Miscellaneous Psychedelic insights

[DrBear]

That the boundary between what is generally considered abiotic and biotic/living and inanimate is an artificial boundary. I am not suggesting that all things have souls or that all things have life in them. Abiotic systems and biotic systems are just part of the same world and exist as different points of the same spectrum. I am asserting that what we call life is the natural progression of what molecules will do - without divine anything. Molecular systems have the natural capacity to form increasingly complex molecules and aggregates of molecules. I imagine that this happens over the course of countless hundreds of millions of years if not longer. At some point some things would eventually emerge.
What if the start of life then is with the first complex molecules that could "self-assert?" Perhaps they could bend their structure in response to some environmental stimulus and this bending would increase the survival time of this complex molecule. That must have been a hugely significant change from molecules which don't "self-assert" and those that could. Of course the self-asserting molecules would exist slightly longer than neighboring molecules that did not have the capacity to bend or change their shape in response to a stimulus. So over time these self-asserting complex molecules would become more prevalent than those molecules that were unable to bend or flex in response to some stimulus; those without the capacity would deteriorate sooner. I can see how this might then lead to complex molecules which could self-assert to influence their environment or to influence other molecules so as to extend their survival just a bit longer and so on.
I don't believe that god or any other being "breathed" life into the inanimate to make it alive. That makes no sense to my thinking.
oh...so much more to say on this!

 

[DrBear]

during a period of moderate frequent use of methamphetamine in university I came up with a model for widely interlinked brain cells (cortical neurons) to save activation patterns and reactivate the whole pattern when some of the same neurons are reactivated.
For many years I would describe it and wave my hands around to explain it, or I would draw pictures, but nobody could understand what I meant about it.
Years later after much psychedelic review and refinements - I wrote it down revised, and passed that around and still nobody got it.

So I wrote this https://redgreenvines.github.io/reflex/,
most people still don't get it.

the interlinking is fairly extensive, for each memory pattern of cortical neuron activation
and observing all the (22 individual) branched neurons functional links to one reactivated neuron looks like this,
In this demo setup (the settings can be changed on the page, 8 functional links are required to reactivate a resting neuron.)
In this demo setup each branching neurons has 5000 links. Since only 90,000 neurons are simulated, there is a high likelihood
that for every pattern, most neurons will have more than 8 connections from synchronously active positions.

Anyway, this proof of concept of the principle is one of the rare insights (from multiple subsequent LSD sessions) that has produced a shareable souvenir, even if other people do not exactly get what is depicted, they find it interesting.

Well, I did read all that you have written and given it some patient thought. I admit that I do not understand what you are trying to communicate. Not an implication that you are mistaken, just that I am not grasping the concept. Are you able to express the thought in a more basic way so that we can understand your insight?

 

[FuckinAcidMan]

That the boundary between what is generally considered abiotic and biotic/living and inanimate is an artificial boundary. I am not suggesting that all things have souls or that all things have life in them. Abiotic systems and biotic systems are just part of the same world and exist as different points of the same spectrum. I am asserting that what we call life is the natural progression of what molecules will do - without divine anything. Molecular systems have the natural capacity to form increasingly complex molecules and aggregates of molecules. I imagine that this happens over the course of countless hundreds of millions of years if not longer. At some point some things would eventually emerge.
What if the start of life then is with the first complex molecules that could "self-assert?" Perhaps they could bend their structure in response to some environmental stimulus and this bending would increase the survival time of this complex molecule. That must have been a hugely significant change from molecules which don't "self-assert" and those that could. Of course the self-asserting molecules would exist slightly longer than neighboring molecules that did not have the capacity to bend or change their shape in response to a stimulus. So over time these self-asserting complex molecules would become more prevalent than those molecules that were unable to bend or flex in response to some stimulus; those without the capacity would deteriorate sooner. I can see how this might then lead to complex molecules which could self-assert to influence their environment or to influence other molecules so as to extend their survival just a bit longer and so on.
I don't believe that god or any other being "breathed" life into the inanimate to make it alive. That makes no sense to my thinking.
oh...so much more to say on this!

I mean Animism, one of the oldest spiritual practices known to humankind is essentially just that, everything has a base essence that could be considered analogous to a soul. From insects to mammals, from plants to fungi, from rocks to man made materials like plastics, everything contains the spark of the divine within it as it is a part of the "interconnected whole." Everything essentially "Is" and that somehow just kinda.... well full of energy/essence. While the subject in question might not always quite be "alive", it definitely is important in the sense that the subject is imbued with something beyond it's physical construct. Once again, all things "are" and that gives them purpose, dignity, and energy.

 

[brokedownpalace10]

That the boundary between what is generally considered abiotic and biotic/living and inanimate is an artificial boundary. I am not suggesting that all things have souls or that all things have life in them. Abiotic systems and biotic systems are just part of the same world and exist as different points of the same spectrum. I am asserting that what we call life is the natural progression of what molecules will do - without divine anything. Molecular systems have the natural capacity to form increasingly complex molecules and aggregates of molecules. I imagine that this happens over the course of countless hundreds of millions of years if not longer. At some point some things would eventually emerge.
What if the start of life then is with the first complex molecules that could "self-assert?" Perhaps they could bend their structure in response to some environmental stimulus and this bending would increase the survival time of this complex molecule. That must have been a hugely significant change from molecules which don't "self-assert" and those that could. Of course the self-asserting molecules would exist slightly longer than neighboring molecules that did not have the capacity to bend or change their shape in response to a stimulus. So over time these self-asserting complex molecules would become more prevalent than those molecules that were unable to bend or flex in response to some stimulus; those without the capacity would deteriorate sooner. I can see how this might then lead to complex molecules which could self-assert to influence their environment or to influence other molecules so as to extend their survival just a bit longer and so on.
I don't believe that god or any other being "breathed" life into the inanimate to make it alive. That makes no sense to my thinking.
oh...so much more to say on this!

One of the theories to explain the Drake Equation and no aliens is the great filter. There's a barrier to be overcome somewhere. The most logic candidate for the Great Filter to me is Eukaryotic cells, cells with a nucleus. Life may be (likely is) quite common, but one cell capturing or being invaded by another which then forms a nucleus may be more uncommon, even rare.

So, Eukaryotic cells would "self assert", or evolve, more efficiently than Prokaryotic cells.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

I figured out I have some kind of personality defect on acid. I had barely ever even read about personality disorders. Few years later I started to investigate it. I had made so much observations that I could see that they matched with OCPD, that is researched and documented. Then therapeutist basically implied they had figured it already.

 

[pupnik]

Well, I did read all that you have written and given it some patient thought. I admit that I do not understand what you are trying to communicate. Not an implication that you are mistaken, just that I am not grasping the concept. Are you able to express the thought in a more basic way so that we can understand your insight?

@DrBear
OK, in simple terms, everything we experience is active mental content, including touch, sights, hearing, internal feelings, body movement, thoughts and so on.
Every 1/10th of a second (more or less) the current active mental content becomes interlinked (in the way that the demo program shows) into associated memory engram patterns. which are also linked to the patterns that occurred in the previous frame of experience on all channels.

Subsequently, those associative memory engram patterns (which include mental content from each sensory sphere and thoughts) can be reactivated by something similar coming into mental contents, from external context, or internal thinking process -(i.e. when you see something like the previous, or hear something similar) - these re-activations of engram patterns are perceptive reflexes. which is the memory response. (all of our reactions in life are in this category - all of them - and they are happening continuously while awake or dreaming at ~ranging from 6 to 12 times per second (- the active frame rate of consciousness))

The formation and reactivation of memory linkages occurs continuously as frames in discrete time segments that last from 1/6 to 1/12 of a second, which includes alpha & theta frequencies, however many of our mental contents are symbolically representative of events that take much longer than 1/10th of a second such as sound sequences (eg phonemes and words), and rhythms and cadences over time, and the trajectories of movements in space, etc.

This is partly because all of the engrams of memory have linkages to the previous engram and when activated they subsequently elicit the next contextually relevant engram from memory. So words are recognized by a sequential feeling that they leave, and this feeling becomes associatively linked to the engrams of the experiences, and ideas are formed with sequential feelings of words and body feelings etc. Subsequently these can each be represented not only at actual speed but also in a flash of a memory reflex that feels like it contains the whole sequence.

Let me know if that expansion and simplification helped.

 

[DrBear]

@DrBear
OK, in simple terms, everything we experience is active mental content, including touch, sights, hearing, internal feelings, body movement, thoughts and so on.
Every 1/10th of a second (more or less) the current active mental content becomes interlinked (in the way that the demo program shows) into associated memory engram patterns. which are also linked to the patterns that occurred in the previous frame of experience on all channels.

Subsequently, those associative memory engram patterns (which include mental content from each sensory sphere and thoughts) can be reactivated by something similar coming into mental contents, from external context, or internal thinking process -(i.e. when you see something like the previous, or hear something similar) - these re-activations of engram patterns are perceptive reflexes. which is the memory response. (all of our reactions in life are in this category - all of them - and they are happening continuously while awake or dreaming at ~ranging from 6 to 12 times per second (- the active frame rate of consciousness))

The formation and reactivation of memory linkages occurs continuously as frames in discrete time segments that last from 1/6 to 1/12 of a second, which includes alpha & theta frequencies, however many of our mental contents are symbolically representative of events that take much longer than 1/10th of a second such as sound sequences (eg phonemes and words), and rhythms and cadences over time, and the trajectories of movements in space, etc.

This is partly because all of the engrams of memory have linkages to the previous engram and when activated they subsequently elicit the next contextually relevant engram from memory. So words are recognized by a sequential feeling that they leave, and this feeling becomes associatively linked to the engrams of the experiences, and ideas are formed with sequential feelings of words and body feelings etc. Subsequently these can each be represented not only at actual speed but also in a flash of a memory reflex that feels like it contains the whole sequence.

Let me know if that expansion and simplification helped.

Thanks. I'm processing all this.

 

[DrBear]

I mean Animism, one of the oldest spiritual practices known to humankind is essentially just that, everything has a base essence that could be considered analogous to a soul. From insects to mammals, from plants to fungi, from rocks to man made materials like plastics, everything contains the spark of the divine within it as it is a part of the "interconnected whole." Everything essentially "Is" and that somehow just kinda.... well full of energy/essence. While the subject in question might not always quite be "alive", it definitely is important in the sense that the subject is imbued with something beyond it's physical construct. Once again, all things "are" and that gives them purpose, dignity, and energy.

Interesting thoughts, thank you. It is the "spark of the divine" thing that I have difficulty with. I can't imagine that divine energy can get zapped into something inanimate which would give it life. Kind of like Frankenstein eh? I think that the origins of life are more along the lines of complex molecules which over immense periods of time develop into structures that can respond to their environment, so as to prolong their transient existence.