Happy 4/20!

[ConVicT]

Ps: I never had a creative and smart idea when high. I have creative and smart ideas by having a good diet, exercise reading and sleep combo

You can't put a good idea down to having a good diet, exercise, reading, and sleep any more than someone can put theirs down to drugs, you're just saying what I'm saying but putting it down to good stuff.
You could just as easily say "I get good ideas because I brush my teeth very regularly"
Most times when someone has a good idea it's just like BAM, hits them, wasn't even in their train thought, and usually don't even know why they thought of it.

[sinewav]

Most times when someone has a good idea it's just like BAM, hits them, wasn't even in their train thought, and usually don't even know why they thought of it.

Thus, the false correlation between drug use and creativity. There are far more wonderful things created, invented, and discovered while sober than high. A healthy lifestyle promotes a healthy mind and healthy minds are insightful. I also disagree that good ideas mostly arrive in such a random "out of nowhere" fashion. Inspiration and creativity are part of the brain's problem solving mechanisms and happen when you are finally able to combine different models of reality in your brain. The basis for inspiration needs to be in your thoughts beforehand. Sometimes drugs facilitate the merger and/or juxtaposition of "modes of thought" but more often they just kill brain cells. A very small percentage of drug users I know do anything inspirational and those things are always related to "the arts," never useful things like science or technology.* Most users are just high.


* I do have a programmer friend who claims to write good code when high, though I think it is simply the case of him being less distracted. Also, I understand the value of the arts but they are expressions of the human condition, not solutions to, except where intersecting with technologies.

[Word]

Most times when someone has a good idea it's just like BAM, hits them, wasn't even in their train thought, and usually don't even know why they thought of it.

And that, too, requires prior knowledge, and effort. Why do you think did it take so long for someone to come up with the lightbulb (as a classic example)? Also, how can you even prove any of that and look into those persons' heads, claim they were empty and then full all of a sudden?

[ConVicT]

I know what you guys are saying, but I still think that the likes of cannabis would help people be creative. I don't smoke it, but when I did sometimes, as a teenager, the things that went through my head were unbelievable, like they weren't my thoughts. My friend used to invent stories from nowhere and I know what improv is, but the things that he used to say were way....WAY beyond improv

[takburger]

Most times when someone has a good idea it's just like BAM, hits them, wasn't even in their train thought, and usually don't even know why they thought of it.

Thus, the false correlation between drug use and creativity. There are far more wonderful things created, invented, and discovered while sober than high. A healthy lifestyle promotes a healthy mind and healthy minds are insightful. I also disagree that good ideas mostly arrive in such a random "out of nowhere" fashion. Inspiration and creativity are part of the brain's problem solving mechanisms and happen when you are finally able to combine different models of reality in your brain. The basis for inspiration needs to be in your thoughts beforehand. Sometimes drugs facilitate the merger and/or juxtaposition of "modes of thought" but more often they just kill brain cells. A very small percentage of drug users I know do anything inspirational and those things are always related to "the arts," never useful things like science or technology.* Most users are just high.


* I do have a programmer friend who claims to write good code when high, though I think it is simply the case of him being less distracted. Also, I understand the value of the arts but they are expressions of the human condition, not solutions to, except where intersecting with technologies.

Yes!

I actually got trained to creative thinking and I always keep a notepad on me to write down my ideas, I get many many more now than what I used to before, and the more you force yourself to think that way, the more you will get those "BAM"

Prolific artists are constantly working on their art or thinking about it. There is a degree of luck, but to my opinion a too low consideration to the constant occupation of the brain with it.

Also, this study is quite interesting about big minds and how they spend their day, it also proves that there is no recipe for being a genius(obviously):
http://infographwetrust.files.wordpress ... ituals.png

[ConVicT]

Also, this study is quite interesting about big minds and how they spend their day, it also proves that there is no recipe for being a genius

I wonder what would happen if a person with low latent inhibition with high iq smoked weed

[sinewav]

I wonder what would happen if a person with low latent inhibition with high iq smoked weed

If the very act of them smoking weed was out of the ordinary then you could hardly attribute the drug to the insight. In fact, many people find inspiration exactly that way -- by trying new things and going new places.

After being the only sober guy in a band full of stoners I can verify that most of the "creative genius" was by accident, literally, and those moments were far and few between. The only person I know who is creative on weed is the same guy who is creative sober. If anything, years of smoking weed have held him back from greater potential.

I really don't care if someone does drugs, just don't pretend they are magical.

[ConVicT]

We'll just have to agree to disagree because neither of us can prove it lol.
I'm just going by my own experience, and what it did to my mind. But if you've never done it, then you don't actually qualify for an opinion on the subject do you?

[takburger]

We'll just have to agree to disagree because neither of us can prove it lol.
I'm just going by my own experience, and what it did to my mind. But if you've never done it, then you don't actually qualify for an opinion on the subject do you?

Experience is never enough to get the right result. So yes, nobody can prove anything

You can try to fix a GoPro on your chest for a party and watch it later, and then wonder if it is creativity, stupidity or just some fun

[Clutch]

We'll just have to agree to disagree because neither of us can prove it lol.
I'm just going by my own experience, and what it did to my mind. But if you've never done it, then you don't actually qualify for an opinion on the subject do you?

Just...stop

[Word]

I've never killed another human (for all I know). Who am I to judge serial killers for enjoying murder?
And Convict, you don't seem to get that you're likely to affect others by your misery. Don't you have a kid? When I was 6 years old, we lived in a different city, and our neighbours there had a son my age, his father was a heroin addict. He died of an overdose (probably suicide) after his wife filed for divorce, either because of his addiction or domestic violence, perhaps both. You can picture yourself the difficulties the rest of that family had later on, but I suppose they were still better off without the way he made their lives harder. I learned all this when I got older - I remember whenever I visited that family he seemed even friendlier than my own father, or he was just lying half-naked on the ground somewhere and not moving, and I also saw puncture wounds on his arms, but at that time, I thought that was something normal. And note that we didn't live in some deprived area - this was just one family out of many.

[takburger]

I've never killed another human (for all I know). Who am I to judge serial killers for enjoying murder?
And Convict, you don't seem to get that you're likely to affect others by your misery. Don't you have a kid? When I was 6 years old, we lived in a different city, and our neighbours there had a son my age, his father was a heroin addict. He died of an overdose (probably suicide) after his wife filed for divorce, either because of his addiction or domestic violence, perhaps both. You can picture yourself the difficulties the rest of that family had later on, but I suppose they were still better off without the way he made their lives harder. I learned all this when I got older - I remember whenever I visited that family he seemed even friendlier than my own father, or he was just lying half-naked on the ground somewhere and not moving, and I also saw puncture wounds on his arms, but at that time, I thought that was something normal. And note that we didn't live in some deprived area - this was just one family out of many.

Heroin is a very special drug tho...

[Slov]

lol comparing weed with heroin

[Word]

The possible results of lung cancer/carelessness caused by weed and overdosing of heroin are mostly the same. The point was to illuminate how your addiction affects others, whether you die instantly or not (but have needlessly ruined your life and that of others anyway). Not that you ever take that seriously, why would you. I don't know whether weed can be considered a Gateway-drug, but it wouldn't really surprise me if pot smokers are more likely to consume heroin as well (especially if the drug didn't work as expected).

[sinewav]

But if you've never done it, then you don't actually qualify for an opinion on the subject do you?

I did all the drugs when I was young. And I do mean all of them. I did them purposefully because I wanted to explore creativity and see if it enhanced my art and music. Drugs had no such effect. I wasn't any more creative while taking drugs or afterwards. Yes, I took psychedelics and yes I had what is commonly expressed as religious experiences with them. In the end I was just high. None of the art or music I made while using drugs was spectacular.

If you took drugs and it opened your mind, you might want to ask if there are other ways to open your mind without drugs. Actually, I'll just give you the answer: yes. And those other ways are generally risk free. A truly open mind would understand this.

lol comparing weed with heroin

They are more related than you think. Also, one of the greatest lessons I learned about drugs is that you don't really understand the effects until later in life. When I was in my late 20's, years after I stopped taking drugs, I still didn't think they were bad. Now that I am older I can see the effects clearly and it is a little scary.