Monkeys, Mental Illness, and Mushrooms

Memetics, Chesterton’s Fence, and the Default Mode Network… August 12, 2021 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( | [WEBSITE]( [Altucher Confidential] [Warning] Do you enjoy receiving Altucher Confidential? Please [Click Here Now]( so we know to continue sending you Altucher Confidential for free! “In 2019, the private sector of psychedelic medicine was, as one VC put it, a “formless pre-Big Bang void.” Now, in 2021 it’s experiencing, as another one put it, a “Cambrian explosion.” Here’s the big picture.” [Email Masthead] [Editor’s Note: We’re going to do something a little different today. I’d like to start featuring content from a writer that I admire. His name is Chris Campbell. If you don’t know Chris, he’s one of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet. He’s visited over 30 countries on the hunt for ways to live a freer, healthier, more abundant, and satisfying life. He’s been on the bleeding edge of bitcoin, medical tourism, decentralization, Big Brother, and much more. He lived as a digital nomad with no possessions (sound familiar??)… He’s even tried his hand as a farmer in the Midwest. I hope you enjoy his ideas as much as I do!] Monkeys, Mental Illness, and Mushrooms By Chris Campbell [URGENT] Major Saturday Announcement? [Person reading speech]( FDA announcement two months ago sent one biotech stock parabolic… Boosting its market cap $16 billion overnight. Now, one tech researcher believes another company is set to make an even BIGGER announcement… And he expects it to happen as soon as this Saturday. For investors, it could mean the chance to rack up 10x gains or more over the long term. [Please watch this short briefing NOW... or risk missing out on this huge profit opportunity forever](. In the 1950s, on a small island off of Japan, primatologists observed a female macaque monkey (they named her Imo) doing something no other monkeys were doing. She was washing the dirt off of her yams in freshwater. And then, she would go to the ocean and dip the yam in the saltwater in between bites, presumably for seasoning. It wasn’t long until other monkeys began to mimic Imo. Soon enough, recognizing the benefits, every macaque monkey on the entire island -- thousands of them -- were cleaning and seasoning their yams. All animals learn mostly through mimicry. Humans are no different. It’s one insight that changed the life of Peter Thiel, who picked it up from Rene Girard, a French professor. (Thiel’s book Zero to One, despite not mentioning Girard’s name once, is littered with Girard’s ideas.) Girard discovered that we often come to do and acquire things not through biological drives or pure reason, nor through will, but through imitation. He called this “memetic desire.” Girard (and Thiel) maintain that it’s difficult -- nearly impossible -- to understate the impact of memetic desire in our lives. Though it’s an efficient form of learning, we also tend to pick up, put simply, bad “loops.” And these loops can become habituated. Worse, no matter how destructive, they can become deeply embedded in our identities. We’re not even aware that we picked them up from elsewhere. They become a part of us. We’ve all experienced these loops in some form: whether it’s addiction, self-sabotage, chronic anxiety, negative self-talk, or otherwise. The challenge, however, as Einstein once pointed out, is that we can’t solve a problem using the same level of thinking within which the problem exists. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Recommended Article] [Here’s What the Fed is REALLY Afraid Of… | Money & Crisis]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Federal Ruling does WHAT? [Bags of money]( Federal Government just passed an obscure new ruling. It could change your life in ways you’ve never thought possible. And help some Americans make a small fortune in the process. [Here’s how.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Recommended Article] [Guest Prophecy: A Shot in the Arm for Airlines | Gilder's Daily Prophecy]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Disrupting the Default Mode Network This is why psychedelics have become so scientifically compelling. Unfortunately, when it comes to the public perception of psychedelics, the wild experimentation of the ‘60s probably did far more harm than good. But with public figures like Steve Jobs talking openly about their use of psychedelic substances, the stigma has faded a bit… And in its place, we are seeing an explosion of research aimed at understanding and employing their properties. With the help of increasingly sophisticated tools, we are also beginning to understand the mechanisms by which these ancient tools work. And by “ancient tools” I mean that literally. It’s clear our ancestors used psychedelics ritually for a distinct purpose. Some suggest it was to step outside of rigid and habituated social orders to solve problems and find new and better ways of doing things -- whether it was new ways to hunt, new methods of cooking, or minor improvements to established systems. (Of course, “[Chesterton’s Fence]( should also apply here: If you don’t know why the fence is there, don’t remove it until you do.) We now know that perhaps this theory holds merit. Psychedelics like psilocybin suppress what’s called the Default Mode Network (our neural network of habits, preconceptions, and “loops”), enabling “lateral thinking.” This default network is believed to fully develop by age 25, absent intervention, setting the stage for the rest of our lives. (Interestingly, research suggests that [75% of lifetime mental illness begins by age 24]( When we are not focused on a specific task, this network kicks in and “talks” to us (some say at a rate equivalent to 300-1,000 words per minute), often, for many, producing loops of habitual less-than-helpful self-talk. [brain cycle] Lateral thinking enables us to find connections between objects or ideas that normally we would not see, the basis of creativity, “breakthroughs,” and psychological healing. Why is this important? In 2019, [estimates suggested]( that 51.5 million American adults, about 20% of the population, live with some form of mental illness. Of course, for obvious reasons, this trend got exponentially worse in 2020. By late June, [an estimated 40%]( of U.S. adults reported struggling with mental health or substance abuse. Suicide was the [second-leading cause of death among people aged 10-34](. [More than 70%]( of youth in the juvenile detention system have a diagnosed mental illness. The most common form of mental disturbance is chronic anxiety disorders -- perpetuated by, presumably, the Default Mode Network -- which afflict [at least 40 million Americans.]( Unfortunately, mental illness and chronic anxiety are self-perpetuating. Our inclination for “mimetic desire” is a double-edged sword. We can mimic and habituate negative patterns just as easily as positive ones. If there’s one trend that has the potential to help break this chain in the next decade -- and change the way we treat and think about mental health -- it is research in psychedelics. In 2019, the private sector of psychedelic medicine was, as one VC put it, a “formless pre-Big Bang void.” Now, in 2021 it’s experiencing, as another one put it, a “Cambrian explosion.” From an investment perspective, which is largely our beat… We’ve identified what we believe is one of the ONLY companies worth looking at right now. [Click here for everything you need to know about the company… the stock… and how to get started.]( Until Tomorrow, [Chris Campbell] Chris Campbell For Altucher Confidential World’s second richest man’s NEW world-changing disruption [Disrupt]( 1997, a relatively unknown man disrupted the retail industry. Today, as the world’s second richest man, he is all set to disrupt another $2 trillion industry. If you missed taking advantage of the retail disruption... Don’t miss this! 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