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Comment by JKCalhoun | Hacker News Reader

> Inspired by a mind-expanding LSD journey in 1985, I designed the HyperCard authoring system that enabled non-programmers to make their own interactive media.

Watching some YouTube about the Beatles and, of course, their LSD trips. More recently the history of Robert Crumb — on his big acid trip he more or less created a large part of his stable of comic characters.

Somewhere along the way, someone said that LSD alters your mind permanently....

It caused me to wonder if we'll never get the genius of Beatles music, Crumb art without the artist taking something conscious-altering like LSD. Of course then I have to consider all the artists before LSD was "invented" — the Edvard Munch's, T.S. Eliot's, William Blake's, etc.

(Tried acid once in college. That was enough of that.)

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All traditional practices of use of psychedelic substances emphasize the importance of preparation, having the right state of mind, right stimuli / environment, and sitters in un-altered state of mind nearby.

LSD is not known to permanently alter brain; for that you need psilocybin.

You had me up until your last clause…

If you understand that LSD doesn’t permanently alter the brain, why do you think PY “permanently” alters the brain? It does alter the brain (like LSD; see the plethora of research on PY altering neurogenesis and functional connectivity [0]), I’m unsure of what you mean by “permanent”.

[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07624-5

It permanently changed my buddy's brain when we were in college doing it. He thought he was talkng to God and blew his brains out. Not worth it for me now.

I’m sorry to hear that.

I know that there absolutely are people who shouldn’t take it based on their mindset and underplaying predispositions.

There is certainly a point to be made about psychoactive (and other) drugs inducing episodes of psychosis. This is something on the uptick with marijuana legalization in the US [0].

And I think am plainly wrong about my understanding of these effects not being “permanent”. I suppose I was thinking about this too much from a “neurotypical” angle, and not from the angle of how substances can alter the neurological trajectory of people with predisposed sensitivity.

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-induc...

If you've known a few people who suffer psychotic symptoms and get to know the pattern of how they developed, drugs can appear commonly but it's much less cut and dry whether the drugs are responsible.

For example college age, like your buddy was at, is very typically the onset time for schizophrenia even without drugs. And schizophrenia itself may make people gravitate towards drugs.

AFAICT there exists no conclusive biomedical evidence of permanent physiological effects of LSD. This may mean we're just not looking hard enough, but there's no certainty.

For psilocybin, there is plenty, e.g.: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8376772/

First, you’re cutting an in vitro study. Second, “permanent” is a serious claim that bears a large burden of proof.

I think defining “permanent” would first be useful. The brain is extremely plastic.

Beyond that, OP comment was referring to psychosis effects. See his comment below.

Survivorship bias? Plenty of brilliant people smoked tobacco. I didn't think more smoking will produce more brilliance.

Neither does smoking alter your conscioudness in any remarkable way further than irritability or cravings due to whitdrawal symtpom

at least acid doesnt make sense to consume daily because it stops having the same effects the more you consume it

Pretty ancient practice probably. See the history of drug use in cultures and spirituality/art. Soma, etc.

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