is this all there is?

I firmly believe that there is no such thing as a soul, and that every human emotion can be reduced to component chemicals (and thus is achievable through substance use). I've taken every drug I could ever get my hands on, and have been left wanting. Is this all there is? Is the human experience really so shallow?

>>6094 >I firmly believe that there is no such thing as a soul, and that every human emotion can be reduced to component chemicals Science so far agrees with you. >(and thus is achievable through substance use). That's assuming the substances you take emulate emotions. There is no substance known to man that emulates emotions. The only hypothetical way to do such a thing would be to figure out the chemical components of each emotion and then formulate a drug for each emotion. Something that current science has been unable to do. >I've taken every drug I could ever get my hands on, and have been left wanting. Is this all there is? Is the human experience really so shallow? If you're depressed and feel like soykaf, or are a soykafty person, or your life is generally just soykaf, drugs don't magically fix that. Change comes from within. Drugs can help open that way towards change, but only you can change yourself.

just because all human emotions are the interaction of chemicals doesn't mean there are any particular chemicals available that will give you the emotions you want to achieve. Consider the complexity of the systems you're trying to modify and the fact that most drugs, even the fancy new designer drugs, are produced by just guessing what chemicals will work

The human brain isn't purely chemical though. I'd imagine you'd have to have particular experiences over variable lengths of time (ie. 10 years, as opposed to a 10-hour high) in order to shove yourself into different modes of being, given that the brain is at least partially an electrical computer and is built for long-term use. Even if a person was purely chemical, it would be very silly to assume that all possible psychoactive drugs have already been discovered/invented.

We might never know where the chemicals end and our conscious begin.

An interesting theory I have is that consciousness is one immensely large chemical reaction involving organic molecules with 3D structures so complex we are unable to reproduce them in a laboratory. See the photo attached, it's the chemical structure of ibogaine, a psychedelic. On the right hand nitrogen, there is a 3D structure so complex that we cannot (at this time) produce in a laboratory. I can only imagine consciousness to be immensely more complex than this part of the structure, having a molar mass in the kilograms.

>>6103 the human body is already full of chemicals vastly more complex than ibogaine, called proteins. Turns out that you can use certain bacteria as a little protein factory if you edit their genetic code just right(they have a sort of gene-exchange protocol that makes this easy)

Flaw to the logic here. Electro biochemical reactions are how our brains perceive our reality so following your logic there is no reality, no existence because of this process. Of course you can artificially stimulate these reactions to simulate anything if precise enough but that doesn't mean what is simulating isn't real and doesn't exist beyond our perception. You do not experience reality directly just a crude interpretation of it limited by your sensory organs and neuronal connections and biochemical reactions. The same for scientific tools to measure things outside our perception. They too have their own limits and potential to misinterpret some.

>>6094 if I have no soul, then how come i get stronk erections for large mamaries?...BOOM When I was going through my angsty teen phase I thought like OP, but then I realized that even with specific chemical combos, it is not just the chemicals, but the order they are presented in that matters, because that is how the body creates chains of emotion. TLDR you cant drug your way into emotion, but drugs can enhance or numb emotions

>>6104 >Turns out that you can use certain bacteria as a little protein factory if you edit their genetic code just right(they have a sort of gene-exchange protocol that makes this easy) Or psilocybin, if that's your goal. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S109671761930309X

Shallow in comparison to what? What are you basing this judgement on? This is literally all you have, by definition. You're right. What more is there? We get an eternity of nonexistence, conscious of nothing, not even time. For all we know, we aren't totally certain in the same way that we solipsistically can't be certain of anything. May as well experience the period of consciousness we have available to us. And we don't think very much about how it could be worse or better. What would it be like to be a creature that lives for a thousand years, or had eight other senses, or lived in a more fulfilling world both socially and individually? Or what about the life of a gnat? We are what we are, we can do nothing more, we must merely get the most out of our brief moment.

>>6094 I believe the opposite, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. My experience is these kinds of things dont reveal themselfs to those who are not looking for them. If you think there is nothing beyond you will not see it, but if you think there is and go look for it you will find it. Lots of people have done drugs and just like you never seen anything supernatural. Then again many people have spiritual experiences with or without drugs. Also human existence is much more complex than just a chemical state, you cant just pump yourself full of stuff and expect to solicit some kind of controlled state. I can tell you from my experience, no its not all shallow, in fact its very deep and complext, but you have to get down on that layer and plunge into the chaos.

How is there any observer at all? That's the problem to be solved. Each individual perspective can be emergent from the overarching system, but it seems profound that any form of perspective can exist at all. Even if the universe were just stars, planets, black holes, galactic clusters... What does it mean for the same matter to be able to look back on itself? Does basic matter itself have the same properties of what we experience as consciousness? LSD did not leave me wanting, it made questions like this seem so compelling. The feeling of revelation and clarity of thought is incredible.

>>6094 >human emotion can be reduced to component chemicals (and thus is achievable through substance use) Feel free to point out the emotions (or even just one!) in this graph of biochemical pathways, and explain how a drug can perfectly stimulate that pathway while not affecting any others. Also, >rejects the transcendental component of human nature >does a soykaf load of drugs >feels bad >wonders why

>>6094 Read "I Am a Strange Loop"