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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2633 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 29, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Which psychedelic did your friend do?

It happens to rhyme with Salman Rushdie.

Interesting. That's the one of the big 3 that I haven't tried yet, mainly for concern about how long primary effects can last. 8-12 hours? Ain't nobody got time for that.

4 hours for the ascent, trip, and descent on mushrooms? That's a nice Sunday midday event.

For what it's worth, a moderate dose of a benzodiazepine reduces the intensity of an LSD trip immediately. I don't know how functional you'd feel afterwards, but it's an option.

I had nothing important planned for the day, and I managed to mostly pull off the few errands that lurked waiting for me in the evening. But it's not a use and forget drug, and I agree shrooms are more sensible for the psychonaut on a time-crunch. What do you mean by the Big 3? I can infer that's LSD and shrooms, but the third one?

Mescaline. I consider those the big 3 of traditional (non-dissociative) hallucinogens. I consider the others, like DMT, the dissociatives, or Datura, to be the "hell no" zone.

Incidentally, I found mescaline to not be worth the hassle. I might've been under-dosed.

I haven't given mescaline much thought, it's probably far harder to acquire outside the Americas. I share your concerns about DMT, and datura is definitely something described in my forensic medicine textbooks for a reason. Nor is dissociation something I enjoy, it happened to me as a very idiosyncratic reaction to a prescribed drug, and it was quite unpleasant to experience.

You know, I’m not actually sure how to pronounce that.

Sal like the sul in sullied. Rush-D.

Ah, so you mean the wonder drug, PCP.

Correct. No notes. A Primary Care Physician is the solution for most cases of depression, or at least they can send you to a better shrink than I am.

The only psychedelic worth doing is DMT and its analogues, which don't rhyme with Rushdie. I am disappointed in your friend...

Are you trying to kill me or drive me insane?

I mean, you probably are, but you're usually more subtle about it. DMT is very low on the list of substances to try; I don't speak Machine Elvish, not even the LOTR kind. If they start talking shit about "universal love", I'm going to pull out a baseball bat.

Edit: I know it's unlikely to literally kill me. It's just not what I'm looking for, I don't want to lose contact with reality or risk truly mind altering or gnostic experience.

He doesn't know about the secret esoteric knowledge linear time factorisation method which breaks almost all modern cryptography...

I'll have to check in with Scott Aaronson, but I strongly suspect he hasn't tried that stuff either.

Eh, I wouldn't tell people not to try DMT if they're interested, but it's the polar opposite of what I desire.

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