Psychedelics and the view of the world

[lulzkiller]

I think Metzinger has an interesting point on your (= thoughtsUnThought) second question, i.e. whether second-guessing or altered states of consciousness give rise to seeing what is around us with less bias. I think he would argue that, although experienced psychonauts, psychotics etc. might be able to conceive of several "reality tunnels" (and through this, gain some sort of insight about how our perception of the world is structured: i.e. what we see is only an illusion - you might even have noticed quite a few people in here saying that intense psychedelic experiences give them the impression that the "whole world is one big joke"). However, I don't think Metzinger would go so far as to agree that we will ultimately be able to see the objective, physical reality out there because our biological system is simply hardwired so well by Mother Nature that it happens too fast for us to realize.

Metzinger has an awesome metaphor for this, invoking virtual reality, specifically in the notion of a "total flight simulator". The following is a rather long quote (6~ paragraphs) which will include some notions that would be too bothersome for me to explain here (and which Metzinger does a much better job of - read the book!):

I claim that phenomenal (=as it appears to us) first-person experience and the emergence of a conscious self are complex forms of virtual reality. A virtual reality is a possible reality. As anyone who has worn a head-mounted display or played modern video games knows, we can sometimes forget the "as if" completely - the possible can be experienced as the real. In a way, the conscious parts of our brains are like the body's head-mounted display: They immerse the organisms in a simulated behavioral space.
Together, the embodied brain and the PSM, the phenomenal self-model, work much like a total flight simulator. Before we get to the little word "total", let's look at why a flight simulator is a good metaphor for the way our consciousness works. A flight simulator is, of course, a training device that helps pilots learn to control an airplane successfully. To achieve this, the simulation must be as accurate as possible in integrating the two sources of sensory information: vision and the prioprioceptive (our own, internal) sense of balance. During a simulated takeoff, for example, the pilot not only has to see the runway, but he also has to feel the acceleration of the "as if" plane - and in relation to his own body.
Advanced flight simulators have replaced the movable cockpit mock-up and computer screen with a head-mounted display; two slightly displaced monitors create three-dimensional surround graphics. A special programming technique called infinity optics allow the pilot to look at remote objects "through the windows" of the cockpit, even though the computer-generated images are only a few inches from his face. The mock-up's movable platform has been replaced with seat shakes that simulate a range of realistic kinesthetic sensations, such as acceleration or turbulence. Moreover, so the pilot can learn to use on-board instruments and get to know how the aircraft will react to different operations, the simulations of visual and kinesthetic input are constantly updated at great speed and with maximum accuracy.
The human brain can be compared to a modern flight simulator in several respects. Like a flight simulator, it constructs and continuously updates an internal model of external reality by using a continuous stream of input supplied by the sensory organs and employing past experiences as a filter. It integrates sensory-input channels into a global model of reality, and it does so in real time. However, there is a difference. The global model of reality constructed by our brain is updated at such great speed and with such great reliability that we generally do not experience it as a model. For us, phenomenal reality is not a simulational space constructed by our brains; in a direct and experientially untranscendable manner, it is the world we live in. Its virtuality is hidden, whereas a flight simulator is easily recognized as a flight simulator - its images always seem artificial. This is so because our brains continuously supply us with a much better reference model of the world than does the computer controlling the flight simulator. The images generated by our visual cortex are updated much faster and more accurately than the images appearing in a head-mounted display. The same is true for our proprioceptive and kinesthetic perceptions; the movements generated by a seat shaker can never be as accurate and as rich in detail as our own sensory perceptions.
Finally, the brain also differs from a flight simulator in that there is no user, no pilot who controls it. The brain is like a total flight simulator, a self-modeling airpline that, rather than being flown by a pilot, generates a complex internal image of itself within its own internal flight simulator. The image is transparent and thus cannot be recognized as an image by the system. Operating under the condition of a naive-realistic self-misunderstanding (i.e. that the self is objectively, physically real), the system interprets the control element in this image as a nonphysical object: The "pilot" is born into a virtual reality with no opportunity to discover this fact. The pilot is the Ego. The total flight simulator generates an Ego Tunnel but is completely lost in it.
If the virtual self functions extremely well, the organism using it is completely unaware of its "as if" nature. The self-model activated in the human brain has been optimized over millions of years. THe process that constructs it is fast, reliable, and has a much higher resolution than any of today's virtual-reality games. As a result, the virtuality of the phenomenal self-model tends to be invisible to the user. But strictly speaking, it is simply the best hypothesis the system has about its own current state - presented in a new, highly integrated data format. (p. 107-8)

Note that Metzinger has simply appropriated the "tunnel" metaphor from previous users outside academia, e.g. Leary ("reality tunnel") and others.

Please also note that he does not mean Ego with all its Freudian implications. Here are some snippets of his description of what he means by it:

"The Ego is simply the content of your phenomenal self-model at this moment: your bodily sensations, your emotional state, your perceptions, memories, acts of will, thoughts). The Ego is a tool for controlling and planning your behavior and for understanding the behavior of others."

On the Ego Tunnel metaphor:

"Yes, there is an outside world, and yes, there is an objective reality, but in moving though this world, we constantly apply unconscious filter mechanisms, and in doing so, we unknowingly construct our own individual world, which is our 'reality tunnel'. We are never in direct touch with reality as such, because these filters prevent us from seeing the world as it is. The filtering mechanisms are our sensory systems and our brain, the architecture of which we inherited from our biological ancestors, as well as our prior beliefs and implicit assumptions."

Sorry for the massive wall of text - must be my longest forum post of all time! :D

 

[lulzkiller]

Also, just a short note on the speculations regarding 7-, 10, and perhaps even 26-dimensional universes and quantum physics. While these are no doubt extremely stimulating to ponder, both sober and under the influence, I think it would be rather advisable to invoke the notion of "levels of description". By this I mean that, to my knowledge, quantum physics and the associated theories happen at the subatomic level - not at the levels above, such as that of everyday occurence - where billard ball-physics (i.e. classical mechanics) seem to do a much better job of explaining what happens around us. It practically unfeasible to apply quantum theory to such large scale phenomena as the contents of human experience - though I will of course not deny that there might a quantum event occurring in a single neuron once in a while.

 

[Tranced]

How come most of the psychedelic substance users believe in some sorts of higher powers and think that universe has different stages or dimensions which can be entered through death or using psychedelic substances?

Is it before or after or after using the first times of these substances that this kind of thinking changes?

And how came people who are wiccas, pagans, gaians see and talk with fairies or other things from fantasy books? And those who believe in multiuniverses, aliens etc. see those things during the trip.

I am mean that it is quite harmfull in some extent when you start believing in such things that do not exist in real world but in fantasy books such as The Bible or movies like Independence day.

Dont get me wrong. I like those substances but when tripping I consider it same way as a good movie. If I for example while interacting with an alien hallucination thats warning me about world being destroyed by greed of mankind and only I can prevent that from happening by contacting presiden of United States I dont even think about doing it.

It happens totally just inside our brains while our brain chemistry is being altered. Consider hallucinations just a good video game or movie presented and directed by our brains. We do not enter in strange dimensions or cross a barriers of fairyworld and most importantly we dont act with actual beings. Only projections of our subconscient mind and past memories.

Well that's easy for you to say.

 

[RobbyG]

There brains are fried from all the acid!