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Comment by temp0826 | Hacker News Reader

Why would you want your brain to ravel back up? I've worked at ayahuasca retreats and know many people who do it for a living (who are many of the most grounded people I know). Using these things in a therapeutic manner is a completely different thing than using them recreationally, might as well be a different substance. I'd guess those people who "permanently changed their brain" (whatever that means) were not in a context for actually healing.

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I believe that the drugs cause structural changes to the brain that make it more difficult to function in the reward structure of society. You can claim through a philosophical lens that society is flawed and so this is okay, but ive seen it derail peoples lives, such that they are just living in some rural area with limited participation in real life

ive barely taken them, but i watched many people change over years of use.

I guess it depends on what "derail" means (meaning, do you actually know one's internal state and if they are happy?). Is something wrong with living alone in a rural area if you are happy? (This sounds great to me, for reference!).

I've watched hundreds of people take them in great containers with great support. It's never a good idea to make big changes right away, but we take small steps to adjust our lives so we can actually be happy. Yes, even if that is less "productive". Why do we do the things we do anyways?

> just living in some rural area with limited participation in real life

They might say the same thing about your lifestyle. The "reward structure of society" is highly abstract these days, arguably disconnected from "real life". You could say monks are disconnected from "real life."

This is a weird take, I think.

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