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To catch a DMT elfJames L. KentParapsychologist David Luke forwarded me an interesting article entitled, "A Methodology for Studying Various Interpretations of the N,N-dimethyltryptamine-Induced Alternate Reality". This article is by one Marko A. Rodriguez, and in this paper Mr. Rodriguez proposes an information theory experiment to test the autonomous nature of the DMT universe: having trippers ask DMT elves to calculate a prime factor of a 5-digit non-prime number (such as 12233), and then have the DMT elves relay the answer to the next tripper that happens along for verification. Can anyone see any problems with this experiment?
Rodriguez points out the obvious problems of trying to get people high on DMT to faithfully execute experimental protocol -- especially people who, in his own words, "have never heard of DMT and its extraordinary effects on the human psyche." Newbies on IV DMT? Good luck with that one. He also points out that DMT elf intelligence may be vastly different from our own, and too much information may be lost in the communication breakdown to provide a reliable result. For instance, when I recently asked a DMT elf for a prime factor of 23788, the DMT elf returned the visual rebus "Undulating Twinkie on rotating lotus, squirting." I'm not sure if that meant 23, but that's what I wrote down. Is that right?
The good thing about this paper is that it spells out all the possible interpretations of the DMT reality, from a strictly subjective and personal state (inconsistent subjective) to a wholly autonomous universe (coexisting reality). Having tried variations on the information experiment presented in this article for myself, I can say with a great deal of confidence that -- as defined by the scope of this paper -- the DMT universe falls somewhere between the inconsistent subject (personal drug tip) and the consistent subjective (drug trip with non-subjective universal themes), and only rarely breaks into the "subjective reality" end of the spectrum where two different subjects report similar autonomous realities. Even so, it is highly doubtful that non-random information could ever be passed between two such subjective experiences.
Ardent believers in the existence of a DMT universe may demand that such experiments be made, and I for one would be interested to see the results for myself. But after studying the nature of DMT elves for many years I do not believe a single positive result will come out of this; in fact I think the elves will laugh at anyone who asks them such a ridiculous question. And even if a positive result does come out, it would not be undeniable proof that such a universe exists, as Rodriguez claims. A single subject can guess a prime factor of a five digit number at random, the odds are not astronomical here, say one in five-hundred to be generous (probably far less if you already know a lot of low-digit prime numbers). Also, this test could very easily be hoaxed by test subjects with an evil sense of humor. Despite all the legendary claims to the contrary, DMT is not all that overwhelming once you get used to it, and hearty trippers can easily memorize prime numbers and spit them back at request. Rodriguez quotes McKenna in the text of this paper, claiming that, "We must send fearless experts, whatever that may come to be, to explore and report back on what they find." And I am claiming to be one of those fearless experts, and I report swirling lights, morphing 3-D visual hallucinations, and stylized cartoon versions of elf-like entities acting out visual synesthesia of preconscious thought. Is it strange, absurd, surreal, and clever? Yes. Is it an alien hyperdimension? No.
The fact remains that DMT entities do exist, but it is my belief that they represent subjective personifications of alien archetypes within our own minds. We all have the elf/alien archetype embedded within our structure; and we utilize subconscious processes which are so autonomous and foreign to our "executive" consciousness that we cannot even identify them as "self" when we see them. Imagine, for instance, if the neural network responsible for making "snap decisions" -- a little pocket in the medial pre-frontal cortex -- suddenly took visual form due to hyperactive excitation of your visual cortex. Instead of receiving feedback counseling via internal voice or "gut feeling", that voice would suddenly have a body and a face and a costume, and perhaps a fully choreographed dance routine to go along with whatever it was telling you. If you want to ask such an entity to give you a prime factor of a five-digit number, it may give you the finger instead, or produce a grotesquely elongated phallus, or simply dive into a shimmering pool of hyper-plasma never to be seen again. Running an experiment like this is akin to asking a drunkard to spontaneously calculate the 40th digit of Pi when he passes out. You may get some interesting stuff, but only occasionally will you get the right answer, which is 7. This does not mean alcohol gives you advanced math skills, it just means even drunk people can make a lucky guess every now and then.
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Reference: Rodriguez, Marko A., "A Methodology for Studying Various Interpretations of the N,N-dimethyltryptamine-Induced Alternate Reality", Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2006. » more at: www.soe.ucsc.edu
Posted By jamesk at 2007-03-16 11:43:39 permalink | comments |
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It's an illusion, albeit a convincing and exotic one, but an illusion all the same. Hey, what would happen if you kept someone tripping intravenously for 10 hours. I mean, you would work your way up to the ten hours over the course of a year maybe, but then the person could spend an extended amount of time in this other place.
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