way back in Africa the receptivity to culture of humans probably emerged, not entirely an accident given the selection pressures were large part of the social forces (environments) that shaped our biology resulting in that receptivity, some fortuitous genetic accidents no doubt were involved that proliferated, had advantages, and i’ve a hunch it wasn’t all pretty

how ever it happened something did, it probably can be said today brain structures are responsible for receptivity to culture, make it possible to the extent any one of us is, or can be, are receptive

there are other receptivities, say social receptivity which is related receptivity to culture, and mood receptivity, and latter probably could be framed more broadly as mental state receptivity, optimally it probably involves something of a global feel for and of the entire operations of the mind, orientation of, some sense of and for that

subject mood receptivity brings me to various intoxicants, alcohol, cocaine, whatever, and i’ll ask later what part do intoxicants play in cultural receptivity, intelligent receptivity of any sort

there’s no question drugs (including alcohol) are an influential part of (this) culture, but I sense a strange absence of reflectivity regard that, or perhaps better said it seems strange to me it doesn’t seem strange to others more often

transition said:

way back in Africa the receptivity to culture of humans probably emerged, not entirely an accident given the selection pressures were large part of the social forces (environments) that shaped our biology resulting in that receptivity, some fortuitous genetic accidents no doubt were involved that proliferated, had advantages, and i’ve a hunch it wasn’t all pretty

how ever it happened something did, it probably can be said today brain structures are responsible for receptivity to culture, make it possible to the extent any one of us is, or can be, are receptive

there are other receptivities, say social receptivity which is related receptivity to culture, and mood receptivity, and latter probably could be framed more broadly as mental state receptivity, optimally it probably involves something of a global feel for and of the entire operations of the mind, orientation of, some sense of and for that

subject mood receptivity brings me to various intoxicants, alcohol, cocaine, whatever, and i’ll ask later what part do intoxicants play in cultural receptivity, intelligent receptivity of any sort

there’s no question drugs (including alcohol) are an influential part of (this) culture, but I sense a strange absence of reflectivity regard that, or perhaps better said it seems strange to me it doesn’t seem strange to others more often

The pollies do lines of coke on Scotty’s desk after hours.

People take drugs when they are unhappy / under stress ( stress is the condition when people have lost control of their situation)

Ancient people invented beer and other drugs to take them out of their harsh environment

Most drugs are addictive so use continues after the original situation has evaporated.

wookiemeister said:

People take drugs when they are unhappy / under stress ( stress is the condition when people have lost control of their situation)

Ancient people invented beer and other drugs to take them out of their harsh environment

Most drugs are addictive so use continues after the original situation has evaporated.

Is that what happened?

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

People take drugs when they are unhappy / under stress ( stress is the condition when people have lost control of their situation)

Ancient people invented beer and other drugs to take them out of their harsh environment

Most drugs are addictive so use continues after the original situation has evaporated.

Is that what happened?

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

People take drugs when they are unhappy / under stress ( stress is the condition when people have lost control of their situation)

Ancient people invented beer and other drugs to take them out of their harsh environment

Most drugs are addictive so use continues after the original situation has evaporated.

Is that what happened?

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

Going by what I’ve read over the years a significant numbers of addicts have had pretty bad childhoods and current lives.
Life even without all that can suck

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

People take drugs when they are unhappy / under stress ( stress is the condition when people have lost control of their situation)

Ancient people invented beer and other drugs to take them out of their harsh environment

Most drugs are addictive so use continues after the original situation has evaporated.

Is that what happened?

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

probably more discovered them, or an effect, initially, or originally, not so different to food makes a hungry person feel better, or water makes a dehydrated person feel better, or the small amount of alcohol in wine that went through natural fermentation might also elevate mood, or even induce relaxation and sleepiness

I doubt most teenage dabbling with drugs today (including alcohol) are because of their awful brutish lives, escaping that, same of adults in the modern world (of Australia)

so i’d ask what is the real purpose of alcohol, attitudes toward drugs, really, permissive attitudes if you will

if drugs (notions about, related) improve cultural receptivity, contribute to social intelligent that way, or intelligent behavior, i’d like to know how

is there some grubby dimension, a secret in all that, who knows

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

People take drugs when they are unhappy / under stress ( stress is the condition when people have lost control of their situation)

Ancient people invented beer and other drugs to take them out of their harsh environment

Most drugs are addictive so use continues after the original situation has evaporated.

Is that what happened?

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

I don’t think they invented them.
Maybe later after they discovered them they might have had an interest in chemistry.

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

Is that what happened?

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

I don’t think they invented them.
Maybe later after they discovered them they might have had an interest in chemistry.

Possibly beer carried less disease than water.

Cymek said:

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

Is that what happened?

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

Going by what I’ve read over the years a significant numbers of addicts have had pretty bad childhoods and current lives.
Life even without all that can suck

Doesn’t have to be a really bad childhood in the terms you are considering,
More likely a simply a disadvantaged childhood can lead to a lot of things. A lot depends on who become your mentors and peers along the way.

roughbarked said:

Cymek said:

wookiemeister said:

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

Going by what I’ve read over the years a significant numbers of addicts have had pretty bad childhoods and current lives.
Life even without all that can suck

Doesn’t have to be a really bad childhood in the terms you are considering,
More likely a simply a disadvantaged childhood can lead to a lot of things. A lot depends on who become your mentors and peers along the way.

True

transition said:

I doubt most teenage dabbling with drugs today (including alcohol) are because of their awful brutish lives, escaping that, same of adults in the modern world (of Australia)

so i’d ask what is the real purpose of alcohol, attitudes toward drugs, really, permissive attitudes if you will

if drugs (notions about, related) improve cultural receptivity, contribute to social intelligent that way, or intelligent behavior, i’d like to know how

is there some grubby dimension, a secret in all that, who knows

Alcohol is quite deceptive. So too is nicotine. If you could perceive this; I’ve heard Siir David Attrenbprough say, “Wheat has deceived man into tearing down forests to assist it’s domination”.
This is the way alcohol and tobacco work. In that they have deceived us into making them legal fare.

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

People lived short, brutal, hard lives – why do you think they invented drugs ?

I don’t think they invented them.
Maybe later after they discovered them they might have had an interest in chemistry.

Possibly beer carried less disease than water.

Exactly.

Witty Rejoinder said:

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

I don’t think they invented them.
Maybe later after they discovered them they might have had an interest in chemistry.

Possibly beer carried less disease than water.

Exactly.

Particularly the water around here.

John Allegro’s book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross (1970) argued that Christianity began as a shamanistic cult. In his books The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross and The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth (1979), Allegro put forward the theory that stories of early Christianity originated in an Essene clandestine cult centred around the use of psychedelic mushrooms, and that the New Testament is the coded record of this shamanistic cult. Allegro further argued that the authors of the Christian gospels did not understand the Essene thought. When writing down the Gospels based on the stories they had heard, the evangelists confused the meaning of the scrolls. In this way, according to Allegro, the Christian tradition is based on a misunderstanding of the scrolls. He also argued that the story of Jesus was based on the crucifixion of the Teacher of Righteousness in the scrolls. Mark Hall writes that Allegro suggested the Dead Sea Scrolls all but proved that a historical Jesus never existed.

Allegro argued that Jesus in the Gospels was in fact a code for a type of hallucinogen, the Amanita muscaria, and that Christianity was the product of an ancient “sex-and-mushroom” cult. Critical reaction was swift and harsh: fourteen British scholars (including Allegro’s mentor at Oxford, Godfrey Driver) denounced it. Sidnie White Crawford wrote of the publication of Sacred Mushroom, “Rightly or wrongly, Allegro would never be taken seriously as a scholar again.”

Allegro’s theory of a shamanistic cult as the origin of Christianity was criticised sharply by Welsh historian Philip Jenkins who wrote that Allegro was an eccentric scholar who relied on texts that did not exist in quite the form he was citing them. Jenkins called the Sacred Mushroom and the Cross “possibly the single most ludicrous book on Jesus scholarship by a qualified academic”. Based on the reactions to the book, Allegro’s publisher later apologized for issuing the book and Allegro was forced to resign his academic post. A 2006 article by Michael Hoffman discussing Allegro’s work called for his theories to be re-evaluated by the mainstream. In November 2009 The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross was reprinted in a 40th anniversary edition with a 30-page addendum by Carl Ruck of Boston University.

—

Fungible non?

Soma, the intoxicating drink, was perhaps first used in ancient Persia. Soma juice may have been derived from the fermented milky sap of Asclepias acida, a climbing plant that thrived in mountain areas. Other candidates for the origin of the drink, or partial ingredients therein, included hallucinogenic mushrooms, honey, cannabis, blue lotus, milk and pomegranate.

In Indian mythology, the gods gained their immortality by drinking Soma and it was the favourite tipple of the great Indra. They then gave the drink to the archer-god Gandharva for safe-keeping but one day the fire-god, Agni, stole it and gave it to the human race. Not only drunk by priests for its sacred nature it was also credited with uplifting qualities, giving the drinker a boost in energy and alertness. These effects meant that the drink has been considered divine since ancient times; a beverage that brought humans closer to the divine. It was also commonly offered in libations to the gods by worshippers. According to Wikipedia, the go-to source of information, Soma is regarded as the deity who supervises Hindu religious sacrifices.

The drink was personified as the god Soma who was considered primeval amongst the gods and a bringer of health and wealth; in many ways, he is similar to the Greek and Roman gods of wine – Dionysos and Bacchus – while the drink is the equivalent of ambrosia in those traditions. In the Puranas religious texts, Soma is described as riding a chariot with three wheels, which is drawn by a team of ten pure-white horses.

Ian said:

John Allegro’s book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross (1970) argued that Christianity began as a shamanistic cult. In his books The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross and The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth (1979), Allegro put forward the theory that stories of early Christianity originated in an Essene clandestine cult centred around the use of psychedelic mushrooms, and that the New Testament is the coded record of this shamanistic cult. Allegro further argued that the authors of the Christian gospels did not understand the Essene thought. When writing down the Gospels based on the stories they had heard, the evangelists confused the meaning of the scrolls. In this way, according to Allegro, the Christian tradition is based on a misunderstanding of the scrolls. He also argued that the story of Jesus was based on the crucifixion of the Teacher of Righteousness in the scrolls. Mark Hall writes that Allegro suggested the Dead Sea Scrolls all but proved that a historical Jesus never existed.

Allegro argued that Jesus in the Gospels was in fact a code for a type of hallucinogen, the Amanita muscaria, and that Christianity was the product of an ancient “sex-and-mushroom” cult. Critical reaction was swift and harsh: fourteen British scholars (including Allegro’s mentor at Oxford, Godfrey Driver) denounced it. Sidnie White Crawford wrote of the publication of Sacred Mushroom, “Rightly or wrongly, Allegro would never be taken seriously as a scholar again.”

Allegro’s theory of a shamanistic cult as the origin of Christianity was criticised sharply by Welsh historian Philip Jenkins who wrote that Allegro was an eccentric scholar who relied on texts that did not exist in quite the form he was citing them. Jenkins called the Sacred Mushroom and the Cross “possibly the single most ludicrous book on Jesus scholarship by a qualified academic”. Based on the reactions to the book, Allegro’s publisher later apologized for issuing the book and Allegro was forced to resign his academic post. A 2006 article by Michael Hoffman discussing Allegro’s work called for his theories to be re-evaluated by the mainstream. In November 2009 The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross was reprinted in a 40th anniversary edition with a 30-page addendum by Carl Ruck of Boston University.

—

Fungible non?

I’ve had that book for maybe 55 years?

Ian said:

Soma, the intoxicating drink, was perhaps first used in ancient Persia. Soma juice may have been derived from the fermented milky sap of Asclepias acida, a climbing plant that thrived in mountain areas. Other candidates for the origin of the drink, or partial ingredients therein, included hallucinogenic mushrooms, honey, cannabis, blue lotus, milk and pomegranate.

In Indian mythology, the gods gained their immortality by drinking Soma and it was the favourite tipple of the great Indra. They then gave the drink to the archer-god Gandharva for safe-keeping but one day the fire-god, Agni, stole it and gave it to the human race. Not only drunk by priests for its sacred nature it was also credited with uplifting qualities, giving the drinker a boost in energy and alertness. These effects meant that the drink has been considered divine since ancient times; a beverage that brought humans closer to the divine. It was also commonly offered in libations to the gods by worshippers. According to Wikipedia, the go-to source of information, Soma is regarded as the deity who supervises Hindu religious sacrifices.

The drink was personified as the god Soma who was considered primeval amongst the gods and a bringer of health and wealth; in many ways, he is similar to the Greek and Roman gods of wine – Dionysos and Bacchus – while the drink is the equivalent of ambrosia in those traditions. In the Puranas religious texts, Soma is described as riding a chariot with three wheels, which is drawn by a team of ten pure-white horses.

Does wiki also link to Brave New World?

The only purpose for recreational drugs is ideological subversion, you knock the brain of a civilisation and the thing collapses – it has no resilience in the face of adversity. You can throw “meditation” and other new age garbage into that basket. Stop turning to drugs and face the cold light of dawn of reality sober.

wookiemeister said:

The only purpose for recreational drugs is ideological subversion, you knock the brain of a civilisation and the thing collapses – it has no resilience in the face of adversity. You can throw “meditation” and other new age garbage into that basket. Stop turning to drugs and face the cold light of dawn of reality sober.

I see you have never read the politics of ecstassy

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

The only purpose for recreational drugs is ideological subversion, you knock the brain of a civilisation and the thing collapses – it has no resilience in the face of adversity. You can throw “meditation” and other new age garbage into that basket. Stop turning to drugs and face the cold light of dawn of reality sober.

I see you have never read the politics of ecstassy

Ive never had the luxury of escaping into drugs, I’m not prepared to waste money buying them.

Keep taking drugs and they burn your brain out

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

The only purpose for recreational drugs is ideological subversion, you knock the brain of a civilisation and the thing collapses – it has no resilience in the face of adversity. You can throw “meditation” and other new age garbage into that basket. Stop turning to drugs and face the cold light of dawn of reality sober.

I see you have never read the politics of ecstassy

Ive never had the luxury of escaping into drugs, I’m not prepared to waste money buying them.

Keep taking drugs and they burn your brain out

So what happens when you stop breathing? When you take into account of the descriptiom of a drug as the substance which changes your state.

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

I see you have never read the politics of ecstassy

Ive never had the luxury of escaping into drugs, I’m not prepared to waste money buying them.

Keep taking drugs and they burn your brain out

So what happens when you stop breathing? When you take into account of the descriptiom of a drug as the substance which changes your state.

Exercise endorphins are a form of drug

Cymek said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

Ive never had the luxury of escaping into drugs, I’m not prepared to waste money buying them.

Keep taking drugs and they burn your brain out

So what happens when you stop breathing? When you take into account of the descriptiom of a drug as the substance which changes your state.

Exercise endorphins are a form of drug

Let us not leave brain dead out as point zero.

Who first coined the term A Social Lubricant when referring to alcohol?

Ogmog said:

Who first coined the term A Social Lubricant when referring to alcohol?

And Beer Goggles.

Ogmog said:

Who first coined the term A Social Lubricant when referring to alcohol?

be a revolution if drinking water and eating together did those things, maybe a few grunts while and a laugh, oh and way back in time there was the gathering of food, and hunting, before eating

there you go, my contribution to human nature studies, with some speculation about life before refrigerators, and supermarkets, and science, and TV

wonder if our ancestors on the African savanna laughed the same, i’m guessing they did, probably even had humor and jokes

transition said:

Ogmog said:

Who first coined the term A Social Lubricant when referring to alcohol?

be a revolution if drinking water and eating together did those things, maybe a few grunts while and a laugh, oh and way back in time there was the gathering of food, and hunting, before eating

there you go, my contribution to human nature studies, with some speculation about life before refrigerators, and supermarkets, and science, and TV

wonder if our ancestors on the African savanna laughed the same, i’m guessing they did, probably even had humor and jokes

Lowering the inhibitions (Socially or finding a mate)
the ability to hunt or gather food (being a good provider)
The willingness to share (winnows out the greedy & selfish)
…that one’s easy; you only have to hear/see a chimp laughing