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The Pathetic Fallacy

admin — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:23:39 -0700

"The Pathetic Fallacy"

Episode #35
Aired 1948-02-02
Length: 28:53

Read Script

The human brain is basically an electrical device. Can a computer be constructed that is so complex as to duplicate the human brain? If so, does such a machine have consciousness? Does it have emotions?

A huge machine, taking up several rooms, has been built to solve mathematical equations. A scientist named Quinn assures reporters that despite its complexity and the fact that he referred to it as an electronic brain, it does not actually think. Then, to demonstrate how the accuracy of the machine was proven by giving it progressively harder problems, he asks it to compute the value of two plus two. In one-millionth of a second, it gives the answer: five.

"The Pathetic Fallacy" is an amusing episode, and also very relevant. In the near future it may be possible to create new "biological" life by ordering DNA, and at the same time become possible to build "mechanical" computers which operate on the same basic principles as natural life. As technology becomes more complex and is made to simulate life in more and more ways, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine what is alive and what isn't.

"2654366 antilogarithm x plus y."
- the machine

healing test 3

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:10:01 -0700

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herb test

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LSD treatment for alcoholism gets new look

admin — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:20:44 -0700

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Published on Science Blog (http://www.scienceblog.com/cms)

LSD treatment for alcoholism gets new look

By BJS

Created 10/06/2006 - 09:03

For the past five years, Dr. Erika Dyck has been unearthing some intriguing facts related to a group of pioneering psychiatrists who worked in Saskatchewan, Canada in the '50s and '60s.

Among other things, the University of Alberta history of medicine professor has found records of the psychiatrists' research that indicate a single dose of the hallucinogenic drug LSD, provided in a clinical, nurturing environment, can be an effective treatment for alcoholism.

Her findings are published this month in the journal Social History of Medicine.

After perceiving similarities in the experiences of people on LSD and people going through delirium tremens, the psychiatrists undertook a series of experiments. They noted that delirium tremens, also know as DTs, often marked a "rock bottom" or turning point in the behavior of alcoholics, and they felt LSD may be able to trigger such a turnaround without engendering the painful physical effects associated with DTs.

As it turns out, they were largely correct.

"The LSD somehow gave these people experiences that psychologically took them outside of themselves and allowed them to see their own unhealthy behavior more objectively, and then determine to change it," said Dyck, who read the researchers' published and private papers and recently interviewed some of the patients involved in the original studies--many of whom had not had a sip of alcohol since their single LSD experience 40 years earlier.

According to one study conducted in 1962, 65 per cent of the alcoholics in the experiment stopped drinking for at least a year-and-a-half (the duration of the study) after taking one dose of LSD. The controlled trial also concluded that less than 25 per cent of alcoholics quit drinking for the same period after receiving group therapy, and less than 12 per cent quit in response to traditional psychotherapy techniques commonly used at that time.

Published in the Quarterly Journal for Studies on Alcohol, the 1962 study was received with much skepticism. One research group in Toronto tried to replicate the results of the study, but wanted to observe the effect of LSD on the patients in isolation, so they blindfolded or tied up the patients before giving them the drug. Under such circumstances, the Toronto researchers determined LSD was not effective in treating alcoholism.

The Saskatchewan group argued that the drug needed to be provided in a nurturing environment to be effective. However, the Toronto researchers held more credibility than the Saskatchewan researchers--who were led by a controversial, British psychiatrist, Dr. Humphry Osmond--and the Saskatchewan group's research was essentially buried.

But Dyck believes there is value in the Saskatchewan group's experiments.

"The LSD experience appeared to allow the patients to go through a spiritual journey that ultimately empowered them to heal themselves, and that's really quite an amazing therapy regimen," Dyck said. "Even interviewing the patients 40 years after their experience, I was surprised at how loyal they were to the doctors who treated them, and how powerful they said the experience was for them--some even felt the experience saved their lives."

In spite of the promise LSD showed as psychotherapy tool, its subsequent popularity as a street drug, and the perception of it as a threat to public safety, triggered a worldwide ban in the late 1960s--including its use in medical experiments. However, the ban on its use in medical experiments appears to be lifting, Dyck noted. A few groups of researchers in the U.S., including a team at Harvard, have recently been granted permission to conduct experiments with LSD.

"We accept all sorts of drugs, but I think LSD's 'street' popularity ultimately led to its demise," Dyck said. "And that's too bad, because I think the researchers in Saskatchewan, among others, showed the drug is unique and has some intriguing properties that need to be explored further."

From University of Alberta

Source URL:
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/lsd-treatment-for-alcoholism-gets-new-look-11680.html

Vancouver

admin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:12:22 -0700

Psychonaut Television

admin — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:13:00 -0700

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Peter Jennings - Ecstasy Rising

admin — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:24:09 -0700

mtv

admin — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 17:15:23 -0700