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Yeti101

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Posts posted by Yeti101

    Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?

    in Creativity, Spirituality & Philosophy

    Posted

    2 hours ago, courage said:

    An Invocation, An Intention, An Attention

    Please feel free to adapt this in a manner that works best for you. Please do attend to this evening before retiring and during the day as well

    (etc.) 

    Any merit (or lack thereof) associated with the practices you advocate do not advance our knowledge of whether or not you are in a simulation. I am sorry, but you are not going to be able to intuit or meditate your way out of this. Problems of this sort require deduction :) 

    • Like 3

    Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?

    in Creativity, Spirituality & Philosophy

    Posted

    That is all well and good, but suspect the one thing we cannot rely upon to indicate whether or not we are in a simulation is our experience, or the experience of others. This would include mystical experiences and revelations. 

     

    Of course, Stu is right in that there is an important sense in which it does not matter. 

     

    Consider hands, and an argument that was inspired by this guy's thoughts on possibly being a brain in a vat.

     

    1. If you’re a Sim then you have hands in a different way than if you weren’t a Sim. (i.e.: simulated hands as opposed to physical hands).
    2. You don’t know that you’re not a Sim
    Therefore, you don’t know that you have ‘real’ hands or simulated hands that are, for all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from ‘real’ hands.

     

    Does this seem like a conclusion worth losing any sleep over? I don't think so. 

     

    I'm fairly sure Bostrom is wrong - or that his conclusion is overblown (they let anyone into Oxford these days!) - but explaining why is a very long story.

    • Like 2

    Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?

    in Creativity, Spirituality & Philosophy

    Posted

    7 hours ago, courage said:

    Haven't watched the video, but first thoughts are a computer simulation refers to something where our actions don't matter. 

     

    I don't have time to go into it this morning, but the short answer is that I think you are wrong about that. Say you are a simulation, and that sim-you still experiences pain. Does that pain no longer matter to you? We don't need to understand the universe to know how we feel. 

    Post a random picture thread

    in Chill Space

    Posted

    https://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=http://www.sun-gazing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2f3f2f22f32f3f32f2ff323f2f323f.jpg&key=ae7a1feadd6936cc307c527512e0f9f61310eb9eb58eb4128be70cd23de7bde0

    • Like 1

    Define God

    in Creativity, Spirituality & Philosophy

    Posted

    I think, when it comes to God, religion, the supernatural, and most things really, this advice is worth keeping in mind:

    https://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fab420d5e248c7fe33bf94dfe25065ce04ac2f22/0_0_1465_2031/master/1465.jpg?w=1920%26q=55%26auto=format%26usm=12%26fit=max%26s=4e242d63f3e9c3e2f707b155fe1905b9&key=0483b0427e3303f14eda4461609685648c115331c59f05c6cd10e8bd9a01879f

    • Like 5

    Long-term use of psychedelic drugs is associated with differences in brain structure and personality in humans.

    in Pharmacology, Chemistry & Medicine

    Posted

    8 hours ago, Change said:

    Ive had a little search around the webs this morning and found cortical thinning is associated with  ADD, Psychopathy, and Schizophrenia.

     

     

    But clearly not all cortical thinning is associated with these conditions. As the article says, another study http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0042421 has found that ayahuasca users exhibit less mental illness than other groups, and even appear to show some cognitive enhancement! Is the fact that these people were members of a particular church the reason for this - especially the cognitive enhancement? 

     

    I don't know the answer to that, but I'll offer a few observations.

     

    1. 2 of the 3 articles you link to have some pretty severe limitations in that they have just tested for cortical thinning in kids diagnosed with ADD, inmates categorised as psychopaths (don't get me started on psychopathy!). Only Watsky et al tested for CT in healthy people.  Even Watsky's hypothesis is kind of boned if Bouso (2015) is right; the correlation between cortical thinning and schizophrenia might not always be that strong.

     

    2. 'Cortical Thinning' is not super specific. The original article talks about thinning in very specific areas of the cortex. The other papers talk about 'widespread thinning', or thinning across 'a number of regions'. I'd have to read the full articles to be sure, but this might be a of an apples and oranges comparison. 

     

    The dream time.

    in Creativity, Spirituality & Philosophy

    Posted

    Yeah, Courage, people here know this kind of thing can get pretty intense :) That's why crusty old bastards like me will advise you to pace yourself - give yourself  some time to make sense of what you've experienced. I don't only say this because I care, but also because (in my opinion) mystical experience - like intuition, works best in combination with a measure of mundane rational reflection. 

     

    • Like 7

    TGA is inviting comments and submissions on changes to the poisons standard

    in News & Notices

    Posted

    Hey @folias - I've done some more reading, and here the situation, as I see it in NSW. (I am not an expert, if you are ever in trouble, get a real lawyer!)

     

    In NSW DMT is a specifically a prohibited drug as it's in Schedule 1 of the  NSW DRUG MISUSE AND TRAFFICKING ACT 1985. Getting it off the TGA S9 list won't change that.

     

    But, it's also the case that anything on S9, not otherwise specified in the NSW Schedules, is also prohibited under NSW law. For example: 'A person who has in his or her possession a Schedule 9 substance (not being a prohibited drug within the meaning of this Act) is guilty of an offence.' - where 'prohibited drug' is defined as being on NSW Schedule 1. (from section 18B of the NSW act)

     

    So, for the legal status of DMT to change in NSW, you would have to change both its listing on the TGA S9 and its listing on the NSW Schedule 1. Either that, or change the NSW law to exempt it from the 'all-other S9s' provision of section 18B.

     

    I think. I could be wrong though, and am happy to be corrected. It's just how the situation strikes me as I read the relevant Acts. (Oh yeah, I know how to have a fun Saturday night!)

     

     

    • Like 2

    Long-term use of psychedelic drugs is associated with differences in brain structure and personality in humans.

    in Pharmacology, Chemistry & Medicine

    Posted

    Yeah, I'm not sure either - I didn't think they made a clear judgment either way on the thinning was good or bad - possibly because it's not as simple as that. I thought there was some thickening mentioned elsewhere, and I'm fairly sure they detected no deficits in the ayahuasca users. I'll have to re-read (carefully). Wasn't there another paper in the past few years on the psychological capabilities etc. of long-time ayahuasca users? I think @Alchemica would give a good perspective on this too.

    The dream time.

    in Creativity, Spirituality & Philosophy

    Posted · Edited by Yeti101
    Leaving words out of sentences, again.

    On 25/05/2016 at 4:05 PM, courage said:

    So I’m happy to share some of what I’m aware of. Open to criticism and change through discussion as my learning is always evolving.

     
    A light body structure is something to put attention to through connecting it to ones highest source origins.
     
    Connecting with your own ‘council of selves’ is very applicable right now, as I see many beings at this level unifying to bring the consciousness of creator to the human level, and further. Working with the correction energies and focused intention.
     
    Best wishes
     
    P.S. I will see if I can take a closer look at time and report back more thoroughly.
    Thankyou

     

    Hey Courage, I'm happy to talk to you about this :) and want to pick up on a few things you have relayed. For those reading this in a scientific mindframe, please accept this as metaphysical speculation, and excuse my gross misuse of physics :devil:

     

    The idea of a body of light is complicated - made no less complicated by our lack of knowledge. Nonetheless it is an appealing and recurring motif. 

     

    I've not experienced the 'council of selves' myself, but someone I was talking to recently said something that I feel parallels this - he spoke of hypnogogia that represent autonomous entities, who have independent perspectives and opinions regarding the self. He also sounded a note of caution to me - one that you should heed - that these revelations can drastically alter our self-image and our view of consensus reality, and thus can potentially (though not necessarily) be a source of peril to the deepward explorer.

     

    What I can speak to personally is time - I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on this. From the perspective of light, time does not exist - some people say that the spacetime path of light has zero length. From the perspective of consciousness as pure light, the universe would look somewhat different - else-when is more like elsewhere - but knowledge from this perspective cannot be perfectly communicated to those stuck in linear time without changing their worldlines. Do I know if we exist as pure light once we are free of biological carriers of our consciousness? No, I do not. But I did once have an experience, that I felt could be interpreted as being a glimpse of what it is like to be pure light and time-loose. Or maybe I was just struggling to process relativity and my brain just decided take the opportunity to give me a tutorial.

     

    Theoretically, I'm starting to think that reality is even weirder than this even, but I've not experienced this new weirdness first hand, yet.

     

    So, what's your investigation of time coming up with?

     

     

    • Like 3

    Mildew resistant pumpkin varieties?

    in Chill Space

    Posted

    It's not quite sub-tropical here, but I'm right on the coast, so it's super humid - I can't grow zucchini here - instant  mould. I trialled mouse-melons (which, to be fair, are not pumpkins), and while they need a lot of sun & water, they did not get any powdery or downy mildew. The african horned melons seem pretty resistant to it too. 

    • Like 1

    TGA is inviting comments and submissions on changes to the poisons standard

    in News & Notices

    Posted

    Hard to say how the courts would react. 

     

    Regarding decriminalisation, remember, the SUSMP is not law. To actually decriminalise anything, you would need to chance the state laws. Would re-scheduling make that easier? Probably. But you could just lobby for amendment to the relevant state laws and leave the TGA to their own devices. 

     

    Anyway, I guess we will just have to wait and see how this turns out.

    • Like 1
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