Via NewScientist, a solid but unsurprising bit of research. Why do some mushrooms produce psilocybin, which causes hallucinations in humans?
Turns out to be the same reason as many other non-obvious plant chemicals. It kills and confuses insects. The researchers took the direct approach, microdosing fruit fly larvae with psilocybin. Most of them died, and the ones that survived “crawled shorter distances, spent less time moving overall and showed more erratic turning behaviour.”
The article mentioned that psilocybin is being tried as a “cure” for depression. We never learn. For 100 years we’ve been under the tyranny of Big Pharma, offering chemical fixes for everything.
Chemical fixes work beautifully against “mechanical” problems like high blood pressure and constipation. Vaccines save millions by killing certain types of viruses.
Chemical fixes DO NOT WORK for emotional problems. They only create dependence on the chemical. The best fix for depression is PURPOSE and EXERCISE.
MAKE. WALK.
We’re going the wrong way in both of those areas. We’re officially pushing MORE psychedelics and opiates. We’re killing thousands of young people who could have turned toward a useful life. At the same time we’re eliminating vaccines against viruses.
Come to think of it, both of those bad actions come from the same basic category error. We’re OVERusing mood-altering drugs because we think they CURE an overdiagnosed “disease” called depression. We’re UNDERusing vaccines because we think they CAUSE an overdiagnosed “disease” called autism.
In both cases we’re considering a personality type to be a “disease” caused or cured by chemicals. In both cases the real fix is PURPOSE. The behaviors grouped as “autism” are a personality type which can be highly useful when directed toward the right purpose (eg engineering). The behaviors grouped as “depression” are a temporary response to learned helplessness, which can be alleviated by the right purpose.
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