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Comment by axiom92 | Hacker News Reader

>life-changing psychedelic trip

Fascinating stuff. Any chance you could expand on this?

I suffer from pretty bad depression and have been battling with it for a while using all available treatments. Someone recommended I try psilocybin mushrooms. I learned how to grow them, grew them and then had my wife help facilitate a safe well-intentioned trip using 7g of dried mushrooms. Happy to answer any questions about it. It was a profound experience. It isn't a cure but it's certainly a tool in my toolbox that has helped reshaped my life in a real and lasting way.

Wonderful to hear it’s had such a positive impact on your life. What part of the experience made you decide to learn about genetic engineering?

By serendipity, I discovered a few YouTubers around that time who were showing how to do synthetic biology and biotech step-by-step on the cheap. After the trip, it dawned on me that perhaps I should put my intellectual abilities to work in this new field as it might bring the connection to life and meaning that I've struggled to find in tech.

Are those youtubers, or their content still around?

Sheesh, 7g is no joke. How “hard” was your trip?

It was difficult and I wouldn't recommend it for newcomers.

Weren't you a (very depressed) newcomer yourself?

Don't take it bad but someone in an already bad mental state taking 2g more than what McKenna considered a god dose is pretty ... irresponsible (?)

I was depressed, yes. But 7g wasn't my first experience with psilocybin. I was just saying that generally, I would not recommend 7g for newcomers. As for being irresponsible, I don't know man. I grew a Schedule 1 drug and then consumed it on my own terms in a way that affected no one but myself in a positive manner. There were risks involved, but when weighed against how I felt at the time, I took the chance.

Didn't mean to criticize. I've tripped on mushrooms, I get it. It's just ... 7g, holy crap :)

It’s hard to quantify how strong based purely on dose size, but yeah 7g is double what I would consider a strong dose. I did that amount once in high school and I didn’t touch them again for several years haha.

People have wildly different reactions, some of my friends can take 14g+ and be fine, others are barely able to talk after 2g. Plus potency varies wildly between crops and strains.

Also, there are different types of shrooms, saw at least 7 types last in Amsterdam, potency varied significantly. Also, how empty your stomach is makes world of difference. Also, method of consumption - dried vs fresh, raw/cooked, or like me mixing it with raw lemon juice (makes trip shorter but way more intense - 3g trips were full beyond reality with good setting).

Plus individual variation in digestion/enzymes/receptors/god knows what else is most probably also important.

Mm, there's a world of difference between, say, 7g of Cyanescens and the same dry weight of a Cubensis.

In my personal opinion there is a threeshold you have to hit with psylocipin before you can fully let go. 2g would feel emotional worse to me than 7. I take up to 1g semi regularly against my migraines which is just a little below turning super emotional.

Edit:// for reference i am talking about dried golden teachers. There are stronger variants out there.

Thanks!

DNA[1] and PCR[2] were both realized while under the influence of LSD.

[1]: https://maps.org/research/psilo-lsd/lsd-news-timeline/2054-n...

[2]: https://boomcalifornia.org/2015/11/12/on-pcr-lsd-and-science...

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