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Rahz
Alive Again
Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,301
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What would society be like without drugs? 1
#26760662 - 06/20/20 08:56 PM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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And by drugs I mean mind altering drugs. Are there specific ones that improve society vs degrade it? Or would society be the same or worse without? What would be the difference if there were no mind altering drugs available at all? This hypothetical is not about whether a population can choose or be forced to abstain, but if there were no drugs to begin with. Would society be better or worse?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,066
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Re: What would society be like without drugs? [Re: Rahz]
#26762382 - 06/21/20 06:59 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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drugs make me more passive and reflective, and the time effects make more space for me, space that is not contested, a free place to be, a place to be free.
because of that I think drugs enable packing more people together, and that peaceful packing of populace helps society survive, except when the plagues begin.
-------------------- _ 🧠_
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The Blind Ass
Bodhi
Registered: 08/16/16
Posts: 27,368
Loc: The Primordial Mind
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Re: What would society be like without drugs? [Re: redgreenvines]
#26762566 - 06/21/20 09:25 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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We coevolved with these substances & the plants that many of them derive from and have the endogenous systems to prove it. Usage of exogenous substances deserve their due credit for helping mankind get through the thick off it all throughout human history. Wether it be caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, Opium & morphine or any other opiate/opioid, ether, all the anesthetics, dissociatives, cocaine, amphetamines & all the rest of stimulants - chloral hydrate, barbiturates & benzodiazepines, and last but certainly not least -hallucinogens/all psychedelics.
Their role in religion & philosophy, farming, building, discovery, sexually, socially, in medicine, and recreation - whatever it may be, their impact is undeniable, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. A blessing & a curse - a blurse, and a necessary one at that.
I don’t believe we could’ve done what we have thus far without them. I don’t believe we could have gotten this far or that we would have what we have if not for them and their uses- and I go so far as to deem them essential to our welfare and to society at large in regards to it being able to function in the order that it does.
-------------------- Give me Liberty caps -or- give me Death caps
Edited by The Blind Ass (06/21/20 09:32 AM)
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laughingdog
Stranger
Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,829
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Re: What would society be like without drugs? [Re: Rahz]
#26773749 - 06/22/20 08:13 AM (3 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rahz said: And by drugs I mean mind altering drugs. Are there specific ones that improve society vs degrade it? Or would society be the same or worse without? What would be the difference if there were no mind altering drugs available at all? This hypothetical is not about whether a population can choose or be forced to abstain, but if there were no drugs to begin with. Would society be better or worse?
. The ancient Maya seem to have used psychedelic enemas, and were perhaps the most sadistic people ever; whereas the Huichol peoples' entire lives, revolve around viewing the world as sacred, and bringing themselves into harmony with with sacredness. And other societies use mind altering drugs, in preparation for going hunting. . So it does not seem that 'mind altering drugs' per se determine, how we choose to be in the world. Drugless (so far as we know) societies also seem to vary, in the amount of compassion and insight they manifest. And of course many societies are full of many contradictions. I doubt there are simple answers. . Even the history of religions, shows many contradictions, as they split into thousands of sects. Those annoying humans, they just won't sit still, when we want to classify them and make predictions.
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Yellow Pants
Registered: 05/14/17
Posts: 1,386
Loc:
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Re: What would society be like without drugs? [Re: laughingdog]
#26779981 - 06/24/20 05:46 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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I’ll go with better. I think honesty would blossom as people aren’t manipulated through drug use. Consequently coping mechanisms would be more becoming. You know instead of pounding some speed of some sort to get through a difficult time or choosing to numb the pain through the preferred drug of choice. Society would be more realistic. Maybe less productive but much more efficient. Seems today it is a lot of digging a hole to fill it up again. Work done but nothing achieved. Without stimulants I am much more reluctant to do something unless I know I want or need to do it. No doubt stimulants own this society.
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laughingdog
Stranger
Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,829
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Re: What would society be like without drugs? [Re: Yellow Pants]
#26780003 - 06/24/20 05:54 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Yellow Pants said: ...I think honesty would blossom as people aren’t manipulated through drug use.... ...No doubt stimulants own this society.
Well if you count coffee and coca cola sure; otherwise it seems you are ignoring the opioid epidemic, in the US; and outside this society: vodka in Russia, kava kava in Indonesia etc.
As regards honesty & drug use, I suspect you put the cart before the horse.
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Yellow Pants
Registered: 05/14/17
Posts: 1,386
Loc:
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Re: What would society be like without drugs? [Re: laughingdog]
#26780012 - 06/24/20 05:59 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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I read from multiple sources that something like 80% of Americans use caffeine on a daily basis. And that’s to say nothing of the chewers/smokers and the amp users.
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Apples in Mono
Not a puppet
Registered: 09/21/17
Posts: 3,240
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Re: What would society be like without drugs? [Re: Rahz] 1
#26780233 - 06/24/20 07:22 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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It would have to be an entirely different ecosystem. Probably vastly different. In which case, it's likely there would exist no species we'd recognize as human
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