I agree with much of what you said and so edited my post. I do have a few points to make in the abstract though.
Although patients are prone to make mistakes such as abusing drugs, the medical establishment is sometimes majorly wrong in predictable ways, and waiting for the establishment to fix itself through the official channels can take sometimes decades. If caffeine was just discovered today, I think it would be classified as a controlled substance and restricted to certain diagnoses. (No?) If so, I think that would be a huge loss for humankind.
The philosophy of clinical psychology/psychiatry as represented in the DSM strikes me as seriously flawed. They group things into discrete categories called “disorders” and eschew continuity and multidimensionality. As math (and its offshoots) becomes more wildly known, I think this will change, but it will take time. [I’m not saying that the concept of a disorder or diagnosis should be completely abandoned, but it has limitations].
Finally, the opioid comparison strikes me as strained.
I appreciate the thoughtful consideration and I agree with you. IMO I think you are right, including your points like the medical establishment is often wrong and slow. I’m less certain, but it’s possible the DSM (and maybe a lot of physiatry) is a mess.
Finally, the opioid comparison strikes me as strained.
Yes, this should be deleted. Maybe I was trying to gesture at creating subcultures that normalize drug use inappropriately, and I was using “opioid” as an example in support of this, but this might be wrong and, if anything, supports your points equally or better.
The main difference is my concern about EA having subpopulations/subcultures with different resources.
I support the OP, but I’m worried she’s an outlier, being in a place where there is a huge amount of support, creating agency for her exploration (read the 80,000 hours CEO’s story here).
I don’t want to minimizing her journey, such personal work and progress should be encouraged and written up more, because it’s great!
But, partially because this is impractical for many, I’m worried that something will get lost in translation, or some bad views might piggy back on this e.g. normalizing low-fidelity beliefs about drug use (that are Schedule II stimulants!).
I agree with much of what you said and so edited my post. I do have a few points to make in the abstract though.
Although patients are prone to make mistakes such as abusing drugs, the medical establishment is sometimes majorly wrong in predictable ways, and waiting for the establishment to fix itself through the official channels can take sometimes decades. If caffeine was just discovered today, I think it would be classified as a controlled substance and restricted to certain diagnoses. (No?) If so, I think that would be a huge loss for humankind.
The philosophy of clinical psychology/psychiatry as represented in the DSM strikes me as seriously flawed. They group things into discrete categories called “disorders” and eschew continuity and multidimensionality. As math (and its offshoots) becomes more wildly known, I think this will change, but it will take time. [I’m not saying that the concept of a disorder or diagnosis should be completely abandoned, but it has limitations].
Finally, the opioid comparison strikes me as strained.
I appreciate the thoughtful consideration and I agree with you. IMO I think you are right, including your points like the medical establishment is often wrong and slow. I’m less certain, but it’s possible the DSM (and maybe a lot of physiatry) is a mess.
Yes, this should be deleted. Maybe I was trying to gesture at creating subcultures that normalize drug use inappropriately, and I was using “opioid” as an example in support of this, but this might be wrong and, if anything, supports your points equally or better.
The main difference is my concern about EA having subpopulations/subcultures with different resources.
I support the OP, but I’m worried she’s an outlier, being in a place where there is a huge amount of support, creating agency for her exploration (read the 80,000 hours CEO’s story here).
I don’t want to minimizing her journey, such personal work and progress should be encouraged and written up more, because it’s great!
But, partially because this is impractical for many, I’m worried that something will get lost in translation, or some bad views might piggy back on this e.g. normalizing low-fidelity beliefs about drug use (that are Schedule II stimulants!).