would be a minor addition to their already controlled and artificial environment.

Take going to primary school: sure, a minority of people are attracted on their own to rational critical learning, and would've learned on their own. But for most of us, being forced to go to school helped us immensely in our life evolution...

And going to school is a much more traumatic and permanently mind altering experience than what I suggested...

"Adding a non-damaging, mind altering temporary experience" do you have evidence that psychedelic drugs are always non-damaging? With regards, someone who has a psychotic spectrum illness.

Even one puff of marijuana gives me intense anxiety and soul crushing paranoia. I will avoid the psychadelics.

I have the same negative experience. Never felt the "relaxation" effect people get from marijuana. And i really need it, I was always told it was the strain I was smoking but I think I've tried ever major strain and never found a good one.

However CBD gummies work just fine for me without the negative effects.

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