DMT-induced shifts in criticality correlate with self-dissolution

Lucasoato

> We find that DMT shifts the normally dominant alpha oscillations towards a quieter subcritical state, increasing entropy while reducing complexity, and that this shift correlates with intensity of disruption of the sense of self.

Wait, is this a good or a bad thing? Asking for a friend.

awakeasleep

Its terrible if you’re trying to drive or operate machinery

cluckindan

1) Absolutely nobody is going to take heavy psychedelics if they are driving or operating heavy machinery, and if they are, they are either very misinformed or simply don’t care to the point of malice. Driving or operating while impaired is a crime in itself.

2) The effects of DMT wear off in 15-30 minutes, which is why it’s called ”the businessman’s lunch”. Subjectively, however, a person may experience decades of time pass.

isoprophlex

... Unless said machinery is provided to you by the machine elves, of course.

ireadmevs

Well, just by reading the abstract I can’t tell if the results are positive or not. But glad to see more research being done on this area.

victor22

Who over here in HN has tried DMT?

isoprophlex

I did a LOT of that. We made our own in undergrad; depending on audacity and effort we made stuff ranging from beautifully clear, crystalline needles to stuff that looked like satans' earwax. Extremely memorable stuff, that at that moment in life, was a very good thing to happen to me in order to learn how to connect with my feelings.

cluckindan

Haven’t tried it, but I’ve been told by decades of research that it is present in many common plants, mostly in low but in certain cases substantial quantities, and merely needs to be extracted and purified via recrystallization.

CuriouslyC

TL;DR: DMT makes brainwaves simpler and more disordered. I have a scientific background and I'm quite familiar with DMT, but I'm struggling to take anything meaningful from this.

isoprophlex

They found that DMT disrupts the brainwave patterns that, if you squint a bit, belong to what Hofstadter calls the "strange loop" of consciousness. In a sense it is as you'd expect.