Are Drugs GOOD For You? (Kirby + Aldous Huxley) - 8-Bit Philosophy

Press Start for “Are Psychedelic Drugs GOOD for You?” by 8-Bit Philosophy, where classic video games introduce famous thinkers, problems, and concepts with quotes, teachings, and more.

Episode 31: Are Psychedelic Drugs GOOD for You?
(Kirby + Aldous Huxley)

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Thug Notes:

Earthling Cinema:

Pop Psych:

Written by: Matt Reichle
Created & Directed by: Jared Bauer
Narrator: Nathan Lowe
Animation Producer: MB X. McClain
Academic Consultant: Mia Wood
Producer & Additional Artwork by: Jacob S. Salamon

© 2015 Wisecrack, Inc. –

[zookatone]

Did you know?
"The Doors" named themselves after Huxley's "The Doors of Perception" .

[darktv]

Smart stuff. Can't wait to collaborate again!

[ericle]

so basically, get high, learn the secrets of the universe

[Meta_Myself]

Huxley actually took LSD with Mescaline when he wrote The Doors of Perception. 

He was also injected with LSD on his death bed.

[guyshepard]

Don't you ever have that moment when you think, "oh shit, I exist, I live, I am going to die, but I gotta get to work." So your mind goes back to that complacent place that it goes when you do your everyday tasks. Where the awesomeness of our existence moves to the back of your mind.

[matiasmartin]

The cosmic coyote was a really nice touch

[youaintasbadasyouthink]

Always a great idea to see the world from a new perspective.

[Meta_Myself]

Bad trips are the most important.
Like the that rolling stones lyric:
"You can't always get want you want... you get what you need."

[cboyles]

Came here after the dark5 episode, thought  I'd check it out. Dude, I am in love with this channel! The 8-bit animation, narration  and actual facts and real information...just love it. You have a new subscriber! (^_^)

[Spn]

Was gonna Watch a wisecrack video, but then i got high

[Strobeez]

Tried shrooms 2 years ago, changed my life for the better. Got out of a 5 year ditch of depression in one day and I've been fine since.

[lojocoats]

I think you should've reworded the title of this video to "Are Psychedelics Good?" because everyone in the comments is instantly assuming that drug = crack and turning away.

[Danmarinja]

I won't ever judge a drug unless I experience it myself. That being said, I don't have much experience outside of the usuals; caffeine and alcohol, something that I need to remedy. But when schools push on students how drugs are bad simply because they are, it sounds more like the blind religious leader who teaches their ethics without explaining them (eating unclean meats is wrong because of the fact it is wrong).

[matttucker]

From my experience with psychedelic drugs, all have the same expansion of connectedness with all life and non life. It's incredibly difficult to explain but you feel that you are connected and empathetic towards not only all people, but all living and non living things. It has definitely changed my life for the better as it allowed me to gain alternate perspectives and empathise with others.

[danielraftery]

I think the fallacy with Huxley's supposition, is that the only way to reach a holistic ideology, stripped of the pressures of a consensual reality, is through substances. As someone who has problems with anxiety and depression, that sort of thinking comes second nature. When experiencing a panic attack or fear of death (among other things) it allows one to gain perspective that might not occur under "normal" circumstances. An alternate "reality" also occurs in schizophrenics, yet another stripped of societal expectations (I came to discover this through the 8-Bit Anti-Oedipus aswell as reading the book later). The problem, in my opinion, with using substances to reach these conclusions, is that one might feel in order to constantly re experience that sort of enlightenment, the substance will always be needed. In my opinion, creating your own reality depends on constantly reassessing what it means to exist, to approach others with kindness, and to put forth your ideal means of living, whether janitor or painter. It is a daily thing, not one strictly subject to a single ingestion of said substance. Every means of changes come from within, not without. But on a side note, thank you Wisecrack, for offering me up a perspective I might not conceive of in my daily existence. I feel like I should go so far as to say 8-Bit philosophy is better than any psychoactive experience. It's free, without side effects, and always offers up a new point of view. Kudos!

[carteblanche]

And that talking coyote was really just a talking dog...

[ThestDukeDroklar]

I'm 55 yr old stoner and former tripper. I figured I should speak up with some of my personal experience on this matter so people can make an informed decision. I did LSD and some shrooms for roughly 7 yrs off and on although I tripped every week for one of those summers. Smoked weed from 13-54. Used meth for roughly 10 years before quitting (highly recommend steering clear of meth).Pro's: I firmly believe I am a better more compassionate person because of tripping and the weed. While I have always thought deeply and outside the box, I do think tripping allowed me to explore that aspect of myself on a much higher level (no pun intended). It could definitely be argued that I would have thought of the same things without the aid of tripping or weed but I don't think so. Thinking of something as a concept and "experiencing it" are two very different things. As Hendrix asked "are you experienced".Con's: Meth induces schizophrenic experiences and behavior or brings forth latent / dormant schizophrenia itself. Trust me, you don't want to experience that. Cannot be certain which drugs are contributing factors or if natural causes but short term memory is very poor, possibly early onset of alzheimers. Once you open the doors to seeing reality in other ways... those doors cannot be easily shut. Although I haven't done anything harder than weed for over 20 yrs I find that high stress or continued use of weed for longer than a week will bring on what I call altered states of consciousness. I won't go into details for the sake of brevity but I can assure you that we live in two very different realities. Or to quote Aeon Flux, "I come from a world.... you may not understand". Caveat: I am a sample group of one. Mental illness and epilepsy runs in my family as well as child abuse which all can be very important factors. The mix of drug types makes it impossible to determine which ones are responsible for which long term side effects. Personal conclusions: Would I do it the same way again? Yes because I like who I am and how I see things. To change anything in my life would most certainly change who I am now. Would I recommend it to others? NO because I could never be sure if they would experience things the way I do. I firmly believe most people could not survive the unreality through which I walk.

[__m-a-x__]

LSD at the dentist would be the most horrible thing imaginable

[ShapezPuller]

Real missed opportunity in not making this episodes length 4:20

[JuggerNERD]

"There are things known and things unknown, and between them there are the doors."
- Jim Morrison