First evidence found that LSD produces 'higher' level of consciousness, scientists claim

[bananas]

Source: The Independent

Scientists claim to have found the first evidence that psychedelic drugs create a “higher level of consciousness”.

LSD, the "date rape" drug ketamine and psilocybin, the active ingredient of magic mushrooms, were all found to increase the tiny magnetic fields produced by the brain.

This is used to create a mathematical measure of the complexity of brain activity, with people who are asleep having a lower level than people who are awake.

<snip>

“Since this measure has already shown its value as a measure of ‘conscious level’, we can say that the psychedelic state appears as a higher ‘level’ of consciousness than normal – but only with respect to this specific mathematical measure.”

<snip>

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/lsd-first-evidence-higher-level-consciousness-hallucinogenic-drug-scientists-a7690366.html

[pangaia]

1. 'scientists have 'found the first evidence.." really?

just now? like...yesterday?

No wonder republicans don't trust science.

[Snarkoleptic]

7. Pretty sure I found that same 'first evidence' back in high school.

Esp. when I fell in love the the backup singers at the Moody Blues concert at Poplar Creek back in '83.
I'm certain others found it before me, tho maybe not with these sirens.

[pangaia]

17. lol

They should have asked "Don Juan."

I never dropped acid but I could ride a motorcycle stoned in my 20s. For some reason I remember my thumbs were really big.

Rememmmmmberrrrrr
what the dormouse saaaaaid
Feed your heaaaaaad........
Feed your heaaaaaaad....................................

[BigDemVoter]

23. Right?

I always did (and do) love the green stuff.

But acid? I only dropped acid once, and I was in college. It was years ago, and it was an interesting trip. The first half was quite fun; I laughed hysterically with my friends. The second half was unpleasant, as I began to hear and see the bed breathing and other nonsense. It went on for hours, and I was so ready for it to be over!

[pangaia]

24. You were braver than I.

[Snarkoleptic]

25. It was weird as after the concert, I walked along a treeline on the way home.

I noticed soft skeletal faces with vague cobwebs trailing backwards, which was not at all scary.
They were obviously branches sticking out, which I backed up to take a 2nd look at, but had the same (IE not-random) appearance as when I initially walked by them.
I was so bemused that I backed up to pee and noticed the same exact faces watching....whooooaaaa!
True story!

[pangaia]

39. I believe it. I believe it....

[bananas]

2. First evidence for higher state of consciousness found

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-04-evidence-higher-state-consciousness.html

First evidence for higher state of consciousness found
April 19, 2017

<snip>

The diversity of brain signals provides a mathematical index of the level of consciousness. For example, people who are awake have been shown to have more diverse neural activity using this scale than those who are asleep.

This, however, is the first study to show brain-signal diversity that is higher than baseline, that is higher than in someone who is simply 'awake and aware'. Previous studies have tended to focus on lowered states of consciousness, such as sleep, anaesthesia, or the so-called 'vegetative' state.

<snip>

In a striking coincidence, the release date of this paper (19th April, 2017) comes precisely 74 years to-the-day after Albert Hoffman - who first synthesized LSD in 1938 - conducted his first 'self-experiment' to discover its psychological effects. This date, 19th April 1943, is widely known as 'bicycle day' in honour of Hoffman's bicycle ride home following this first LSD trip.

More information: Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/srep46421 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep46421
Provided by: University of Sussex

[bananas]

3. The paper is open access at nature.com

html or pdf at https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46421

Increased spontaneous MEG signal diversity for psychoactive doses of ketamine, LSD and psilocybin

Michael M. Schartner, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Adam B. Barrett, Anil K. Seth & Suresh D. Muthukumaraswamy

Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 46421 (2017)
doi:10.1038/srep46421

Received: 25 November 2016
Accepted: 15 March 2017
Published online: 19 April 2017

Abstract

What is the level of consciousness of the psychedelic state? Empirically, measures of neural signal diversity such as entropy and Lempel-Ziv (LZ) complexity score higher for wakeful rest than for states with lower conscious level like propofol-induced anesthesia. Here we compute these measures for spontaneous magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals from humans during altered states of consciousness induced by three psychedelic substances: psilocybin, ketamine and LSD. For all three, we find reliably higher spontaneous signal diversity, even when controlling for spectral changes. This increase is most pronounced for the single-channel LZ complexity measure, and hence for temporal, as opposed to spatial, signal diversity. We also uncover selective correlations between changes in signal diversity and phenomenological reports of the intensity of psychedelic experience. This is the first time that these measures have been applied to the psychedelic state and, crucially, that they have yielded values exceeding those of normal waking consciousness. These findings suggest that the sustained occurrence of psychedelic phenomenology constitutes an elevated level of consciousness - as measured by neural signal diversity.

<snip>

[sharedvalues]

12. Note Scientific Reports is not peer-reviewed for novelty

[Lucky Luciano]

4. Ketamine is wild stuff. nt

[targetpractice]

5. MDMA should be compulsory, IMHO. n/t

[WheelWalker]

13. Put it in the water, IMHO. n/t

[Progressive dog]

6. Amazing science, whoever would have thought

that hallucinogens did something to the brain.

[sharedvalues]

9. Exactly

[pangaia]

18. THREAD WINNER !!!!!!!!!

[byronius]

8. In all fairness to the researchers, an actual increase in the electrical field is a big deal.

[sharedvalues]

10. No it is not. Lots of ways to change brain electrical activity

[GliderGuider]

15. And so?

It would be nice if you dropped some actual info along with the diss.

[sharedvalues]

11. Not good science

[GliderGuider]

14. Please explain. nt

[Mosby]

31. The problem is that no one really knows what consciousness is.

There are widely divergent schools of thought about it, and some neuroscientists and philosophers don't think we will ever know.

[GliderGuider]

33. Of course, they're simply assuming a correlation

between the observed electrical brain activity and consciousness. The canonical Western interpretation is that consciousness arises from brain activity, so the assumption usually goes unchallenged.

I've wrestled with the concept of consciousness ever since I did acid back in 1969. I've come to the conclusion that consciousness is probably the fundamental ontological primitive of reality. IOW, reality arises from consciousness, not the other way around. Philosophically I'm an idealist, not a materialist. This is why I'm drawn to the non-dualist teaching of Advaita.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism

In philosophy, idealism is the group of philosophies which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing. In a sociological sense, idealism emphasizes how human ideas—especially beliefs and values—shape society.[1] As an ontological doctrine, idealism goes further, asserting that all entities are composed of mind or spirit.[2] Idealism thus rejects physicalist and dualist theories that fail to ascribe priority to the mind.

[CanSocDem]

36. Nobody wants to know.

Modern science moves along nicely as it is; Most are making a good living letting others set the standards for belief....

Their biggest fear is discovering that "Consciousness" is separate from the body. That would mess up every known institution of Modern Society.



.

[kysrsoze]

32. Yeah, i agree. Higher brain activity, perhaps, but not necessarily a higher level of consciousness.

That said... I think some good research can still be done in this field. I have seen another study, in which terminally ill patients were dosed once with magic mushrooms, and their dread/fears of death were replaced with a more calm state of mind, positivity and a sense of purpose. These feeling were actually sustained for up to 6 months after a single dose.

This, to me, is an example of worthwhile research.

[Pathwalker]

16. All I can say is this:

[X_Digger]

19. By that measure, seizures must be the ultimate high consciousness level.

(The whole brain tends to light up on an EEG.)

[bananas]

41. An association between seizures and higher consciousness has long been known

For example, Dostoevsky wrote about it in the 1800's:

http://www.charge.org.uk/htmlsite/dost.shtml

Fyodor Dostoevsky
1821-1881

The Russian Writer Dostoevsky, whose writings are among the worlds greatest literature, had a rare form of temporal lobe epilepsy termed "Ecstatic Epilepsy". Dostoevsky kept records of 102 epileptic seizures during his last two decades, which mainly occurred at night and were tonic-clonic or grand-mal. Seizures which occurred in the daytime were often preceded by an ecstatic aura, which has led neurologists to theorise that he had temporal lobe epilepsy with secondary grand-mal epilepsy.

Dostoevsky used his experiences to create characters with epilepsy in four of his twelve novels

<snip>

Dostoevsky 's observation of his own epilepsy

" For several instants I experience a happiness that is impossible in an ordinary state, and of which other people have no conception. I feel full harmony in myself and in the whole world, and the feeling is so strong and sweet that for a few seconds of such bliss one could give up ten years of life, perhaps all of life.

I felt that heaven descended to earth and swallowed me. I really attained god and was imbued with him. All of you healthy people don't even suspect what happiness is , that happiness that we epileptics experience for a second before an attack."

<snip>

More examples here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_epilepsy

List of people with epilepsy

<snip>

Epilepsy and greatness

A possible link between epilepsy and greatness has fascinated biographers and physicians for centuries.

<snip>

Religious figures

There is a long-standing notion that epilepsy and religion are linked,[136] and it has been speculated that many religious figures had temporal lobe epilepsy. The temporal lobe generates the feeling of "I," and gives a feeling of familiarity or strangeness to the perceptions of the senses.[137] It seems to be involved in mystical experiences,[137][138] and in the change in personality that may result from such experiences.[137]

Raymond Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness (1901) contains several case-studies of persons who have realized "cosmic consciousness".[137] James Leuba's The psychology of religious mysticism noted that "among the dread diseases that afflict humanity there is only one that interests us quite particularly; that disease is epilepsy."[136][139] Several of Bucke's cases are also mentioned in J.E. Bryant's 1953 book, Genius and Epilepsy, which has a list of more than 20 people that combines the great and the mystical.[140]

<snip>

The occurrence of intense religious feelings in epileptic patients in general is rare,[137] with an incident rate of ca. 2-3%. Sudden religious conversion, together with visions, has been documented in only a small number of individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy.[20] The occurrence of religious experiences in TLE-patients may as well be explained by religious attribution, due to the background of these patients.[141] Nevertheless, the neurological research of mystical experiences is a growing field of research, searching for specific neurological explanations of mystical experiences. Those rare epileptic patients with ecstatic seizures may provide clues for the neurological mechanisms involved in mystical experiences, such as the anterior insular cortex, which is involved in self-awareness and subjective certainty.[138] [145] [146]

<snip>

[GliderGuider]

20. Now they need to explain why middle C tastes like that particular shade of periwinkle...

[Dammit Jim]

21. The one time I dropped, I saw President Rutherford HAYES

And he was purple!

[GliderGuider]

22. LSD: Transcendental Medication

[Mickju]

26. I tried it once.

It made me laugh at everything and kept me awake all night. I had a wonderful time.

[KT2000]

27. I knew that already! n/t

[Midnight Writer]

28. So it is illegal to achieve a higher level of consciousness. Makes sense to me.

You would almost think our betters don't want us to be awake.

[KittyWampus]

30. One can achieve same results with meditation.

[JudyM]

37. Yes - increasing theta waves and getting beyond the "default mode network" of thinking that keeps

our consciousness more enclosed. Of course, we have to actually practice it fairly regularly to retrain our thoughts, but the effort is worth it.

[KittyWampus]

29. actually really interesting.

[just us]

34. Uses for LSD

LSD is being given to terminal patients with great results for new whole being and insight into life and the oneness of all things.

[Hestia]

35. Did anyone watch the 4-Part series "The Drug Years"? I also bought the book on which the

series was based. It's probably on youtube or somewhere. Highly recommend the series.

From what I remember, hallucinogens taken with others - such as when Owsley Townsend* gave 10s of thousand people acid at concerts - creates a group mind. It helps that the LSD is clean and people are there to help when if/when it starts going bad (believe it or not, drinking milk helps with that).

So, from these concerts with groovy music and talking at the universities, to kids protesting the war, women's rights, minority rights, etc. It just exploded.

Peter Coyote was involved with, The Group (?), the ones in Berkeley who were feeding people for free everyday and helping runaways who showed up at the Haight-Asbury scene in the 1960s. They would drop acid together and discuss they were experiencing and tried and did social activities that came from these discussions.

In developing the Group Mind, it did help propel society forward. (I remembering reading Steven Jobs dropped acid a lot. Something to mull over.)

TPTB freaked the fuck out over people coming together, protesting, trying to change society from within instead of without, without their permission. So they made up stories about how horrible hallucinogens are and made them Schedule I compounds.

What destroyed it all was when heroin and speed flooded SF, which has nothing to do with groovy vibes and helping others.

Fast Forward to the late 1980s & early 1990s and Ecstasy flooded the dance club scene and the same thing happened - a Group Mind developed at the raves. Groovy vibes and discussions coming out and imo jump starting technology. TPTB freaked out again and had to shut it down.

Cannabis, too, can help in developing a Group Mind but it works very slowly and takes longer. Slow and Steady wins the race.

*Owlsley Townsend synthesized LSD in great quantities, and it has been said that when he was busted, he and his team left 10s of thousands of barrels of LSD all over California.

And, yes, I have dropped acid several times. I wouldn't trust it today though, no telling what it has been adulterated with, or if it is even LSD.

[LakeArenal]

38. One thing I remember from youthful extensive research...

LSD, MDA, Buttons effect people differently. So in some cases it would expand and others see walls breathing and get fearful.

As we said then as we do now.. everything in moderation. One thing the "war on drugs" never admitted... Doing drugs can be damn fun. As long as they don't address that, they won't have many converts using scare tactics.

We thought we would do an hallucinogen on our 40th birthday, just so we could re-live our youth. NO WAY. That time had definitely passed. But we've been married 42 years and that's been quite a "trip".

[tavernier]

40. Steve Jobs insisted that his increased awareness

of all things was due to his use of LSD in college.

[Hestia]

42. Bill Hicks - Positive Drug Story

http://

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