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[Hanslanda]

I meant an Advil when I had a cold.

Anyway, the key fact here is that I'm thirteen. Bam. There goes my credibility. So I'd like to think I'm in a good position to plan what I'd like to do in the future, and getting involved in heavy drug use would be, well, a bit difficult. And the assumption that "everyone has been involved in drug use" is just depressing. I'd like to think that lots of the people not posting in this thread haven't, or that plenty of the people I pass by on the street haven't, or that as a civilization we've produced at least a few individuals who died without doing drugs. And I'd also like to say that, if I'm going to live a perpetually lonely life because I don't like to talk to drug users, where's the actual facts behind this? I'm going to go out on a limb here (watch out!), and say that you use some sort of substance, hence the depressing predictions. And let's go even further and say that some of your friends do the same, because like it or not, people organize themselves into little groups depending on shared interests, professions, hobbies, and anything else you can think of for their entire lives. So now you have a reference point surrounded by drug users. Could it be that this is a bad place to make guesses about the habits of society of a whole? Could it be that if I get a good education, a decent job, and eventually a nice place to retire (doubly easy, of course, since I won't have met anyone to get married to) then I'll have passed the Gauntlet of Life without getting involved in anything related to drugs? And yes, you can say that I won't get a good education or a job, and I'm lying to myself, but the problem here is that even if I'm a terrible judge of myself, I still know more about me than you do, and I think I'm doing pretty damned well.

So there you go.

Just because you're younger doesn't mean you have no credibility.
 
How would getting involved in heavy drug use be difficult? It's surprisingly easy if you aren't vigilant.
 
Not everyone is involved in drug use. I believe he meant that most people take prescriptions/drink or whatever.

And I've met people who are far outside my reference point, people that go to church and have 'godly' lives as they say, that happen to have prescriptions. This would possibly qualify for the 'involved in drug use' thing.

And yes, you can say that I won't get a good education or a job, and I'm lying to myself, but the problem here is that even if I'm a terrible judge of myself, I still know more about me than you do, and I think I'm doing pretty damned well.

This is not necessarily true. I'll try and find the study, but it has been shown that strangers are often better at judging your aptitude at tasks than you are, because the strangers have no bias as to what they believe you can or can not do. Then again, we're not judging your aptitude at arranging blocks or drawing lines, so take it with a grain of salt.
Also, do you know more about you than a doctor does? What about a psychologist? I know that they know nothing about you personally, but you are indeed a human being (unless you aren't and then o.O ) so there are some things that can be assumed about you safely. I'm not qualified to assume anything though.

[GoombaGeek]

I'm just trying my best for now. Hopefully everything ends up okay.

[Hanslanda]

I'm just trying my best for now. Hopefully everything ends up okay.

That's all we can do. And I hope you stay away from drugs. Sincerely, I do. I just wanted to know your opinion on them. I'm insatiably curious, and I believe there is a saying about curiousity and cats...

[Urist_McDrowner]

Hold on. Hanslanda are you suggesting that we shouldn't smoke weed everyday? Snoop Dogg Lion would be disappointed...

Fixed. That's his name now.

[Frumple]

I'd say "drugs" in this context are more strongly directed toward psychoactive or hallucinatory stuff than anything else. There's a difference between recreational and medical drugs... or drug usage, at least. Abuse is abuse regardless of the intended usage of the material, though. Still, there's a difference between drug use for pleasure and other sorts.

As for me, I just don't like being around anyone that's on anything that fucks with behavior, especially if I've known them when they're not under the effects. To wit,

No joke, and it's been a bit of a stumbling block with trying to get into my major, but being around people who are drunk or while they're becoming drunk is incredibly unsettling to me. Y'have no goddamn idea, makes my entire neural schema start to flip out. Even tipsy is something I have trouble wanting to stay anywhere near. Same for any behavior effecting drug, as well as cognitive degeneration due to disease or age. It's like... just a little buzzed? "No," goes Frumple's mind, "Person, you have just fucking poisoned yourself and now I'm watching you lose cognitive capability and control, flat out the most fundamental aspect of what makes you, you. This is existential horror writ libation, and now, self, I am going to gibber and suggest you claw at the walls and escape."

Not just alcohol, as noted. Heavy behavioral shifts due to willfully ingested chemicals makes huge parts of my psych start to flip the fuck out. Now, when they're not under the effects I don't really give a shit, but when they are...

And yeah, I indulge in caffeine occasionally, though I've been steadily reducing intake. Last time I took painkillers was... while passing a kidney stone? Yeah, think that was it. I'm really cautious with their use because they've almost killed me once or twice. Doc gave standard dosage, turns out I was sensitive enough it almost flatlined my blood pressure (and me). I seriously don't put antibiotics in the same category as anything that really fits into recreational categories, though. But recreational, psychoactive, hallucinogenic? No mas. The closest I've came was a couple of attempts at (prescribed, taken specifically as directions dictated.) antidepressants when I was younger, and both of those fucked me up so bad I'm now utterly terrified of having another try at it.

Would say it's safe to say someone that doesn't want to interact with people that willfully and regularly poison themselves for kicks isn't quite what I'd call an asshole move, though. Some people can deal with the sorts of personalities that do that, some can't. Wanting to avoid that interaction is a mostly neutral thing, I'd say.

[MrWillsauce]

Curiosity killed the drug-addicted cat.

[Hanslanda]

Hold on. Hanslanda are you suggesting that we shouldn't smoke weed everyday? Snoop Dogg Lion would be disappointed...

Fixed. That's his name now.

Derail activated. FIRING!

I'd say "drugs" in this context are more strongly directed toward psychoactive or hallucinatory stuff than anything else. There's a difference between recreational and medical drugs... or drug usage, at least. Abuse is abuse regardless of the intended usage of the material, though. Still, there's a difference between drug use for pleasure and other sorts.

As for me, I just don't like being around anyone that's on anything that fucks with behavior, especially if I've known them when they're not under the effects. To wit,

No joke, and it's been a bit of a stumbling block with trying to get into my major, but being around people who are drunk or while they're becoming drunk is incredibly unsettling to me. Y'have no goddamn idea, makes my entire neural schema start to flip out. Even tipsy is something I have trouble wanting to stay anywhere near. Same for any behavior effecting drug, as well as cognitive degeneration due to disease or age. It's like... just a little buzzed? "No," goes Frumple's mind, "Person, you have just fucking poisoned yourself and now I'm watching you lose cognitive capability and control, flat out the most fundamental aspect of what makes you, you. This is existential horror writ libation, and now, self, I am going to gibber and suggest you claw at the walls and escape."

Not just alcohol, as noted. Heavy behavioral shifts due to willfully ingested chemicals makes huge parts of my psych start to flip the fuck out. Now, when they're not under the effects I don't really give a shit, but when they are...

And yeah, I indulge in caffeine occasionally, though I've been steadily reducing intake. Last time I took painkillers was... while passing a kidney stone? Yeah, think that was it. I'm really cautious with their use because they've almost killed me once or twice. Doc gave standard dosage, turns out I was sensitive enough it almost flatlined my blood pressure (and me). I seriously don't put antibiotics in the same category as anything that really fits into recreational categories, though. But recreational, psychoactive, hallucinogenic? No mas. The closest I've came was a couple of attempts at (prescribed, taken specifically as directions dictated.) antidepressants when I was younger, and both of those fucked me up so bad I'm now utterly terrified of having another try at it.

Would say it's safe to say someone that doesn't want to interact with people that willfully and regularly poison themselves for kicks isn't quite what I'd call an asshole move, though. Some people can deal with the sorts of personalities that do that, some can't. Wanting to avoid that interaction is a mostly neutral thing, I'd say.

Yes, I recall this post. I also somewhat identify, but in a wierd way. I don't enjoy being drunk when I'm actually drunk, as I can feel the aching emptiness of hell inside my brain, but the idea of being drunk is appealing to me. Being on marijuana or hallucinogens is quite another matter, and one I'm not quite qualified to describe.

And the one time the doc gave me antidepressents, they made me feel like an inhuman sociopath. I felt like everything was just gone. Nothing. No feeling, no fear, not a damn thing. It was pretty fucking scary.

Curiosity killed the drug-addicted cat.

Is this continuing the lion theme?

[i2amroy]

Always good to remember that there are plenty of illegal drugs that will safely do none of these things, though. In fact, many do the exact opposite - some of the most abused drugs in the US are drugs specifically geared towards allowing people to focus better and think at "better than their best". Oddly enough, LSD is of one of the few drugs clinically proven to literally push even the best minds significantly past their limits - there are a number of breakthrough theoretical and technical discoveries due to the studies into LSD (before the government banned it). In fact, research indicates it is the single most capable drug at increasing people's ability to solve creative and technical problems, and it does it exceptionally well.

If you're interested in learning more, the  Institute for Psychedelic Research at San Francisco State College spearheaded most of the more valuable research.

I discussed more in-depth on my opinion on LSD in my next post. Basically while LSD clears my first two problems with flying colors (being neither addictive nor causing any sort of permanent damage to your body as far as we know), it does have the small problem with number three in that it slightly impairs your judgmental centers in your brain, as well as increasing suggestivity. My true reason for always wanting to be able to think at my best is also actually survivalism, in the fact that in any sort of life-or-death scenario your brain is your most powerful tool. There is a reason why your brain cycles per second greatly increases in dangerous scenarios after all. Basically if somebody decides my house is a good place to hide from the cops and breaks in with a gun, I would rather be able to attempt to think of a way to get out of the scenario rather then be too busy looking at the walls moving, have such a time disassociation that my brain doesn't even realize what is happening until I'm dead, or have my brain decide that charging the madman with a gun sounds like a good idea. While the chances of something like that happening are extremely small (the violent crime rate in my state is .56 per 1000 people) it is still significant enough for me to take it into effect. After all, why gamble your life on something if you don't need to? I'll take survival over any type of sensory experience you can throw at me.

Also keep in mind that while many drugs do "stretch the limits" of what you can do in one area, they do so by dampening the other areas. So while you might be able to think extremely creatively, what good does that do you if you can't tell what ideas are good ones and what ones aren't? How good is being able to logically arrange everything that's happened to you like a map if you can't think laterally enough to apply what you've learned? Drugs will stretch you, but only in one way, and it takes a jack-of-all trades to actually accomplish things and then communicate them. A savant might be able to calculate unsolvable quantum physics in their head, but if they don't have the social skills to communicate their answer then it is worthless to humanity as a whole.

(Unless you're way more dedicated to this than I give you credit for, and you avoid caffeine, alcohol, painkillers and antibiotics, psych meds, as well.)

Personally I hate the taste and smell of coffee, extremely rarely drink soda (1-2 times a year, don't like the bubbles), don't drink energy drinks, don't drink alcohol, have a clean psychological bill of health, don't use painkillers (except during dentist drillings, I avoided them after my wisdom teeth were taken out though), don't take allergy medicines (since I have no allergies), don't do any hard or soft drugs, and the only time I've ever taken antibiotics was when I got hit by a stomach bug that required me to take them for a few weeks. My total trips to the doctor are 1 time every year or two just to make sure that I stay in their computer system so I don't need to refill all of the information they have saved, and usually I don't need even that. I don't consider myself a religious person at all (I'm agnostic, though I was raised christian), I just feel that my strongest prerogative in life is to survive for as long as possible as I mentioned above, and anything that reduces the chances of that is something that should be avoided if possible (though there is a difference between weighing risks and paranoia, sunshine and exercise are good for you after all, at least for a little each day).

[Urist_McDrowner]

I actually didn't think the Snoop Dog Lion comment would derail, it was just a silly nitpick/factcheck. Does anybody even care about the guy? If so, go make your own thread.

[Hanslanda]

I actually didn't think the Snoop Dog Lion comment would derail, it was just a silly nitpick/factcheck. Does anybody even care about the guy? If so, go make your own thread.

Lol, nah, I was just kidding.

-snip-

Strange. I find myself in this odd position. I personally believe my goal in life is to enjoy it as much as possible. Not hedonistically, but just to be happy and like my life. Living longer doesn't actually factor into this. Time passes, and my time will come when it comes. I'm not going to actively seek to prolong my life, and in fact, if something I enjoy actively shortens my life, that is no detriment to me. I'm not suicidal, but I am not afraid of death either. I find it to be a mystery that will be solved in time, but for now, I should enjoy what I can, within some reasonable limits.
I'm not the type to go whoring around, or do ludicrous amounts of drugs, or engage in highly dangerous/self-destructive behaviors, but if I think I will derive some true enjoyment from something, I won't shy away from it.

[Urist_McDrowner]

I don't use drugs for many reasons. Chief among them is "God said so". The purpose of my life is to live worthy to be in His presence. As a corollary, I'm banking that I'll get more righteous and wise as I grow older, so having a long life is to my benefit. Nevertheless, on some great alarm clock in the sky is my name (in a metaphorical sense  ), so unless I kill myself, there's a day, hour, and minute ascribed to my death. Now I just have to avoid killing myself, hence, another reason not to do drug.

[i2amroy]

I think one of the things that influences my "live as long as you can" worldview is the whole "live long enough to live forever" idea of the transhumanist circles. Basically with technology advancing and speeding up the rate that it speeds up at, the teen-twenties generation is the first generation to actually have a good shot at being able to live to the point where we are increasing the life span of people faster then 1 second per second (through regenerative medicines, replacement parts, etc.). I figure if I can live long enough to reach that point, then I can have all the rest of the time in the universe to lay back and enjoy life, but I've got to make the cut-off first so that takes priority over everything else.

It's interesting to meet somebody with the opposite perspective though.

[zombie urist]

I kinda have to opposite perspective. I don't really care about living all that long, especially since I figure I'll be out of touch with the future world. Sort of feels like that once life can become infinite, there's less value in it.

On topic, I don't do drugs mostly because I never felt a need to.

[Hanslanda]

I think one of the things that influences my "live as long as you can" worldview is the whole "live long enough to live forever" idea of the transhumanist circles. Basically with technology advancing and speeding up the rate that it speeds up at, the teen-twenties generation is the first generation to actually have a good shot at being able to live to the point where we are increasing the life span of people faster then 1 second per second (through regenerative medicines, replacement parts, etc.). I figure if I can live long enough to reach that point, then I can have all the rest of the time in the universe to lay back and enjoy life, but I've got to make the cut-off first so that takes priority over everything else.

It's interesting to meet somebody with the opposite perspective though.

Living forever would fucking suck, pardon the language. And I have one question for you. What if you don't make the cut off?

I kinda have to opposite perspective. I don't really care about living all that long, especially since I figure I'll be out of touch with the future world. Sort of feels like that once life can become infinite, there's less value in it.

On topic, I don't do drugs mostly because I never felt a need to.

 

I don't need drugs. Sayeth every addict in history. I actually do need them. I've been sober for nine months now, and its the most miserable I've been in five years. But I'm a very hardcore addict, so eh. *Shrugs* What do I know?

[zombie urist]

Not what I meant. 

I've never felt the urge to start doing drugs.