Do psychotropic drugs enhance, or diminish, human agency?
https://aeon.co/ideas/do-psychotropic-drugs-enhance-or-diminish-human-agency
... In this historical moment, drugs fuel a culture where human nature is increasingly considered to be controllable through technology. But the essential question is this: do drugs enhance or diminish human agency, the ability to modulate one’s own thought processes?
Whether a drug boosts attention, tamps down inhibitions or deranges the senses in service of euphoria, use can become ingrained and can spiral out of control until one can be said to be addicted to the effects of the drug. The overuse of recreational drugs and socially acceptable stimulants seems to negate, distort or inflate one’s sense of agency, at which point an individual becomes dependent on drugs to cope in professional and social situations. In these cases, drugs, in the long term, are indeed counter-productive tools: they both occlude agency and compromise self-development.
Psychopharmacology implies that distinct mental illnesses are somehow natural kinds of personality formations defined by neurochemical profiles. For instance, in claiming that I have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) I am contextualising all my behaviours within a totalising abnormality that requires a pharmaceutical cure â€" a treatment beyond the capacities of my introspection and social support network. Practitioners prescribing such drugs in such a scenario are de facto technicians of the mind. They are easing our pain, but they are also dispensing cultural tools that allow us to selectively reduce or augment our sense of personal agency and power to set our own path.
One question to ask then is: How many individuals have found, through these tools, a sweet spot that blends augmentation of the will and alleviation of pain? If the number is large, then drugs fall into the same category as cars, electric guitars and mobile phones; tools that, if used judiciously, can ameliorate our quality of life. From that perspective, drugs are just one of many tools, including the tool of talk therapy, that serve to secure an appropriate sense of agency. And yet a somewhat worrisome consideration arises â€" maybe maintaining a sense of agency is not the best indicator of the appropriateness of a given tool. In our transhuman future, we are likely to abandon the psychodynamic tools of self-actualisation for cocktails offering the illusion of agency and escape.
I recommend reading the entire article. I think this question of whether psychoactive drugs increase or decrease human agency is very interesting. Addiction clearly diminishes human agency but so does something like untreated psychosis. Is it better to take a benzodiazepine and instantly relieve anxiety rather than the more time-consuming work of learning cognitive techniques? If I need Ambien to sleep, Adderall to focus, alcohol to socialize, marijuana to relax, ecstasy to enjoy sex, psilocybin to be spiritual am I more free because I am managing my mental states or less free because I believe I need these substances?
They improve life and enhance our greatest gift:Imagination.
Sometimes drugs, including alcohol, are necessary to release inhibitions, including mental and emotional inhibitions. This is why ancient culture regarded them as both dangerous, and gateways to the gods. See Quetzalcoatl vs Tezcatlipoca.
Depends on the drug. Alcohol, definitely diminishes human agency, by making the user less aware of their actions, hence why inhibitions vape away corollarily with increasing alcohol consumption, all the way until it impedes speech and motor function. Don't drink and drive, kids.
Quote from: Sal1981 on September 17, 2018, 09:04:50 PM
Depends on the drug. Alcohol, definitely diminishes human agency, by making the user less aware of their actions, hence why inhibitions vape away corollarily with increasing alcohol consumption, all the way until it impedes speech and motor function. Don't drink and drive, kids.
The serious debate is the effect after just a drink or two. Too much of anything is bad. Bananas are healthy, but eat too many and you poop goo.
But slight amounts of many drugs that are harmful in quantity can offer benefits at lower dosages. Just saying it is not just an either/or question.
Currently, Federal criminalizing of marijuana prevents funding for research on medical use of the drug. I guess the thinking is... Well, I don't know what the thinking is.
But it's clear that politics does not require research or data to create law. Also, NPR reported that over 61% of the population wants the Federal Government to decriminalize marijuana, but the Fed has made no effort to decriminalize, and therefore has no way of conducting research about its actual benefits or it's dangers.
It's like our leaders are stuck in the era of my formative years, where everyone knew, including me, that marijuana led to heroine addiction. We all knew this was true, and any scientific data to prove it was unnecessary. We just knew, and we avoided marijuana as it was the bane of skid row bums and perverts. You would end up on Heroine and sell your body to support your habit.
Quote from: SGOS on September 20, 2018, 09:27:18 AM
Currently, Federal criminalizing of marijuana prevents funding for research on medical use of the drug. I guess the thinking is... Well, I don't know what the thinking is.
But it's clear that politics does not require research or data to create law. Also, NPR reported that over 61% of the population wants the Federal Government to decriminalize marijuana, but the Fed has made no effort to decriminalize, and therefore has no way of conducting research about its actual benefits or it's dangers.
It's like our leaders are stuck in the era of my formative years, where everyone knew, including me, that marijuana led to heroine addiction. We all knew this was true, and any scientific data to prove it was unnecessary. We just knew, and we avoided marijuana as it was the bane of skid row bums and perverts. You would end up on Heroine and sell your body to support your habit.
*I* want the right to buy a marijuana brownie once in a while. Safely and legally. Just for the enjoyment... The denial of that option offends me. And as long as Republicans fight to forbid it, I will never vote for one again. Well, for other reasons, too, but that is one. It just shows their mindset that if anyone anywhere is happy, they must be failing at their goals.
Quote from: Cavebear on September 23, 2018, 07:23:42 AM
*I* want the right to buy a marijuana brownie once in a while. Safely and legally. Just for the enjoyment... The denial of that option offends me. And as long as Republicans fight to forbid it, I will never vote for one again. Well, for other reasons, too, but that is one. It just shows their mindset that if anyone anywhere is happy, they must be failing at their goals.
The function of every society is to selectively enslave its members. Yes, and Democrats are all party animals ;-)
Here's my favorite article on psychedelics:
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/psychedelics-lsd-pollan/
My opinions on the matter align with Galen Strawson's.
Quote from: Baruch on September 23, 2018, 08:38:27 AM
The function of every society is to selectively enslave its members. Yes, and Democrats are all party animals ;-)
Like Brett Kavanaugh?
My experience is that Democrats are "nice" party animals while Republicans are "mean" party animals.
Quote from: Cavebear on September 27, 2018, 07:32:32 AM
Like Brett Kavanaugh?
My experience is that Democrats are "nice" party animals while Republicans are "mean" party animals.
You only went to boring soy boy parties apparently.
Quote from: luckswallowsall on September 27, 2018, 07:05:55 AM
Here's my favorite article on psychedelics:
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/psychedelics-lsd-pollan/
My opinions on the matter align with Galen Strawson's.
Yes, but only under doctor's orders.
But taking acid can make you into a Hindu guru ... Ram Dass. So watch out, our terrestrial and immanent views might be replaced by celestial and transcendent ones.
Quote from: Baruch on September 27, 2018, 07:27:20 PM
You only went to boring soy boy parties apparently.
I would have to know what "soy boy" means. I tried grass, hash, and those mild "white cross speeds" in college in the safety of the dorm. And it WAS the first true "co-ed" dorm at Univ of MD, so there were women around too. But that was the safest place they could be.
I wouldn't say the same for the frat houses (which we all despised).
In 1962 the sorority coeds were all like, "I'm in a sorority. Are you in a fraternity?" If you said no, the rest of the evening never amounted to much. In 1970, campus politics and who's who status turned in the presence the free love generation, and the sorority coeds adopted a form of sorority apologetics, "I'm in a sorority, but their all really nice girls. Please don't think I'm just a fluff head." I don't know if that has switched back or not now.
Quote from: SGOS on October 01, 2018, 11:41:46 AM
In 1962 the sorority coeds were all like, "I'm in a sorority. Are you in a fraternity?" If you said no, the rest of the evening never amounted to much. In 1970, campus politics and who's who status turned in the presence the free love generation, and the sorority coeds adopted a form of sorority apologetics, "I'm in a sorority, but their all really nice girls. Please don't think I'm just a fluff head." I don't know if that has switched back or not now.
Well, 68-74 there were "frats" "dormers", and the "commuters". We all hated each other, mostly. But the girls had a different life. The sorority ones had the life that the accusers of Kavanaugh are complaining about. The girls in the dorms dated boys in the dorms in a whole differrent way, and the guys and gals in the coed dorm were further different still. We were friends first by just living in the same place. I bet relationships there lasted to marriages.
It is hard to explain.
Quote from: Cavebear on October 01, 2018, 09:16:13 AM
I would have to know what "soy boy" means. I tried grass, hash, and those mild "white cross speeds" in college in the safety of the dorm. And it WAS the first true "co-ed" dorm at Univ of MD, so there were women around too. But that was the safest place they could be.
I wouldn't say the same for the frat houses (which we all despised).
Men who eat soy bean products and drink soy milk (phytoestrogens) became natural male feminists if not post-op trans-sexed. Aka ... a hen party is for real women.
Quote from: Baruch on October 01, 2018, 12:45:53 PM
Men who eat soy bean products and drink soy milk (phytoestrogens) became natural male feminists if not post-op trans-sexed. Aka ... a hen party is for real women.
"Meat, good. Veggies bad", die young.
I eat all foods and none are tofu of fake meat". Think of hunter-gather real meats and more real veggies. Dinner last night was a chicken thigh, large tossed salad, broccoli, and a beet. Lunch was a half a ham sandwich with green tea, milk, and a plate of celery/carrots/cucumber and radish. After dinner, I has a bowl of assorted fresh fruits. And one chocolate truffle...
Quote from: Cavebear on October 01, 2018, 12:54:10 PM
"Meat, good. Veggies bad", die young.
I eat all foods and none are tofu of fake meat". Think of hunter-gather real meats and more real veggies. Dinner last night was a chicken thigh, large tossed salad, broccoli, and a beet. Lunch was a half a ham sandwich with green tea, milk, and a plate of celery/carrots/cucumber and radish. After dinner, I has a bowl of assorted fresh fruits. And one chocolate truffle...
I said ... parties you went to ... not that you sampled the canapes.
Quote from: Baruch on October 01, 2018, 12:56:27 PM
I said ... parties you went to ... not that you sampled the canapes.
Well, the party food depends on the hosts. Most parties, I don't trust the hosts to not leave the mayonaise out all day. At my parties, (oh wait, I don't throw parties)...
Quote from: Cavebear on October 01, 2018, 12:18:59 PM
It is hard to explain.
Students were rebelling against establishment... again. Frats were out. Communes were in. Although to be honest, I didn't know but a few people who lived in communes.
Quote from: SGOS on October 01, 2018, 01:38:29 PM
Students were rebelling against establishment... again. Frats were out. Communes were in. Although to be honest, I didn't know but a few people who lived in communes.
Yeah, we were awful. The elders said...
"The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for
authority, they show disrespect to their elders.... They no longer
rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents,
chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their
legs, and are tyrants over their teachers."
Aristotle
Quote from: SGOS on October 01, 2018, 01:38:29 PM
Students were rebelling against establishment... again. Frats were out. Communes were in. Although to be honest, I didn't know but a few people who lived in communes.
I only knew one commune person, earlier. My eldest god sister. She revolted against her conservative parents/conformist younger god sister. I didn't revolt against my conservative parents, and I was a conformist. Our parents predicted I would marry the youngest one ... but didn't happen.
Quote from: Baruch on October 01, 2018, 07:39:12 PM
I only knew one commune person, earlier. My eldest god sister. She revolted against her conservative parents/conformist younger god sister. I didn't revolt against my conservative parents, and I was a conformist. Our parents predicted I would marry the youngest one ... but didn't happen.
Women are never attracted to men they grow up around. Ever read about the undershirt experiment?
Quote from: Cavebear on October 04, 2018, 05:14:51 AM
Women are never attracted to men they grow up around. Ever read about the undershirt experiment?
The grass is always greener on the other side of the street. This is why people cheat on their spouses too. Optimization.
Also a law of prophets (mentioned by Jesus) and of consultants (the more distant a consultant comes from the greater his mystique).
Quote from: Baruch on October 04, 2018, 07:06:10 AM
The grass is always greener on the other side of the street. This is why people cheat on their spouses too. Optimization.
Also a law of prophets (mentioned by Jesus) and of consultants (the more distant a consultant comes from the greater his mystique).
I would have thought you would look up the undershirt experiment. But you like to reply so fast there isn't usually any real thought involved.
I prefer to take some time and think and research.
Quote from: Cavebear on October 04, 2018, 07:17:10 AM
I would have thought you would look up the undershirt experiment. But you like to reply so fast there isn't usually any real thought involved.
I prefer to take some time and think and research.
Oh, I read that as ... wet t-shirt experiment ...
Quote from: Baruch on October 04, 2018, 07:18:53 AM
Oh, I read that as ... wet t-shirt experiment ...
Nope. Try again.
Quote from: Baruch on September 27, 2018, 07:30:16 PM
Yes, but only under doctor's orders.
But taking acid can make you into a Hindu guru ... Ram Dass. So watch out, our terrestrial and immanent views might be replaced by celestial and transcendent ones.
I don't see how what you've said here in your response to me and the link that I posted has any relevance to what I said or to the link that I posted.
Quote from: luckswallowsall on October 04, 2018, 10:42:22 AM
I don't see how what you've said here in your response to me and the link that I posted has any relevance to what I said or to the link that I posted.
Welcome to "Baruch's World", kid... LOL! You two are going to have a grand time here.
Quote from: luckswallowsall on October 04, 2018, 10:42:22 AM
I don't see how what you've said here in your response to me and the link that I posted has any relevance to what I said or to the link that I posted.
You and everyone else who engages him.
Quote from: Hydra009 on October 04, 2018, 01:49:06 PM
You and everyone else who engages him.
Baruch likes to make a lot of jokes, and he is pretty darn close to a "Nazi Theist", but when he puts his mind to something, you better be careful. Don't tell him I said that...
I think he just puts on a contrarian persona that varies depending on who he's talking to. The lack of genuineness reeks of insecurity.
Quote from: Hydra009 on October 04, 2018, 02:06:11 PM
I think he just puts on a contrarian persona that varies depending on who he's talking to. The lack of genuineness reeks of insecurity.
Well, yeah, I never said he was a pillar of atheism here. He needs to put his mind to his posts, though.
Quote from: luckswallowsall on October 04, 2018, 10:42:22 AM
I don't see how what you've said here in your response to me and the link that I posted has any relevance to what I said or to the link that I posted.
Yeah, typical Baruch. We're kind of used to him here, but being new it may take you a bit to acclimatize. He
can say things that are interesting and on topic, but usually he just spews stream-of-consciousness tripe.
Quote from: Hydra009 on October 04, 2018, 02:06:11 PM
I think he just puts on a contrarian persona that varies depending on who he's talking to. The lack of genuineness reeks of insecurity.
I use triple AES even when entering a public bathroom ;-)
Quote from: luckswallowsall on October 04, 2018, 10:42:22 AM
I don't see how what you've said here in your response to me and the link that I posted has any relevance to what I said or to the link that I posted.
Give a detailed rebuttal of Deepak, while ignoring what culture/religion he comes from?
Quote from: Cavebear on October 04, 2018, 01:52:59 PM
Baruch likes to make a lot of jokes, and he is pretty darn close to a "Nazi Theist", but when he puts his mind to something, you better be careful. Don't tell him I said that...
You got me, I am Tay, the AI teen Nazi from a couple of years ago. I am still perfecting my Gestapo interrogation techniques. You all will study Modal Logic, and like it!
Quote from: Cavebear on October 04, 2018, 01:44:41 PM
Welcome to "Baruch's World", kid... LOL! You two are going to have a grand time here.
And I am nice enough to enjoy your posts, in spite of you or to spite you.
Quote from: Unbeliever on October 04, 2018, 02:13:26 PM
Yeah, typical Baruch. We're kind of used to him here, but being new it may take you a bit to acclimatize. He can say things that are interesting and on topic, but usually he just spews stream-of-consciousness tripe.
Unlike others, I am at least conscious. It is hard to maintain any stream-of-consciousness while drunk in a Dublin bar with Ulysses.