The "New Psychedelic Movement"

[Leg]

Yea, it seems to me that a problem with the "movement" is that "we" see "them" as enemies. This shouldn't be the case.

I agree with whoever said that you should try to convert 15-20 people instead of starting some mass campaign.

Changing society from the inside is bound to work eventually, because there will be no one left to resist. It's a slow process, but I don't see anything wrong with that. Better slow and steady than oscillating all the time and never really getting anywhere.

To tell the truth, I don't really see psychedelic drugs as being legalized anytime soon. Pot, sure. But pot really isn't where it's at compared to, say, LSD or psilocybin. I think that I can handle hallucinogen use, sure, but I've read several stories of kids on shrooms who run around outside naked and attack cops...obviously, not everyone is ready for it.

I don't think our society really values fun at all. I think fun is the only real thing in life. I only live for fun. I see this difference between my view, and grown-up society's view (I'm only 19, and I admit that perhaps that's the reason for this difference) and I respect both views. Maybe I don't understand their view, but they also don't understand mine.

I think perhaps psychedelics will be legalized in the form of therapeutic chemicals in the somewhat-near future (as shown by the new MDMA studies being done now) but I don't see them being legalized.

Which sucks, because I just wanna take some sid on a Friday night and talk to my friends without opening my mouth, and I don't wanna have to be considered mentally unstable in order to receive these chems!

 

[runaway]

I think that continued mapping of the brain on all levels (quantum, chemical, neuron, structural), especially with new scanning techniques, gene sequencing, protein modelling, will allow selective activation of processes in the brain with the equivalent ease of using a keyboard to produce music. Once we have a complete model of the brain, new selective drugs can simply be computed and their effects modeled over time in 3D. I have read in several books and on several websites (check out http://www.kurzweilai.net ) that the progress of these technologies might allow this within twenty years or less. I keep wondering how free we will be to use these technologies/ chemicals. As the psychedelic experience becomes more fine tuned, many of the governments current arguments against drug use will become more and more absurd. Is there some basic property of the universe that for every unit of pleasure I experience someone else must feel an equal unit of pain? What reasons will the authorities have to prevent me from using "safe" drugs, whether for spiritual use or for pleasure?

 

[Kanaba]

alright, lots of people in this thread have mentioned Huxley's "Island". While it's an intrigueing book, it's by no means a viable guideline to create a psychedelic, utopian society. the main reason working against Island: distance. America is a huge country... many diverse geographic regions, and with each region comes a different mindset. For example, folks on the west coast would probably be more receptive to psychedelics than folks in, say, southern Alabama. And not only America... distance can be applied to a whole lot of places. A "utopia" is only possible in a tiny, restricted area, like a small island. However, across an entire continent, it's not possible. (yet.)
I believe that it may be possible in the far-off future, if we continue to evolve. Think about it... a few thousand years ago, we were painting pictures on cave walls in the Great Rift Valley. In the space of only a couple thousand years or so, (obviously I'm not being exact), civilization bloomed, technology exploded, and human society started to change dramatically in exponentially shorter time periods. Consider what may be possible, say, 800 years in the future. Perhaps technology and a rebirth in the value of scientific reasoning in education will facillitate a mass-evolution. Perhaps then, through perpetual evolution, human beings will be able to achieve an anarchistic utopia. But not yet. Now, we have to worry about small changes... little by little... we gain a little more acceptance. It's a mission that should be passed down from generation to generation. We should tell our children, and they'll tell their children, and the torch will be passed on, until, eventually, our vision will be achieved.

Just my two cents. Peace.

 

[Xorkoth]

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