Why tech bros worship psychedelics (and think you should too)
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What is the main topic of this episode?
A warning, this segment contains mentions of drug use. Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. America is a deeply spiritual nation. Over 70% of us say that we feel spiritual in some way. But at the same time, we're also getting less religious. When asked to check a box next to their religious affiliation, 28% of Americans check the box labeled none. The nuns, as they're sometimes called, are now the biggest religious group in the United States. And 22% identify as spiritual but not religious, otherwise known as SBNRs. But for SBNRs, what's replacing organized religion? What do they believe?
And where does that belief show up in all our lives? Well, on our new series called Losing My Religion, we're going to find out. Today, we're getting into psychedelics. That's an umbrella term that includes LSD, magic mushrooms, peyote, and often ketamine and MDMA too, among others. And more people are taking psychedelics now than ever before. Ever heard the phrase spirit journey? The trips people have on these substances are often described in spiritual terms. And some of these psychedelics have a history of spiritual practice spanning millennia. But there's a new group that's really taking on the psychedelic mantle. Tech bros and CEOs. OpenAI's Sam Altman.
How are psychedelics being redefined by tech elites?
Psychedelic therapy was definitely one of the most important things in my life. Elon Musk. There are times when I have a negative chemical state in my brain. Ketamine is helpful for getting one out of a negative frame of mind.
And Google co-founder Sergey Brin, to name a few. These substances have different shades of legality throughout the U.S., but some of these tech bros are trying to change that by funding startups that might bring psychedelic therapies to the public. So what does it mean that psychedelics are getting championed and sometimes financially backed by the tech elite? And how might that affect our culture's relationship to psychedelics as spiritual tools? I'm joined by Maxime Tvarun Dunn, PhD candidate at the University of Tokyo. Happy to be here. And Emma Goldberg, business reporter at The New York Times.
Thanks for having us on.
To find out. Okay, so we are here to talk about psychedelics. How do you see them fitting into a spiritual but not religious practice?
For a lot of people, I think work and career has almost taken up the place that religious community might have taken in their lives in previous generations. So I think some people do feel this sense of spiritual emptiness and they're casting around for like, how do I give some sort of structure to wanting to ask like deeper questions about spiritual meaning? Just to like touch on the science for a second, I think it's not surprising some people are turning to psychedelics because... literally of the effect that they have on the brain. Because typically I think what our brains do is it's almost like a zip file. Like they're trying to compress all the information that's coming in and make it digestible for us and like zip it all up and condense it.
And what psychedelics do is basically the opposite. So they like flood our brain with information and make connections within the brain that normally wouldn't happen. And so people might actually come to realizations or ask questions that they wouldn't be able to do without psychedelics. That being said, I think some people turn to psychedelics instead of climbing this staircase of expanding your consciousness and asking deeper questions. You're just trying to get in an elevator and like zoom right to the top floor.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic of this episode?
0:24–2:18
2
How are psychedelics being redefined by tech elites?
2:18–5:38
3
What is the history of psychedelics in corporate culture?
5:38
4
How do psychedelics fit into the spiritual but not religious movement?
2:55–16:49
5
Why are tech companies incorporating psychedelics into the workplace?
16:49
6
What are the implications of using psychedelics for self-optimization?
15:15–18:15
7
How does the tech industry's culture affect personal spirituality?
18:15–23:35