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This is where I post short articles about things that I discover.
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Credit: Midjourney
January 21, 2025
Blind Spot (2024) includes an incredibly lucid chapter on consciousness. We summarize part of it here.
Primacy of Consciousness # Our awareness and everything we experience appear within consciousness. It includes all our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and the way we experience the world around us. One aspect of consciousness is what philosophers call the primacy of consciousness. This means that consciousness comes first in how we understand and experience reality. We can’t measure our consciousness or compare it to anything.
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December 29, 2024
For more details, check out my cannabis page.
December 21, 2024
This https://oregonstatecannabis.org/thc/delta-8 is a travesty.
We don’t make lettuce illegal because it might be contaminated with salmonella. We regulate it. We should be doing the same for Federally legal hemp-derived cannabinoids. The state can mandate independent lab testing for contaminants.
November 10, 2024
Jennifer Murphey bares her soul during her talk at Entheogenesis in Austin, TX on April 15, 2023.
Monday, June 24th 2024 at 7pm at Meraki Kava Bar, Jennifer Murphey discusses the War on Drugs and her part in fighting it.
October 3, 2024
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-170/issue-129/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E809-3
Summary of the letter:
The PATH Caucus was created to raise awareness about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic and entactogenic drugs for mental health conditions. The Caucus is seeking input on implementing programs and policies for novel therapies using these substances. The Caucus aims to gather input from the public, those who have received psychedelic-assisted therapies, and stakeholders in the behavioral health ecosystem. The Caucus acknowledges the cultural significance of certain psychedelic substances and seeks input from indigenous communities.
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September 18, 2024
Episode 7 of The Sacred Synthesis Podcast
September 17, 2024
2025 Jan 08 UPDATE: OLCC clarified that Oregon prohibits the sale of artificially derived cannabinoids. There is no prohibition against possession. You can verify this by visiting Chapter 845 and searching for “penalty.”
Oregon’s approach to regulating synthetically derived cannabinoids has evolved significantly in recent years. Initially, the focus was primarily on controlling their sale and distribution, while possession was treated as a minor infraction under Measure 110, which broadly decriminalized drug possession.
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August 11, 2024
James Carse’s The Religious Case Against Belief, published in 2008, was a groundbreaking work. Tragically, Carse passed away in 2020, just as large language models (LLMs) were making amazing advances. The book’s complex language, likely with a Flesch-Kincaid score above 15, makes it inaccessible to many readers. This is unfortunate, as its insights deserve a wider audience. Imagine if this influential book could be simplified without losing its core message.
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August 11, 2024
I had lunch at La Fondita 2 (3330 Center St NE, Salem, OR 97301) today at around 11 a.m. A man I had barely met paid for my burrito. 🌯 He didn’t mention his name, and the restaurant staff didn’t know him either. Apparently, I was the accidental beneficiary of a random act of kindness. I’m not sure whether this has ever happened to me before. ♥️
July 22, 2024
Here’s a satirical take on polypaternity, parodying the concept of polyamory.
Scenario # Suppose your relationship with your dad is loving but falls short of idyllic expectations. This isn’t attributable to paternity uncertainty; he is your biological dad, sharing 50% of his DNA.1 So what do you do? You obviously have only two options:
Work through existing conflicts with your dad to improve your relationship. Abandon the pursuit of expansive satisfaction and contentment with one dad figure, instead seeking to fill the void with multiple dad figures.
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