I dosing.

[Agent Intellect]

Are you fucking serious?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PZcgUEkBIX0

I looked for some of this 'music' on youtube, but all I found was reaction videos.

Spoiler

Exciting stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2IqVI843PQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21yPF0a8oeo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN0Le2NcqdQ&feature=relmfu

I ended up coming upon a website that was attempting to hock this shit for anywhere from $6.50 to $199.95.

So I did what any sensible person would do and downloaded it for free from somewhere else.

Being that I'm a real drug snob, I went for the one they're trying to sell for almost 200 dollars.

It's 30 minutes of a droning hum that crescendos into a slightly louder, more high pitched sound a few times as it plays. It's supposedly supposed to get me high, but it didn't work. At first I thought that maybe it's just a crock of shit, but then I thought to myself "maybe I'm just doing it wrong" (like the first time I smoked weed back in middle school but wasn't really inhaling).

So I took another look at those reaction videos and noticed that in all of them, the people were lying down and covering their face with something (presumably to create more sensory deprivation). So I went ahead and tried this myself and again I never felt anything close to being high.

So, I've come to three possible conclusions.
1) I've only tried one track ("Hand of God") and maybe that one just doesn't work for me.
2) I'm still doing it wrong somehow.
3) This only gets you high if you believe it's going to get you high before you try it (just like hypnosis only works if you believe it will).

Anyone else try this? If so, did it work for you at all?

 

[snafupants]

William Burroughs talked about this decades ago. That whole theme was further explored in the book Infinite Jest; I've sort of always intuited that this was on the human horizon as an extension of video games and advances in neuroscience and technology and psycopharmacology. I have an issue with the terms employed though. Is getting high off of virtual reality technology, in any form, really drugging? I mean, by that logic wouldn't bungie jumping or music or hypnosis or mediation or chanting be a drug? Isn't a core criterion of deeming something a drug putting a foreign substance into the vein, lungs, digestive tract and waiting for a physiological effect? By the way, your last conjecture seems the most plausible until we see evidence from fMRI studies and the like to authenticate predictable brain changes, regionally or chemically, that result consistently from the use of virtual reality technology. My curiosity may defeat my wariness and skepticism later today: I may have to research this further.

 

[nanook]

hahaha. america, fuck yeah! this "warning" is in the ballpark of demonizing rocknroll, rapmusic, wearing hoodies in school and outlawing the teaching evolution. drinking red bull or sugar in your school milk is much worse for the health of your brain, than binaural brainwave entrainment, although these audio tracks can in the worst case induce a diziness/mild-headache that lasts for hours. (in the best case it can induce shamanic trance (like drumming - how about you outlaw that too) or lucid dreams or the like).

why are the interview scenes in the video dubbed (lips not synchronized)? is this an onion (satire) fake?


you know what happens to you, when

a) there is a constructing site near your workplace and they are using air hammers or loud motor-pumps of any sort?

b) a noisy humming computer is aligned in asymmetrical way to your workplace/seat?

same thing. random dizzyness. uncontrolled/amateurish/random brainwave entrainment. possibly stress or related hormone secretion like cortisol.

or

c) you sit near a babbling fountain of water

you will become relaxed, even drowsy, fall asleep.

let's not mention what things like cellphone signals do to us

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Well to the extent of providing you with a means of entering self-hypnosis, I'd say it works, but it's definitely not a substitute for real drugs. It's more of a psychological thing than a chemical one.

Just relaxation and self-fulfillment.

 

[kantor1003]

That audio elicits various physiological responses* is nothing new and I find it odd that it should be any cause of concern as someone in the video you posted expressed. I've never heard of auditory stimulus being used in this way before however (even though there is a large field devoted to studying music as means of therapy). I'm intrigued, but highly skeptical of "non-musical" (not to get into a noise/music debate) sounds being able to provoke something one would consider a "high". There are numerous auditory illusions that probably could bring about physiological, or psychosomatic reactions, but I doubt it would be the pleasurable kind I'd rather stick with musical texts for my "high", but if there is a growing market for "sound as drug", I'd happily record a sine wave polyphonic "work" where by polyphony I mean four sine tones gradually ascending and descending with frequencies around 13-15khz respectively I'm sure that the responses provoked listening to that on your headphones over a period of 10 minutes would be youtube worthy if you happened to record it.

Edit: 200 bucks???? Man, these guys must be marketing geniuses managing to sell a 10 minute audio clip for such a price. If I were to sell a tune on iTunes, I'd get a tiny fraction of that (if anyone even bothered purchasing it that is) with 10x the amount of effort involved in the creation process.

*Cardiovascular system - there is usually an increase in pulse frequency while listening to music. Syncopated rhythm is especially prone to cause extrasystoles (heartbeats beating too early).
Respiration - the relationship (frequency) between inhale and exhale changes while listening to music. It has been found tendencies to both rhythmic and arrhythmic respiration activity.
Psychogalvanic reflex - alteration in the electrical resistance of the skin while subject to musical stimuli. Can be indicative of either comfort or discomfort.
Muscle activity - it isn't uncommon to find an increase in both number and amplitude in muscles action potential (an example would be dance music increasing muscle action potential in legs). There is also qualitative and quantitative change between various muscle groups.

 

[Agent Intellect]

I will admit, the sound leaves me with a certain mildly disconcerted feeling, but I wouldn't say that it makes me high. I might have to do some more experimenting with other tracks in the future. For now, though, I'm going with my third conclusion.

 

[snafupants]

Some bloke screaming obscenities in my ear would provoke a response too, that doesn't mean screaming threatens to replace cannabis overnight.

 

[nanook]

it only shows how severely personality distorted grown ups in our society are. any natural human being would just try these things (that's why they are popular in school right now, not because they actually do something) and come to a judgement later, but "grown ups" are experts on the situation first and seek the truth never. always appear "professional" and "in control". it's not SJ types. it's culture. EJ types are merely more inclined to adopt this culture.

 

[EditorOne]

"That audio elicits various physiological responses is nothing new"

Indeed. I read, and will attempt to find, an intelligence agency report from the 1940s that the Nazis used very low frequency waves, apparently not fully or actually audible, to induce a vague feeling of uneasiness at their mass gatherings. The wave generator was shut off when Hitler walked up to the podium, resulting in a mass feeling of relief that worked to Hitler's advantage in the crowd's feelings about him.

Here's something in that line.


There have been attempts to weaponize sound, as well, with varying results. Problems include the ease of blocking the sound and the fragility of the generating equipment in a combat situation.

There were also reports, unconfirmed and more like urban myths, that during the 1960s one or more mainstream rock groups experimented with attempting to make their outdoor concert crowds go out of control simply with the right sequence of music. They reportedly succeeded. Given the amount of drugs and the predisposition of a rock and roll concert crowd to feed off excitement, it's really not a surprise nor definitive, even if true.

Just tossing a few pieces of wood on the fire of knowledge.

 

[Da Blob]

There has been a lot of attention paid as to how to generate visual propaganda, re: "Image is Everything", not so much as to how audio can be used a a form of nonverbal communication. This perhaps is a good thing, for propaganda has been limited to lyrics, for the most part.

Although there are those who choose to believe otherwise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boKjwccQFgU

Audio is processed in the right hemisphere where coping mechanisms are usually located, so if one wishes to manipulate coping responses to stress, auditory, rather than visual, stimulation is the preferred route. There is a lot of 'stress relieving' videos on youtube, with a lot of people claiming that the music had worked magically in the relief of stress.

http://www.youtube.com/user/paulfromstokeuk?feature=results_main

However, it is amazing how powerful the placebo effect is. Once belief of an effect is generated it is more likely to be manifested. All that is necessary for someone to get high is often the belief that they are going to get high. The "willing suspension of disbelief" is an integral facet of the Arts, as well as other scams...

 

[snafupants]

"That audio elicits various physiological responses is nothing new"

Indeed. I read, and will attempt to find, an intelligence agency report from the 1940s that the Nazis used very low frequency waves, apparently not fully or actually audible, to induce a vague feeling of uneasiness at their mass gatherings. The wave generator was shut off when Hitler walked up to the podium, resulting in a mass feeling of relief that worked to Hitler's advantage in the crowd's feelings about him.

Here's something in that line.


There have been attempts to weaponize sound, as well, with varying results. Problems include the ease of blocking the sound and the fragility of the generating equipment in a combat situation.

There were also reports, unconfirmed and more like urban myths, that during the 1960s one or more mainstream rock groups experimented with attempting to make their outdoor concert crowds go out of control simply with the right sequence of music. They reportedly succeeded. Given the amount of drugs and the predisposition of a rock and roll concert crowd to feed off excitement, it's really not a surprise nor definitive, even if true.

Just tossing a few pieces of wood on the fire of knowledge.

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.co...ns-sound-cannon-use-at-occupy-wall-street.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Acoustic_Device

 

[EditorOne]

^ Cool machine. I'm pretty sure someone had one focused on my former place of employment....

 

[snafupants]

Likewise with my high school. I just wanted to illustrate that these devices and tactics are hardly relegated to the past, Nazi Germany and dastardly dictators, which I find quite disconcerting.

 

[travelnjones]

Isnt this just binaural beats and response follows frequency sort of stuff. This is stupid. I am so straight laced i only do NO2 to have my wisdom teeth removed and I have listened to this stuff. Its on most of the sleep research stuff that was coming out in the 90's. It's relaxing because its pretty boring. Like Christopher Cross. Seriously I get more effect from something like frippertronics. or perhaps its just enthusiasm.

 

[BigApplePi]

Halp! Ah thimk I'm O.D.ing on this.
:smiley_emoticons_mr. :smiley_emoticons_mr .:smiley_emoticons_mr.:smiley_emoticons_mr.
:smiley_emoticons_mr. :smiley_emoticons_mr .:smiley_emoticons_mr.:smiley_emoticons_mr.
:smiley_emoticons_mr. :smiley_emoticons_mr .:smiley_emoticons_mr.:smiley_emoticons_mr.
:smiley_emoticons_mr. :smiley_emoticons_mr .:smiley_emoticons_mr.:smiley_emoticons_mr.
Get me to rehab ... quick.

 

[nedenom]

Only in America? Are you sure it's not a parody? It's really odd watching that "news" clip hearing how they present this in a fully serious and concerned way.

 

[snafupants]

Only in America? Are you sure it's not a parody? It's really odd watching that "news" clip hearing how they present this in a fully serious and concerned way.

The United States' media, and its puritanical yet unwitting concern for the culture to be infused with a Christian (that is to say, pigheaded) ethos, is truly the parody on display; when in doubt, simply look at history (e.g., salvia reports) and talk to average, concerned citizens. Any pleasure unrelated to procreation (within marriage!) and perhaps cupcakes after mass is abhorrent to these righteous, god-fearing pissants.

 

[introverted_thinker]

I started listening to one that said it was going to give me an orgasm. I just got a really bad headache.

 

[snafupants]

I started listening to one that said it was going to give me an orgasm. I just got a really bad headache.

@introverted_thinker

That, sir, was a woman.