1/ I’ve just read the most remarkable piece of online content in a long time. So many thoughts and insights sparked by this article
5-MeO-DMT Awakenings: From Naïve Realism to Symmetrical Enlightenment
qualiacomputing.com/2020/05/19/5-m…
5-MeO-DMT Awakenings: From Naïve Realism to Symmetrical Enlightenment
qualiacomputing.com/2020/05/19/5-m…
2/ It’s a running commentary by @algekalipso (who I once randomly shared a ride with from the peninsula back to SF) on a more than 2hr video by Leo Gura (who I tweeted yesterday about going to high school with)
3/ Bear with me here...Leo did an experiment a couple months ago where he took 5-MeO-DMT, the most powerful psychoactive substance we know of, for 30 days straight in isolation, in increasing dosages
Here’s the original video:
Here’s the original video:
4/ Leo’s account of his experience is great, but that’s not my focus. What I found fascinating was watching his experience through the lens of Andrés’ perspective, which is from his blog Qualia Computing dedicated to exploring the “computational qualities of consciousness”
5/ I’m not that interested in any of these topics (computing, psychedelics, consciousness, awakening, etc) but combined into one whole it was like looking into a prism, each idea reflected through multiple overlapping and sometimes conflicting perspectives
6/ Leo is essentially an entertainer, which provided the hook for the whole thing in the form of his personal experiment and colorful language. That’s an important component as I’ve tried to read stuff from Qualia before and found it hopelessly obtuse. All steak, but no sizzle
7/ Andrés has not only an incredibly deep and diverse knowledge of both phenomenology and computing, but a real talent at analyzing a qualitative experience through a math/science lens without dismissing the meaningfulness of the experience
8/ He added a rigor, depth, objectivity, and credibility to Leo’s first-person account that made it far more interesting and relevant to others who might seek a similar experience. Just the links in that article alone constitute a major research project
9/ Anyway, what I found fascinating about the article was how INTERSECTIONAL it is. Not one perspective, but many. No single one privileged and correct, but each one providing a different aspect of truth
10/ I think this is basically the future of media. What I notice these days is context is totally decisive. A 1 second difference in how a video is cut completely changes its meaning. The background a person is speaking from is far more important than what they’re saying
11/ In all the online arguments and controversies, the content of the messages is totally irrelevant. There’s no real communication happening. It’s just contexts smashing together. Frames conflicting with frames
12/ So far this has been *framed* as a negative, a sign that civilization/democracy is collapsing. I want to introduce a different frame to the fight: that the clash of contests will become its own art form. A new kind of content where metarationality is taken for granted
13/ I want to see more “commentary on commentary.” What would it look like to see an activist commenting on a policeman’s lived daily experience? Or vice versa? Or a left-wing activist commenting on the life history of a hardcore right-wing reactionary
14/ I think it takes real talent to do it well. To neither dismiss nor reify the subject, but appreciate what it has to offer
