Hoje em dia já ninguém lá vai, aquilo está cheio de gente

Artigos etiquetados “neurociência”

Less

Publicado em 23/06/2022

I was reminded of an experiment that several of the addiction researchers I interviewed had told me about — the so-called rat park experiment. It’s well known in the field of drug abuse research that rats in a cage given access to drugs of various kinds will quickly addict themselves, pressing little levers for the drug on offer in preference to food, often to the point of death. Much less well known, however, is the fact that if the cage is “enriched” with opportunities for play, interaction with other rats, and exposure to nature, the same rats will utterly ignore the drugs and so never become addicted. The rat park experiments lend support to the idea that the propensity to addiction might have less to do with genes or chemistry than with one’s personal history and environment.

—Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind, Allen Lane, 2018

Livros e Poesia

 , ,

Needless

Publicado em 04/06/2022

Even in the case of minerals, modern physics (forget psychedelics) gives us reason to wonder if perhaps some form of consciousness might not figure in the construction of reality. Quantum mechanics holds that matter may not be as innocent of mind as the materialist would have us believe. For example, a subatomic particle can exist simultaneously in multiple locations, is pure possibility, until it is measured — that is, perceived by a mind. Only then and not a moment sooner does it drop into reality as we know it: acquire fixed coordinates in time and space. The implication here is that the matter might not exist as such in the absence of a perceiving subject. Needless to say, this raises some tricky questions for a materialistic understanding of consciousness. The ground underfoot may be much less solid than we think.

—Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind, Allen Lane, 2018

Livros e Poesia

 , , , ,

Don’t Come From Nowhere

Publicado em 03/06/2022

It is all to easy to dismiss what unfolds in our minds during a psychedelic journey as simply a “drug experience,” and that is precisely what our culture encourages us to do. (…)
Yet even a moment’s reflection tells you that attributing the content of the psychedelic experience to “drugs” explains virtually nothing about it. The images and the narratives and the insights don’t come from nowhere, and they certainly don’t come from a chemical. They come from inside our minds, and at the very least have something to tell us about that. If dreams and fantasies and free associations are worth interpreting, then surely so is the more vivid and detailed material with which the psychedelic journey presents us. It opens a new door on one’s mind.

—Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind, Allen Lane, 2018

Livros e Poesia

 , , ,

By Possibility

Publicado em 03/01/2022

Anxiety and worrying are provoked by possibility, not certainty. In fact, many people are less happy when they have more choices, because they have more to worry about. When everything is up in the air, the amygdala becomes more reactive. So, if you tend to worry, reduce your options and make quick decisions whenever possible. As soon as you make a decision, however small, everything starts to feel more manageable.

—Alex Korb, The Upward Spiral, New Harbinger 2015

Livros e Poesia

 ,