Also to people who rank LSD way up there...I dont get it. I took 250-300ug for my first trip at a festi and man all I got was utter mind-fuckery. Cant even recall most of the trip cause it was so other-worldly, couldnt relate any of it to real life matters.
I don't know about most people, but this is why it was for me when I took 8 hits of what the old timers who'd been doing it for 20 years said felt like 250 mics.
Software development was just a hobby starting at 14. Between then and 20 I progressively got better, got involved in hacker community, did my thing and didn't get caught (my friend not so lucky did 3 years in penn), and got out. I ended up contributing to an open source AI related application, which ended up getting me a job out of the country (company paid for my passport, paid for my housing, everything). Did stuff in that industry for a few years until I was about 23, moved into healthcare software development industry.
I have no degree in software development. I just happened to have a talent for it. Hell I didn't even know what I did was considered AI until the past year (my resume definitely got updated when I learned that).
I never wanted to go for a 4 or 8 year degree program, because I couldn't think of -anything- that would require that much time, and allow me to do something productive enough to make it worth it. Interests in linguistics, law, genetics, comp sci, whatever. None seemed "worth it".
Over past year, I started exploring drugs. All of a sudden a light bulb popped on and I went back to hacker mindset. I figured out my brain was just an extremely complex computer (computers got to boring easy for me). So I started exploring more, and more drugs, seeing what they all would do and how my body/mind would react.
Then LSD. Holy fuck. I just put my brain into a state, that is so out of the ordinary, that if I didn't expend tons of energy rationalizing and coming up with logical conclusions for everything I was experiencing, I'd be confused as hell.
But I wasn't. I did acid twice before I did that 8 hits, both were "interesting". The 8 hits however... I'll never see my brain the same way again. It all just clicked mentally, how much the brain is just like a computer, and that I'd be able to learn it's inner functionality the same way I did the software systems I hacked when I was younger.
During the peak of my trip, thoughts were racing so fast, but the CEV's were essentially 3-dimensional Visio diagrams of the code it would take for me to implement the human brain into software.
Delusions of Grandeur are a wonderful thing, but I am not egotistical enough to think I have the ability to do that now. I do know, I have the capability to learn everything required to do so though.
I discovered the degree program for Cognitive Science and it's what I'll be pursuing next chance I get. I took the Stanford AI-Class.org course and got my certificate of completion.
I found my purpose in life thanks to it. It has given me the inspiration I needed to push myself to where I think I can actually make a difference.
Can MDMA do that? XD