The Garden of Forking Paths
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versh
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sus
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wow Luka's poetry and psychedelic phenomenology anticipates Karl Friston's and Carhartt-Harris's theory of entropy reduction via psychedelics
sus
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Link/name of journal?
luka
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During the course of conducting ongoing experimental field research with experienced DMT users in London, the present author encountered Humphrey Earwicker (HE, a
pseudonym), a 39-year-old male, who had self-diagnosed himself with aphantasia aged 19 having read Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, and identifying with Huxley’s own aphantasia. Extraordinarily, HE had report- edly used DMT over 1,000 times since 2013 (most often in the form of changa, at various doses). It is possible that HE’s extensive use of DMT is attributable in part to the lack of visual mental imagery he experiences when taking the otherwise highly imagery-inducing drug and possibly the reduced concomitant intensity of the drug.
As part of the field research, HE vaporized and inhaled 55 mg of what looked and smelled like plant-extracted DMT (his own supply) and apparently had a full “breakthrough” DMT experience in the presence of the author and his research assistants. He reported an experience with a maxi- mum intensity of 10 on a scale of 1–10 (from normal state to the most intense) for the initial period of a 10-min psyche- delic experience, conforming to a typical breakthrough dose as identified by ongoing laboratory research with injected DMT (Timmermann et al., 2018) and field-based research by the author (currently incomplete) with inhaled vaporized DMT. The author has little doubt that this was a full DMT breakthrough experience as HE immediately reported exotic mystical phenomena, extreme intensity, and the encounter with (unseen in this case) numinous entities during the experience, consistent with high-dose DMT experiences (Strassman, 2001; Strassman, Qualls, Uhlenhuth, & Kellner, 1994). However, as with HE’s ordinary and prior DMT- induced mental phenomena, he did not experience visual imagery, although he experiences other DMT-induced men- tal phenomena (such as sensed presence, awe, somatic bliss, semantic associations, depersonalization, etc.).
Following the DMT experience, HE was interviewed about his aphantasia and administered the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ; Zeman et al., 2015)
pseudonym), a 39-year-old male, who had self-diagnosed himself with aphantasia aged 19 having read Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, and identifying with Huxley’s own aphantasia. Extraordinarily, HE had report- edly used DMT over 1,000 times since 2013 (most often in the form of changa, at various doses). It is possible that HE’s extensive use of DMT is attributable in part to the lack of visual mental imagery he experiences when taking the otherwise highly imagery-inducing drug and possibly the reduced concomitant intensity of the drug.
As part of the field research, HE vaporized and inhaled 55 mg of what looked and smelled like plant-extracted DMT (his own supply) and apparently had a full “breakthrough” DMT experience in the presence of the author and his research assistants. He reported an experience with a maxi- mum intensity of 10 on a scale of 1–10 (from normal state to the most intense) for the initial period of a 10-min psyche- delic experience, conforming to a typical breakthrough dose as identified by ongoing laboratory research with injected DMT (Timmermann et al., 2018) and field-based research by the author (currently incomplete) with inhaled vaporized DMT. The author has little doubt that this was a full DMT breakthrough experience as HE immediately reported exotic mystical phenomena, extreme intensity, and the encounter with (unseen in this case) numinous entities during the experience, consistent with high-dose DMT experiences (Strassman, 2001; Strassman, Qualls, Uhlenhuth, & Kellner, 1994). However, as with HE’s ordinary and prior DMT- induced mental phenomena, he did not experience visual imagery, although he experiences other DMT-induced men- tal phenomena (such as sensed presence, awe, somatic bliss, semantic associations, depersonalization, etc.).
Following the DMT experience, HE was interviewed about his aphantasia and administered the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ; Zeman et al., 2015)
luka
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and scored the lowest possible value of 16 (out of a range of 16–80) qualifying him as having “no visual imagery,” as compared to SE who scored 30 (“minimal imagery”) following his ayahuasca experience, but whom previously had also scored 16. Unlike the case of SE, HE reports that his aphantasia was lifelong and that he had never experienced visual mental imagery, including in dreams, even during his earliest childhood. These findings cumulatively suggest that HE’s condition is congenital (see also Zeman et al., 2015), not psychologically or otherwise acquired. Indeed, Dos Santos et al.’s (2018) case of “treatable” aphantasia appears to be novel in the literature on aphantasia, and probably belongs to the classification of acquired (Bartolomeo, 2002; de Vito & Bartolomeo, 2016; Zago et al., 2011) rather than congenital aphantasia.
Notwithstanding the possibility that HE’s aphantasia is functional (psychogenic) but that his extensive and intense psychedelic experiences have not led to its reversal, I propose that his aphantasia has lifelong biological origins and is not susceptible to change even after ingesting extremely potent psychedelic agents such as DMT on multiple occasions. By contrast, SE’s aphantasia, not being lifelong and apparently at least partially reversible, appears to be functional and therefore susceptible to changes via the use of DMT (in ayahuasca), probably through an at least partial psychological resolution of the inducing child- hood trauma. That SE’s first adult experience of visual imagery was coupled by an engagement with the childhood experiences that possibly precipitated his aphantasia and led to his reduction of the syndrome further attests to this supposition.
It is proposed that the theoretical distinction between acquired and congenital aphantasia be further explored with regard to the use of psychedelics. In addition, further research with psychedelics should include self-report mea- sures that can index aphantasia, such as the VVIQ, as well as behavioral tasks, such as those measuring binocular rivalry, which appear to be able to distinguish those with and without aphantasia (Keogh & Pearson, 2017). Further- more, neuroimaging comparisons of those with suspected acquired and congenital aphantasia might also prove insightful.
Notwithstanding the possibility that HE’s aphantasia is functional (psychogenic) but that his extensive and intense psychedelic experiences have not led to its reversal, I propose that his aphantasia has lifelong biological origins and is not susceptible to change even after ingesting extremely potent psychedelic agents such as DMT on multiple occasions. By contrast, SE’s aphantasia, not being lifelong and apparently at least partially reversible, appears to be functional and therefore susceptible to changes via the use of DMT (in ayahuasca), probably through an at least partial psychological resolution of the inducing child- hood trauma. That SE’s first adult experience of visual imagery was coupled by an engagement with the childhood experiences that possibly precipitated his aphantasia and led to his reduction of the syndrome further attests to this supposition.
It is proposed that the theoretical distinction between acquired and congenital aphantasia be further explored with regard to the use of psychedelics. In addition, further research with psychedelics should include self-report mea- sures that can index aphantasia, such as the VVIQ, as well as behavioral tasks, such as those measuring binocular rivalry, which appear to be able to distinguish those with and without aphantasia (Keogh & Pearson, 2017). Further- more, neuroimaging comparisons of those with suspected acquired and congenital aphantasia might also prove insightful.
sus
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Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
But to what purpose
Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves
I do not know.
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
But to what purpose
Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves
I do not know.
line b
Well-known member
@suspendedreason what does the future mapping model of intelligence your sometimes on about say about the intelligence an artist might display
sus
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Optimizing for futures requires a good model. An important part of art is presenting competent models. There are other important things are does that may not be predictive in the same sense, are just aesthetic or whatever.
sus
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Narrative I think "exists" insofar as it is a series of updating understandings/models. Things seem to follow next naturally. Others are jarring. Some turns are obvious i.e. foreseen and others are surprising i.e. unforeseen. Understanding of narrative fragment shapes understanding of macro structure shapes understanding of narrative fragment, ad nauseam.
A lot of contemporary art world does a similar thing where the narrative of the game gives works and interventions (including critical interventions) meaning. Some moves are obvious and some bewildering but then reveal or relate a retroactive ordering of the game and how it has been played. Like a Platonist Calvin ball—always searching for the game's essence by inventing the next rule or limit.