A well written piece. I achieved financial independence and left the rat race. Very glad I did before I got guillotined like many of my friends. While sometimes I miss being around smart people, I never want to see the inside of a giant corporation building again. I hope Ole Trøan finds peace in his post-Cisco life.
I live in Germany and right next to the highest point of the (European) Netherlands, it's only a 5k walk and you barely notice the elevation change. It's not necessarily underwhelming but definitely not overwhelming, in fact it's just whelming - so I'm glad OP got more out of the experience.
I don’t find that strange. Our drug policy is not backed by any sort of philosophy. E.g. possessing cannabis is illegal in NL. The policy is the outcome of micro-panics (a few accidents with tourists on shrooms), indecisiveness and fear.
It's either a bot or a meat proxy. I have answered another one to see if they are pro-active. I'd have expected that at least they should process the article but apparently tokens are so expensive in this economy.
It is correct though, since 2010 Saba is a "speciale gemeente" of the Netherlands, and its mountain is thus our highest point. Before that it was organised as a separate country "Nederlandse Antillen" with the other Caribbean islands.
I've recently hiked to the highest point of Belgium, it's 693 meters but because humans have some ego thing attached to round numbers they built a 7 meter tall stone tower you can ascend to hit 700m.
Bit of an odd comment overall. The fact that I know that the highest point in the Netherlands is in the Caribbean pretty much demonstrates that I'm not from the US.
To make up for my tone (which wasn't intended to be snarky but without the missing fact probably came across as such), did you know Douglas once described the experience of trying to get Hitch-hikers made into a film as "like trying to cook a steak by having a succession of people come into the room and breathe on it" which is a description I treasure!
> And of course the exclusion. Inside a group, then outside it. People I ate lunch with went quiet. The chats went quiet. I became a story other people told carefully.
This is why I don't rely on workplace being the place where friendships happen. Whenever I feel like there's friendship growing, I add that person on some app, and then we meet outside of work. In that way even if we part ways professionally, we can still be friends privately. I spam people with game screenshots, pics of food, and racist rants. I invite them to gatherings and outings.
I love psychedelics! I use LSD recreationally every few weeks or so. I believe it's related to psilocybin (from magic mushrooms) by also being a tryptamine. Always love hearing about good experiences.
Does it though? I dissociate because, among other things, I was beaten as a small child. I didn't first try LSD until years after I already knew of my plurality
its a power thing isn't it...organised collectives have way bigger influence than individuals...and the most successful organised collective is the business company... nowadays some of them more powerful than nation states... individuals subject to company objectives and other individuals empowered by their position in a company...a vote is no longer the expression of liberty...we are under the whims of corporations... companies are the true sovereign, go, incorporate, pay Irish taxes, and give the middle finger to ur government
"And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that's what soma is."
I thought it was relatively balanced. "It happened to work for me this time but it could have gone horribly wrong." That's the truth of psychedelics as a theraputic tool.
It is true that the text comes with disclaimers, but I read them more like the result of a 25 year career in corporate, rather than a genuinely balanced view on the matter.
Respectfully… you are commenting far outside of your domain if you read OP’s description of their experience as substance abuse.
I say this as someone who used to abuse substances and, naively, took mushrooms in pursuit of that. What I got instead was intensely introspective and therapeutic and led directly and immediately to lasting sobriety.
There is nuance to the world. Healing does not always flow directly from the hands of a doctor, just as justice is not always meted out by a judge.
They're being used as a crutch to fast-track achieve the illusion of a goal.
That is textbook abuse, because you're deluding yourself into believing that you're achieving something, when in reality, the only thing you do achieve is addiction. Or so the worst-case outcome anyway.
Abuse of course sounds like you're hurting someone else, but in this case, you're just hurting yourself. But you do that quite hard.
__
Ego death is hard, but achievable without cheating like that. And - not to be snarky - when laid off, you have a lot of time for the introspection to pull that off without such crutches.
The author decided otherwise - and it's their right to do that - but it's still textbook substance abuse, which is objectively bad.
Hence my comment to correct that.
It shall be read as directed as the reader getting wrong ideas. Not at the guy clearly struggling and just finding something that works for them.
If you take a look at the rest of the comment section, you will see why this is ethically necessary.
FWIW, it's not the author's fault that this ended up in this place, but it still ended up in this place, and with that, it is harmful, because HN does not comprehend the idea of context.
Doing magic mushrooms is one of the most important things I ever did, way back in my twenties. Literally changed my perspective on life. It opened my eyes.
Or, in the words of Steve Jobs: “Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life.”
They don't glorify drugs, the image of stoners over there is at least as bad as in other European countries. The narco trouble is mostly because the country is a huge logistics hub.
A well written piece. I achieved financial independence and left the rat race. Very glad I did before I got guillotined like many of my friends. While sometimes I miss being around smart people, I never want to see the inside of a giant corporation building again. I hope Ole Trøan finds peace in his post-Cisco life.
I live in Germany and right next to the highest point of the (European) Netherlands, it's only a 5k walk and you barely notice the elevation change. It's not necessarily underwhelming but definitely not overwhelming, in fact it's just whelming - so I'm glad OP got more out of the experience.
“Whelming” is an excellent way to describe the Vaalserberg. Aachen has a lot more to it and somehow most Dutchmen never take a peek across the border.
Nice. Did you find hungry bears at that elevation?
Strangely, mushrooms are illegal in NL, but truffles are not.
I don’t find that strange. Our drug policy is not backed by any sort of philosophy. E.g. possessing cannabis is illegal in NL. The policy is the outcome of micro-panics (a few accidents with tourists on shrooms), indecisiveness and fear.
I just thought it was amusing they only addressed the part that grows above the ground in the law.
Agree the policy is dumb though.
The Netherlands isn't that flat. Its highest point is Mt.Scenery at 870m.
Fortunately, the article is neither about the Netherlands nor about its highest point. The title is a joke about hallucinogens.
It's either a bot or a meat proxy. I have answered another one to see if they are pro-active. I'd have expected that at least they should process the article but apparently tokens are so expensive in this economy.
The article also literally contains "The Netherlands is very flat."
Why does every HN thread have to start with someone telling someone else they’re wrong about something?
It’s a joke. Mt. Scenery is in the Caribbean, part of the Netherlands but not in the flat mainland.
TIL!
Well since you ask: GP is inaccurate because Mt. Scenery is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not the Netherlands.
Edit: I was wrong, see skylurk’s comment.
Saba joined the Netherlands in 2010
Nice, I stand corrected. A “special municipality”, TIL!
It doesn't always start like that! Sometimes you get corrected in the middle of a thread.
Mt. Scenery... never heard of it as a Dutchy. I found out that's in the Caribbean.
You just asked your AI God of choice about this, perhaps?
It is correct though, since 2010 Saba is a "speciale gemeente" of the Netherlands, and its mountain is thus our highest point. Before that it was organised as a separate country "Nederlandse Antillen" with the other Caribbean islands.
NotJustBikes made a video about the highest point 'in the Netherlands', that's where I heard of it.
The Netherlands highest point is in the Caribbean though
https://youtu.be/UJkVHgFsF60
Indeed, The Netherlands is this make-believe place where Peter Pan and Tinker Bell come from
I guess we can't call it the nether-lands anymore.
Higher than Belgium!
I've recently hiked to the highest point of Belgium, it's 693 meters but because humans have some ego thing attached to round numbers they built a 7 meter tall stone tower you can ascend to hit 700m.
Don't ever use that word outside of a Serious Screenplay.
Tell me you're from the US without etc.
It's a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Which, funnily enough, is of British origin instead of American.
I know. Guess which country had "fuck" and which country had "Belgium" in the Rory's description.
Bit of an odd comment overall. The fact that I know that the highest point in the Netherlands is in the Caribbean pretty much demonstrates that I'm not from the US.
> Bit of an odd comment overall.
It is, isn't it? Maybe there was a reason? :)
To make up for my tone (which wasn't intended to be snarky but without the missing fact probably came across as such), did you know Douglas once described the experience of trying to get Hitch-hikers made into a film as "like trying to cook a steak by having a succession of people come into the room and breathe on it" which is a description I treasure!
That’s considered flat where I’m from :)
Don't knock it til you've tried it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_(Saba)
> And of course the exclusion. Inside a group, then outside it. People I ate lunch with went quiet. The chats went quiet. I became a story other people told carefully.
This is why I don't rely on workplace being the place where friendships happen. Whenever I feel like there's friendship growing, I add that person on some app, and then we meet outside of work. In that way even if we part ways professionally, we can still be friends privately. I spam people with game screenshots, pics of food, and racist rants. I invite them to gatherings and outings.
I love psychedelics! I use LSD recreationally every few weeks or so. I believe it's related to psilocybin (from magic mushrooms) by also being a tryptamine. Always love hearing about good experiences.
That sort of explains your system (see user profile)
Does it though? I dissociate because, among other things, I was beaten as a small child. I didn't first try LSD until years after I already knew of my plurality
I shouldn’t have posted that, I apologize. Unfortunately I cannot delete my comment anymore
its a power thing isn't it...organised collectives have way bigger influence than individuals...and the most successful organised collective is the business company... nowadays some of them more powerful than nation states... individuals subject to company objectives and other individuals empowered by their position in a company...a vote is no longer the expression of liberty...we are under the whims of corporations... companies are the true sovereign, go, incorporate, pay Irish taxes, and give the middle finger to ur government
"And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that's what soma is."
That was weirdly and unexpectedly vulnerable, which is nice I suppose.
Would've been even nicer without glorifying substance abuse, but, well.
I thought it was relatively balanced. "It happened to work for me this time but it could have gone horribly wrong." That's the truth of psychedelics as a theraputic tool.
It is true that the text comes with disclaimers, but I read them more like the result of a 25 year career in corporate, rather than a genuinely balanced view on the matter.
Respectfully… you are commenting far outside of your domain if you read OP’s description of their experience as substance abuse.
I say this as someone who used to abuse substances and, naively, took mushrooms in pursuit of that. What I got instead was intensely introspective and therapeutic and led directly and immediately to lasting sobriety.
There is nuance to the world. Healing does not always flow directly from the hands of a doctor, just as justice is not always meted out by a judge.
Substance abuse is a poor description for taking magic mushrooms
How is it abuse?
They're being used as a crutch to fast-track achieve the illusion of a goal.
That is textbook abuse, because you're deluding yourself into believing that you're achieving something, when in reality, the only thing you do achieve is addiction. Or so the worst-case outcome anyway.
Abuse of course sounds like you're hurting someone else, but in this case, you're just hurting yourself. But you do that quite hard.
__
Ego death is hard, but achievable without cheating like that. And - not to be snarky - when laid off, you have a lot of time for the introspection to pull that off without such crutches.
The author decided otherwise - and it's their right to do that - but it's still textbook substance abuse, which is objectively bad.
Hence my comment to correct that.
It shall be read as directed as the reader getting wrong ideas. Not at the guy clearly struggling and just finding something that works for them.
If you take a look at the rest of the comment section, you will see why this is ethically necessary.
FWIW, it's not the author's fault that this ended up in this place, but it still ended up in this place, and with that, it is harmful, because HN does not comprehend the idea of context.
Sorry, mushrooms and addiction? Of all the things to worry about with mushrooms, that’s the least likely.
Doing magic mushrooms is one of the most important things I ever did, way back in my twenties. Literally changed my perspective on life. It opened my eyes.
Or, in the words of Steve Jobs: “Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life.”
Dutch people love glorifying drugs and then act outraged when the country becomes a narco state.
They don't glorify drugs, the image of stoners over there is at least as bad as in other European countries. The narco trouble is mostly because the country is a huge logistics hub.