March 29, 2020

TIHKAL

Originally published on Blossom Analysis

TIHKAL by Alexander & Ann Shulgin is another (after PIHKAL) great biography and chemistry exploration by this amazing couple. You’re taken across the world, from small French villages to Brazilian villas. It’s humorous, opinionated, open-hearted, and overall a great read.

Quick Take

A book like TIHKAL is hard to capture in a summary. First, it doesn’t really explain much in the biography-side of the book. Second, the chemistry and subsequent description are great, but also something that is less well captured. Below is, therefore, more a summary of my interpretation of the themes that the book conveys.

Information Wants to be Free

Alexander (Sascha) is called in as an expert in various scenarios. One time he travels to Spain to help a defendant, another time he is called to Australia to testify as an expert, and one fun story recalls their time in Brazil teaching others how to make MDMA. In each case, he (or they) are there to provide information, to let people know the chemistry and help them make better decisions.

Yet at many moments, starting in the first chapter, they are confronted with a more and more restrictive law. One in which experimentation as a chemist is not possible. One in which drug development is hampered because you can’t make an ‘analog’ (defined so vaguely as to almost encompass any molecule).

Their previous book, PIHKAL, also tries to make information available, and that is probably what got their house raided.

Yet through all of this, I think someone can be hopeful. In some ways, information flows quite freely (e.g. I got this book, can write about it, you can read it). And some countries are wising up to the ‘war on drugs’. Heck, even America has legalized cannabis/weed at the state level.

Research into psychedelics is in full swing and for-profit companies (and probably some universities) are experimenting again with making analogs that might work better or in a different way than the chemicals already known. Who knows, many of the people involved here could have a copy of both books on their shelves. Let’s hope future legislators do.

Psychedelics Work, but How?

Ann (Alice) describes her use of psychedelics as a therapist (one with experience, not with any formal training). She enlightens the reader on how there is an underground layer (can I say cabal) of therapists who have developed therapy sessions around MDMA, MDA, 2CB, and even LSD. She talks about various sessions where the participant/patient takes MDMA and what some criteria are for when they use it (i.e. a long-standing working relationship).

What I didn’t read, and what Ann didn’t suggest, is that we know why they work. Scientists are hard at work trying to figure this out and at this moment (2020) we’re starting to get the first clues (e.g. increased neuroplasticity), but what we do know is that they work.

For whom is it most effective? When should we do it? For who shouldn’t we do it? What is a reasonable dose? And should we give it every week for 6 weeks (similar to what Ann did) or would one time be enough? With guidance, and if yes, how much?

These are all questions that we have at this moment. We might venture to guess at some answers. But what I read between the lines is that we need experience to learn. Experience that we can share (coming back to the information that wants to be free/spread). Experience to which we can apply reason, the scientific method, and a whole bunch of gut feelings.

March 29, 2020

Remote

Remote by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson makes the case for working remotely. They do it successfully with their own company (Basecamp) and encourage others to do it too.

At first pass, I found the book not to apply to my own situation, but I might reread it as the current situation makes it more present than before.

March 29, 2020

Antifragile

Antifragile by Nassim Taleb is quite an interesting book. Read a long time ago, summary to be made (will probably read again now in May 2020)

Antifragile – systems that increase in capability to thrive as a result of stressors, shocks, volatility, noise, mistakes, faults, attacks, or failure

The main idea of the book is presented above. Some other concepts I’ve put in Obsidian (Zettelkasten) so I can find them connected to other things.

Here is a more generic summary:

  • Lindy effect: things (non-alive) that have survived to this day, will survive longer than a thing that is younger (e.g. a book that is in print for long, will probably outlive a newer book)
  • Barbell strategy: strategy that focusses on two extremes, from finance, can also be applied to personal goals or work goals (very high and very low risk)
  • Via negativa: what to avoid/not do (e.g. see a doctor for small ails)
  • Skin in the game: need to take a risk (personally) to do something (Taleb argues that otherwise you won’t have the right incentive)
  • Green Lumber Fallacy: understanding the wrong thing, or not understanding/knowing about the underlying/practical considerations
  • Also lots of talk about concave and convex relationships versus them being linear. This could also explain second order effects as sometimes only one more thing needs to happen before the graph shoots up versus trickles up

More reviews

  • Astral Codex Ten
    • positive but notes that it’s much crammed into one concept
    • “… getting your predictions right was less important than calculating payoffs right. For example, if some very smart scientists tell you that there’s an 80% chance the coronavirus won’t be a big deal, you thank them for their contribution and then prepare for the coronavirus anyway. In the world where they were right, you’ve lost some small amount of preparation money; in the world where they were wrong, you’ve saved hundreds of thousands of lives.“
March 26, 2020

Neo.Life

Neo.Life by Jane Metcalfe & Brian Bergstein (and the contributing authors) presents 25 visions for the future of the human species. They vary from research reports grounded in today, to speculative stories about how our world will look in 50 years.

The book is divided into three parts, the first consists of road maps and is the most grounded in today. The second is creative briefs and those look at what could be possible (say in 5-50 years). The last imagines a brave new world in which the human species is quite different from today.

Below are some of the things I found most interesting:

Jan Metcalfe (the author/compiler) wrote down the principles that the group proposes for the development of our species:

  • Technology should be used to increase biological diversity, both in humans and other species.
    • To future proof the species and I think also as a counterpoint to the monoculture that we sometimes strive for (e.g. optimize for intelligence over art)
  • In general, people should be free to determine their own use of genetic modification, based on well-informed choices
    • Of course it’s difficult to say who is well-informed
    • But they do note that it should give more freedom to someone experimenting on themselves versus editing an embryo
    • And makes us think about what we edit that is only for you, or something that you pass along through the gene line
  • Humility and caution will lower the risk of unintended consequences that would undermine biotechnologies and thus reduce human possibility in the long run.
    • This seems a bit too vague
    • The explanation does mention more mute switches in genes and testing in somatic cells
  • Governance of biotechnologies should exhibit traits of the underlying system.
    • This argues that the regulations should be aware of the biological features (feedback loops, adaptations)

Genetic sequencing of everyone should help us eliminate single-gene diseases and make carriers more aware of them.

  • One example used was to have this added to dating, so at a second date you could bring it up and prevent heartbreak
  • That part didn’t sound to convincing, but the part about saving a million lives did

We humans are not diverse (only 0.1% of genome is different)

  • What would happen if this changes and we would have different types of humans?
  • Some adapted to living in space (against radiation) or other circumstances

One author (David Eagleman) philosophizes about us being able to choose kids and by having more choices, regret the alternative histories (the choice we didn’t make/pick).

  • I don’t think that applies perfectly, but I do get the point that if we know what kid we choose from 8 (or 100) options of which we knew some characteristics, we might regret it later on

Two stories revolve around the democratization/stuff becoming cheaper, of biotechnology. One should only think about a more efficient SARS-CoV-2 and we would all be toast. So ethics and detection should be paramount.

Zoe Cormier imagines the perfect drug. This reflects (one of the) last chapter(s) in Drugs: Without the Hot Air by David Nutt. It would be great if we could invent something that was better than was out there today (alcohol, tobacco – and others).

March 24, 2020

The Most Important Thing

The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks offers you “uncommon sense for the thoughtful investor”. The book hopes to install an investment philosophy in you that will help you do well with your money.

I’ve started this book quite some years ago (say 2014) and am now re-reading it and making my notes here.

This book review is also part of my Financial Independence project/essay.

Introduction

  • “Successful investing requires thoughtful attention to many separate aspects, all at the same time.”
  • Essentially the introduction says to get information from a wide variety of sources
  • And that you learn best in hard times
  • Take action on what you’ve learned

The Most Important Thing Is … (chapter)

1. Second Level Thinking

  • No rule always works
  • Think one step beyond the obvious
    • If the stock is high, is it too high or maybe even still undervalued?

2. Understanding Market Efficiency (and Its Limitations)

  • The market reflects the consensus view/price
    • So only with an unconventional perspective, can you make (more) money
    • You are betting on inefficiencies in the market
  • The inefficiencies may only be there for a certain time

3. Value

  • Investment strategies can be based on fundamentals or price behaviour
    • The second sucks because there is a Random Walk
    • The historic price doesn’t predict the future price
  • Fundamentals can be divided into
    • Value investing (intrinsic value)
      • Current value is higher than the price
    • Growth investing (find companies that will grow fast in the future)
      • Company will outgrow current (correct) price
  • Growth investing is more difficult (more uncertainty)

4. The Relationship Between Price and Value

  • “If your estimate of intrinsic value is correct, over time an asset’s price should converge with its value”
  • Psychology and technicals also change the price
    • The latter is things like forced selling during a crisis
    • The former constitutes group think, bias (e.g. earlier on alphabet)
  • “People should like something less when its price rises, but in investing they often like it more”
  • The routes to investment profits are:
    • Benefiting from a rise in the asset’s intrinsic value
    • Applying leverage (borrowing money, thus making/losing more)
    • Selling for more than your asset’s worth
    • Buying something for less than its value

5. Understanding Risk

  • Risk-adjusted return looks at the return you’ve made, in light of the risk (uncertainty, wider range of outcomes) that you took
  • The possibility of permanent loss is the worst risk
  • “There’s a big difference between probability and outcome. Probable things fail to happen – and improbable things happen – all the time”
  • Think of the Black Swan concept by Nassim Taleb (fat tail risks)
    • So protect yourself in case very bad things happen
  • We don’t fully ‘grog’ risk if we look back at the past (one outcome) as we try to predict the future (many outcomes possible)
  • We underestimate the biggest risk (e.g. global pandemic – written 24 March 2020)
  • Risk lumps together (sometimes many bad things happen at the same time for no reason)

6. Recognizing Risk

  • Risk increases during upswings, and materializes during recessions
  • “Risk tolerance is antithetical to successful investing”
  • If stocks are high, people believe the risk is gone (not true)
  • Investment risk is exactly there where it isn’t predicted/expected

7. Controlling Risk

  • Risk is not visible, only losses (when risk and negative events collide)
  • So if there are no losses, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t risk
  • Good portfolios have either lower risk or higher returns than average
  • Prepare for one-in-a-generation events (as you can’t prepare for everything)
  • (professional) investors are not in the market to make 4% (but more like 8%), so living without risk is not possible

8. Being Attentive to Cycles

  • There are always cycles (ups and downs)
  • Remember this rule and profit when others forget it
  • “The worst loans are made at the best of times” (because no one things there is risk – cycle turns around and ouch)
  • Just when people predict the market can never fall again, it probably will

9. Awareness of the Pendulum

  • The markets (and actors on the market) move like a pendulum, almost never being in the middle
  • E.g. between euphoria and depression, between overpriced and underpriced
  • The pendulum regarding risk attitudes is the most important one
  • The extreme attitude at one side of the pendulum will reverse

10. Combating Negative Influences

  • Human nature (psychology) often leads to making the wrong decisions
    • E.g. greed and optimism, or conversely fear
  • Another example is to conform to the view of the herd, rather than resist
  • So stick to intrinsic value (of a company)
  • Act out your plan (not based on your spur-of-the-moment feelings)
  • If things look ‘too good to be true’, they are
  • Be willing to look wrong when the market is misvalued
  • Find a support group / like-minded people

11. Contrarianism

  • “As the pendulum swings or the market goes through its cycles, the key to ultimate success lies in doing the opposite”
  • When the market is at an extreme (up or down), it reflects an inflection point (so be a contrarian)
  • “buy when they hate ’em, and sell when they love ’em”
  • It won’t be easy, you still need to have the ability to know when prices have diverged from their intrinsic value
    • Most of the time this won’t apply
    • And timing is everyting, overprices doesn’t equal going down now
  • So only do something contrarian, when you know the crowd is wrong

12. Finding Bargains

  1. buy best investments
  2. make room for them by selling lesser ones
  3. stay clear of the worst
  • You need rigour and discipline to find the bargains
  • e.g. bonds that were undervalued
  • Others need to (irrationally) think that this investment is not attractive (perception is worse than the ‘real’ situation)

13. Patient Opportunism

  • Wait for investments to come to you, don’t go searching for them (by changing your criteria)
  • Don’t ‘reach for returns’, to try and get a return when the market is not offering it (at your risk level)
  • Buy when others are forced to sell (in a crisis, they sell because they need to, not because the asset is bad)

14. Knowing What You Don’t Know

  • You can’t see the whole picture
    • only if you zoom in far enough can you say something with confidence
    • you might know where you are in a cycle/pendulum
  • Forecasts suck (they are bad, and thus of little value)
    • they just extrapolate the past
  • Overestimating what you know if the greatest vice

15. Having a Sense for When We Stand

  • You can’t know when the market turns, but you can know/estimate where on a cycle you are
    • Understand the present
    • What can you infer from that?

16. Appreciating the Role of Luck

  • Some improbable bets pay off, that doesn’t mean someone is skilled
  • Only in the long-term can you see who is really skilled
    • again the concept of alternative histories
  • It’s more important to survive a downturn, than to ‘win’ and be exposed to them (and lose in the long term)

17. Investing Defensively

  • Avoid losing, this is more important picking winners
  • Have a margin of safety/error
    • what if things go wrong, can you survive?
    • if you buy something at a low enough price, you have enough margin

18. Avoiding Pitfalls

  • “An investor needs do very few things right as long as he avoids big mistakes – Warren Buffet”
  • Sources of error are analytical or psychological/emotional
  • In the former, there is the ‘failure of imagination’, not being able to conceive of all possible scenarios
    • Again, the memory of the investor is short (and optimistic)
    • A crisis happens because improbably events collided with risk
    • Understanding correlation (or the lack of) between assets/portfolio is also important (all go up/down at same time)
  • The latter concerns many things already discussed (greed, mania)
  • Some tips on avoiding pitfalls:
    • take note of carefree, incautious behaviour of others
    • prepare psychologically for a downturn
    • sell risky assets
    • reduce leverage
    • raise cash (personal note: to buy when market is low again)
    • tilt portfolio towards increased defensiveness

19. Adding Value

  • beta: relative skill in relation to the market
  • alpha: personal investment skill (unrelated to movement of the market)
  • y = portfolio performance, y = a + βx
  • So look at both, and the risk (aggressive/defensive) profile of the investor
  • Oaktree (the investment firm the author is co-chair of) tries to do ok/average in good years, and do better (less bad) in bad years

20. Putting It All Together

  • Add value, by performing reliably and with skill
  • (the chapter summarizes all other chapters/lessons)
March 24, 2020

Magic Medicine

Originally published on Blossom Analysis

Magic Medicine by Cody Johnson is a great exploration of 23 (categories of) psychedelic plants and substances. It takes an observational perspective in which it’s open to theories and traditions, but sticks to the science and actual description of the drugs’ effects. Both for people who are new to psychedelics and the more experienced, the book offers new insights to all.

Quick Take

Magic Medicine is divided into four parts:

  • Classical Psychedelics (serotonin-related/oriented)
  • Empathogenic Psychedelics (amplify emotions)
  • Dissociative Psychedelics (detached from your body)
  • Unique Psychedelics (others)

Throughout the four parts, you’re introduced to 23 psychedelics or groups of psychedelics. You encounter the well-known ones like MDMA, LSD, psilocybin (truffles), but also meet less familiar compounds like Mad Honey, DXM, and MDA.

Each chapter describes the effects of the compound (group), it’s short history, discovery, and possible medical applications. The author is careful in being not too optimistic or wish-full, yet at the same time does do a good job of describing how (traditional) cultures use the substances in rituals.

Throughout the book, you get the distinct feeling that all the different psychedelics offer unique perspectives (lenses/doors) into our perception. It’s thus such a shame that most are banned in many countries and that many don’t get to experience these different perspectives.

Below are my personal new insights and interesting tidbits from the book. Here I skip over the more obvious or well-known facts, so please do consult Erowid or another site to learn more about a substance, or give the book a read.

Part 1 – Classical Psychedelics

Chapter 1 – 2C-B and the 2C Family

  • Invented by Alexander Shulgin and Michael Carter in 1975 (see Pihkal)
    • Discovered when tweaking/changing the DOB/Dox family (see chapter 5)
  • Used in therapy, possibly still underground, for it’s lucid and gentle effects
  • 2C-E is known to be even more intense
  • 2C-1 and 2C-C are lighter, possibly more tactile

Chapter 2 – 5-MeO-DMT

Chapter 3 – Ayahuasca

  • Made from plants that contain DMT (Chacruna, chaliponga), and a carrier (caapi – contains harmala alkaloids)
  • Used in traditional healing a lot, but not many rigorous scientific studies on it’s healing properties (e.g. how good is it at kicking addiction)

Chapter 4 – DMT

  • Changa is a new way of smoking DMT by adding MAOIs that potentiate (increase power/effect) DMT’s effects
    • The onset is slower than smoking it pure, and more manageable
  • Used by Timothy Leary and friends, but then by injecting it
  • Best documented by Dr. Rick Strassman (60 volunteers, 400 dosages) in DMT: The Spirit Molecule

Chapter 5 – DOM and the DOx Family

  • Duration of 24 hours (12 to 36)
  • Produces a body high, tactile positive experiences, hallucinations (3-5 milligrams)
  • Also used by Richard Alpert (Ram Dass)
  • DOI is also used in PET scans (by replacing the iodine with a radioactive isotope)
  • DOI appears to be effective in preventing asthma in mice

Chapter 6 – LSD

  • Pure LSD is a white crystalline powder with no odor (but usually dissolved in water and add to ‘tabs’)
  • It’s a derivative of ergot (parasitic fungus on rye grains)
  • The Grateful Dead shows were used as a distribution network for LSD
    • The original audio engineer and financier, Owsley Stanley, was even a producer of it
  • MAPS (known for MDMA research) also studied LSD and anxiety in patients with terminal illnesses (paper)

Chapter 7 – Morning Glory

  • Of the thousands of variations only some are psychoactive (e.g. Turbina corymbosa, Ipomea tricolor)
  • Morning glory seeds are also used to treat excessive bleeding in postpartum women
  • Albert Hofmann was the one who discovered that he psychoactive morning glory seeds contained ergot alkaloids (like LSD)
  • Effects are similar to, but lighter, than LSD

Chapter 8 – Peyote

Chapter 9 – Psilocybin Mushrooms

  • Used in the Harvard Psilocybin Project (Timothy Leary, Ram Dass), but also mentions the good research done by Rick Doblin (of MAPS fame)
    • The latter showed that recidivism of prisoners was unchanged
  • Psilocybin is now actively being studied and shows much promise (depression, anxiety, OCD, quitting smoking, etc)
    • Mostly attributed to ‘resetting the brain’ and being able to ‘confront/revisit experiences’

Chapter 10 – San Pedro

  • Contains mescaline like Peyote, less well-known than Ayahuasca
  • One of the traditional uses is to find lost items

Chapter 11 – Yopo and Vilca Beans

  • These are seeds of the Anadenanthera trees
  • Used mainly in South America
  • Mostly used as a snuff that is inhaled into the nostrils
  • Contains bufotenine, also DMT and 5-MeO-DMT
  • People with schizophrenia and autism have significant concentrations of natural bufotenine in their urine
    • It’s unclear if this has any causal effect or is a byproduct

Part 2 – Empathogenic Psychedelics

Chapter 12 – MDA

  • Gordon Alles discovered amphetamine in 1927, MDA in 1930 (the A stands for amphetamine)
    • The effects lie somewhere between MDMA and cocaine or amphetamine
  • Before 1970, it was widely used in psychotherapy (notably by Leo Zeff and Claudio Naranjo)

Chapter 13 – MDMA

  • Almost 7% of American adults (20+ million) have tried MDMA
  • “If alcohol is a social lubricant, MDMA is a full tune-up of body and mind, generating a sense of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being”
  • Frequent high doses (daily/weekly) is neurotoxic, moderate doses are not correlated with brain damage
    • Most deaths which are linked to MDMA are caused by other factors (too much water/overheating/co-drug use)

Part 3 – Dissociative Psychedelics

Chapter 14 – DXM

  • Dextromethorphan (DXM) is cough suppressant
    • The bad taste/syrup of cough suppressant is intentional, to prevent people from doing ‘too much’
  • Low dosage leads to euphoria, anesthesia, unusual bodily sensations
  • High dosage leads to profound out-of-body experiences

Chapter 15 – Ketamine

  • Now commonly used for anti-depressant effects in clinics
    • Also being studied for effects on alcoholism, opioid addiction, chronic pain
  • “Stumbled upon” by Calving Stevens in 1962
    • Found as a derivative of PCP
  • “The synthesis of ketamine is quite complex, so the black market supply is most often diverted from legitimate sources”
  • Used by John C. Lilly (quite the mad scientist) who subsequently also invented the isolation tank (sensory-deprivation chamber)
  • Tried by 2.7 million Americans (close to 1%)

Chapter 16 – Nitrous Oxide

  • The smallest psychedelic, one oxygen atom attached to two nitrogens
  • Discovered (and then used by aristocrats) in 1772 by Sir Joseph Priestley
  • Tried by 16 million (5%) Americans
  • Dangerous is used irresponsible (gas masks – directly from container), safer if inhaled from a balloon
  • Used by William James (1842-1920) – father of psychology
  • Still being used for labor pain relief
  • Also being studied in combination with talk therapy for anti-depressant effects (pilot study)

Chapter 17 – Salvia

  • Salvia Divinorum is part of the mint family
  • Salvinorin A (the active ingredient) is the most potent psychoactive compound in all of nature
    • Half a milligram can do the trick
  • Usually made into a water diffusion, or chewed, but can also be smoked
  • Used as a back-up psychedelic by María Sabina (Mazatec healer)
  • Works by triggering the kappa opioid receptor (KOR)

Unique Psychedelics

Chapter 18 – Amanita Muscaria

  • Red mushroom with white spots (like in the Disney movies)
  • Used by traditional cultures in Siberia (specifically Kamchatka)
  • It can’t be cultivated but only grows next to birches or pines (other trees sometimes work too)
  • Fly agaric “produces stillness of mind, delusions often mistaken for reality, and a sense of detachment“
  • Contains the active ingredient muscimol (and ibotenic acid which is converted into the former)
  • Can be extracted (read: drunk) from urine up to 5 times

Chapter 19 – Cannabis

  • The Cannabacae family (of which Cannabis is part) also contains hackberries and hops
  • The protein-rich seeds are now also being used for hemp sprouts, hemp milk, hemp oil (and hemp fiber)
  • In the medical context, there are positive effects on neuropathic pain, epilepsy, MS, and it’s anti-inflammatory
    • But, as the book notes, “Cannabis is not a miracle drug … most of its medical benefits remain anecdotal or speculative, and it does have real side effects.”

Chapter 20 – DiPT

  • Also discovered by Alexander Shulgin and Michael Carter, in 1980
  • Leads to auditory hallucinations, but usually not pleasant/enhancing
    • One early tester said “Piano sounds like a bar-room disaster”
  • But another also described being more aware of sounds in the time after experiencing the effects of DiPT

Chapter 21 – Fish and Sea Sponges

  • Some sea sponges contain 5-Bromo-DMT
  • The effects are psychedelics, but not per se pleasant
    • Usually, tightness in the chest is reported for instance
  • There might be many more aquatic animals that contain psychedelics, we are just not so familiar with most of them

Chapter 22 – Iboga

  • Traditionally found in Gabon, also being used in detox centers in Mexico, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Canada
  • Works both on serotonin and other receptors that lead to more dissociative effects
  • Used in small dosages as a stimulant
  • In higher dosages leads to the inability to stand, vomiting, photosensitivity
  • Lasts up to 20 hours, with after-effects for days
  • Howard Lotsof is responsible for promoting Iboga for its anti-addiction capability
    • He used it to kick a heroin addiction, as did 5 of 7 of his friends
    • But long-term results about the effectiveness of this type of treatment is still lacking

Chapter 23 – Mad Honey

  • Found in Nepal and Turkey
  • Happens when bees are in regions with azalea (a type of rhododendron)
  • One spoonful leads to mental high, sensations of movement, and spatial distortion
    • At higher doses, it leads to convulsions, hallucinations, vomiting, problems with breathing
  • Used multiple times in warfare (let the opposing party consume it)
March 17, 2020

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu is another great collection of stories by this awesome writer and translator.

Previously I’ve written about The Paper Menagerie and also liked many of the stories in that one.

Here the stories are more focussed on sci-fi, but there is still a lot of fantasy topics in there too.

Lots of great characters and stories. I can recommend it.

See a very good review on Goodreads (with spoilers)

March 16, 2020

Founders at Work

DRAFT – taken from Evernote 26/02/15

Startups create value
Start with a sprint, then slow down the least!
Don’t look productive (e.g. suits, business meetings), be productive instead
Founders were unsure that they were onto something big
Perseverence / determination is factor nr 1
Adaptable nr 2 – never lose sight of what the users want
Have a good co-founder
Tips: 1) write a business plan, 2) don’t expect users to change behavior too much
Learn what makes you valuable
Every time you save on part you save on complexity (queal makkelijker)
Best things came from 1) not having money, 2) not having done it before

March 12, 2020

The Life You Can Save

The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer is an awesome book that will spark your interest in doing good, help you know where to donate, and discusses honestly what objections you might have to it.

Download the book for free!

Also as an audiobook!

Here are some random notes:

“The argument that we ought to be doing more to save the lives of people living in extreme poverty presupposes that we can do it, and at a moderate cost. But can we? If so, to which organizations should we donate? It’s a question all donors should ask themselves, yet only 38% of U.S. donors do any research at all, and only 9% compare different nonprofits.”

Please visit givewell.org too compare charities!

We also have had an enormous impact. Irradication of smallpox, getting millions (if not billions) out of poverty, having few mothers and children die. See Gapminder (website) or Factfulness (book).

On the whole, we’re all giving very little. “Aid over that period was about 0.3% or 30 cents of every $100 earned.” And only a small percentage of that was going to effective charities.

“To get some perspective on this: in 2017, worldwide net official development assistance and aid was approximately $170 billion, while in the same year, consumers spent $532 billion on cosmetics.”

Of that 0.3%, much was also political and defense-related spending. E.g. “Afghanistan topped the list of recipients of U.S. aid, receiving $1.3 billion … Afghanistan is undoubtedly a very poor country, but so is Ethiopia, and Ethiopia has three times as many people as Afghanistan“

One big question that I want to answer myself is ‘How much should I give?‘

I think that giving effectively will lead to more happiness (or prevent more suffering) than much of the money I earn would bring if I spend it on myself or my immediate surroundings.

Peter Singer defines it as your ‘fair share’ and offers different views on how to approach this.

Ok, I can keep on reading the book (I have it open as a .pdf (again for free to download)) but I should be making some rules for myself.

I will put them in this post that focusses on my financial situation. Go read it here.

Some basic points:

  • Save money by not spending it on things that won’t make myself happy in the first place
    • This includes spending on coffee at the train station regularly
    • But still doing this at the start of a vacation or other irregular moments
  • Figure out how much to keep/save to live comfortably
  • And how much to save/have to pay off student debts
  • Find out how to donate most effectively (via holding?)
    • Find out if that circumvents the 10% max donation limit
    • Or that I should do that by making a contract with AMF
  • Discuss this with Lotte, but should be alright since what I intend to keep is already enough

March 2, 2020

The Psychedelic Experience

I wrote a review of this book for Blossom. See a copy below:

The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) merges the psychedelic experience with the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It’s an interesting book that tried to merge Western use of psychedelics (which originate mostly from South America) with Eastern philosophy. As Daniel Pinchbeck states in the introduction, the book can best be seen as a product of the time (the 1960s), not as a complete guide on how to approach the psychedelic experience.

Quick Take

Introduction

Daniel Pinchbeck (in 2007) has some wise words to give in the introduction: “[the book] is both a historical document and an anthropological curiosity.” The book is an early attempt at a guide, but one in which “… the Harvard psychologists grasped these chemical catalysts as the Answer, rather than approaching them, with skepticism and proper caution, as tools that, potentially containing hidden dangers, required scrupulous care.”

The mismatch between the more Shamanistic origin of psychedelics (mainly psilocybin, mescaline, and ibogaine) from North and South America, and the Eastern philosophy is what strikes Pinchbeck as misguided. It also doesn’t do ‘right’ to the original Tibetan Book of the Dead. “[the book] overlays a simplistic and moralizing psychological perspective on the subtler and more profound exegesis of an ancient spiritual science found in the original text.”

General Introduction

The introduction (by the authors) gives a short explanation of what the psychedelic experience is, “[it’s] a journey to new realms of consciousness.” They state it’s not only psychedelic drugs that allow you to have such an experience. Yoga, sensory deprivation, disciplined meditation, religious activities, or even spontaneous occurrences are also possible.

A drug is only but the key to open the mind, breaking you free from ordinary patterns and structures. Already here they highlight the effect of set and setting (terms that are often attributed to Leary). Throughout the book, there is plenty of mention of ego dissolution and breaking free of your ‘personality’ and ‘games’ that we play (or ‘game reality’).

The book is divided into the three phases of the psychedelic experience:

  1. Chikhai Bardo – complete transcendence, beyond words and space-time, pure awareness and ecstatic freedom
  2. Chönyid Bardo – external game reality, clarity, hallucinations
  3. Sidpa Bardo – return to routine game reality and the self

They state that the second phase is the longest (and is described in most detail in the rest of the book). But for someone who has a bad experience, the (struggle to) return to reality (third phase) may be the longest phase.

One good point of advice that is mentioned repeatedly is to trust the process, or in their words: “Trust your divinity, trust your brain, trust your companions. Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream.”

After the introduction, the book describes the different phases, gives practical suggestions on how to prepare for and hold a psychedelic experience, and finishes with passages from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

First Bardo: The Period of Ego-Loss or Non-Game Ecstasy

In modern language, this chapter can be understood to describe ego loss (death) and a lowering of the activity of the Defaul Mode Network (DMN).

The authors describe two different phases of ‘the clear light’.

Second Bard: The Period of Hallucinations

This part speaks mostly about experiencing the things that happen during a psychedelic experience. It highlights that you should accept what is happening and enjoy the ride.

This chapter then dives deeper into 7 different types of visions, I would argue that this part is the most esoteric. The 7 visions are:

  1. The Source or Creator Vision
  2. The Internal Flow of Archetypal Processes
  3. The Fire-Flow of Internal Unity
  4. The Wave-Vibration Structure of External Forms
  5. The Vibratory Waves of External Forms
  6. The Retinal Circus
  7. The Magic Theatre

Note: Here (in my opinion) they strife the furthest from making reasonable claims. A direct link is made between the psychedelic experience and physics. They talk about experiencing the vibrations of the universe, your every cell being able to communicate and have ‘intelligence’, and although in a way this is true, it’s very much not so in the anthropomorphized way they describe it.

Third Bardo: The Period of Re-entry

This is the period in which someone returns to reality (the come-down) or ordinary waking life. The chapter describes ways in which difficult experiences in this phase can be avoided, recognized, and alleviated.

Signs of the third Bardo are described as follows:

  1. the feeling of supernormal perception and performance
  2. experiences of panic, torture, and persecution
  3. restless, unhappy wandering
  4. feeling stupid and full of incoherent thoughts
  5. a feeling of being dead, cut off from surrounding life, and full of misery
  6. the feeling of being oppressed or crushed
  7. grey twilight-like light suffusing everything

The chapter then continues to describe the six levels or personality types to which a person can re-enter, from saints to psychosis.

Judgment visions are also considered a possible part of this period. The authors do make a very good comment about this: “Remember that fear and guilt and persecuting, mocking figures are your own hallucinations.”

This ends the description of the Bardos and the authors advise the reader to go over the text multiple times to really capture it.

The rest of the book consists of more practical and preparatory steps about holding a session, your intention, and advice for dosages.

The final pages are devoted to instructions to give during the different Bardo phases.

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