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'Capitalism on Psychedelics: The Mainstreaming of an Underground.' Great piece by Erik Davis @erik_davis: "... Translation: for MAPS’ global effort to succeed, even in its largely nonprofit terms, corporate players (and the shareholders behind them) are part of the team..."
"... This is not a comfortable stance for those of us who believe that, as Nickles later put it, today’s dominant culture is not a reality to be accommodated, but an existential threat to be resisted. Along these lines, Geoff Bathje followed up Doblin’s presentation..."
"... by repeating arguments against capitalism familiar to anyone who has been paying wide-screen attention to the political landscape in recent years. His strongest points concerned the way that psychedelic therapy, applied as “solutions” to individual psychological problems..."
"... rather than broader social conditions, risks simply feeding into the self-improvement logic that increasingly underscores capitalist subjectivity, and that has already shown a remarkable capacity to absorb, defang, and redirect potentially transformative practices..."
"... like yoga and mindfulness meditation. In this way, psychedelics may—and already are—contributing to the cancer that Bathje calls 'elite perfectibility.'" chacruna.net/capitalism-psy…
For more on how mindfulness meditation risks being commodified by capitalist subjectivity, see this piece: "Beyond McMindfulness"
Good piece on Compass Pathways: "A small, controversial company is now leading the effort to turn magic mushrooms into a pharmaceutical product, and is stirring up intense criticism from psychedelic experts who believe it’s trying to dominate the market." qz.com/1454785/a-mill…
Great piece by @unfshnable_guff: "The Psychedelic Renaissance Will Not Be Contained ... [and] an arms race sets off to control [their] use." Via @Medium: "Psychoactive hallucinogens are making a comeback—and that’s good news for mental health treatment" unfashionableguff.com/the-psychedeli…
Another piece at Vice: "We live our lives increasingly locked into screentime, distanced from nature and each other by modern capitalism and divisive politics. It’s no surprise that illegal use of psychedelics is on the rise." By Mike Power @mrmichaelpower vice.com/en_us/article/…
Another: "clinical trials into the effectiveness of LSD, MDMA, and psilocybin in treating depression & trauma has received widespread publicity. But outside the labs, regular people are taking psychedelic therapy into their own hands." by @JennyValentish vice.com/en_us/article/…
Good piece in @GrantaMag on the impact ayahuasca tourists have on indigenous cultures: "Confessions of a White Vampire: ... ‘They already stole everything we had’, as one of the specialists puts it, asking why Westerners must now take ayahuasca too."
If you read the piece above, don't miss this one from @Chacruna_net: "The First Indigenous Ayahuasca Conference (Yubaka Hayrá) in Acre Demonstrates Political, Cultural and Spiritual Resistance" chacruna.net/the-first-indi…
Aha! Here's a video of the panel (ft Rick Doblin @RickDoblin & Bia Labate @LabateBia) which was described by Erik Davis @erik_davis in the first article in this thread: "Capitalism’s Systemic Issues: Will They Emerge in Psychedelic Medicine and Practices?"
And here's an excellent, recent piece by one of the speakers, Geoff Bathje, who coined the term “elite perfectibility” mentioned upthread: "Combining Psychedelics with Capitalism May Cause Unintended Side Effects" chacruna.net/combining-psyc…
From the piece above: "Will psychedelics be reduced to an elite product that enhances status and feeds egos, as yoga and meditation have been found to do in some Western contexts?" Here's a related thread with several relevant articles:
And here's another related thread, this one on psychedelic phenomenology and pansychism:
Here's an interesting piece contrasting Aldous Huxley's thoughts on ego-transcendence with the war on drugs and its mindset: "The politics of transcendence and the war on drugs." The rest of the site is intersting too. philosophyforlife.org/the-politics-o…
@threadreaderapp unroll please.
