why are INTP's partial to drugs? i thought INTP's didn't like emotional manipulation. . .

[Dr. Freeman]

If it is long term

I can respect religion as a valid reason for not drinking.

I do not agree about losing cognitive function. You will not lose any appreciable amount of intellect from having two glasses of wine and that being the end of it.

You may not care to relate to the masses, but I posit that we all have something to learn from them.

We do have things to learn, but I do not see why the experience of drinking would be one of them. It does not seem worth it to drink solely to get literary in-jokes.

 

[DetachedRetina]

I'm curious, to some extent.
I'm just a "control-freak," as someone said.
I dislike the very possibility of dealing with drug-related issues.
But it is entirely optional if one wishes to act on their curiosity.

It's just a personal choice to refrain.

Well, I agree with this. Personally I prefer to experience things first-hand than take somebody's word for it. Of course that line of reasoning has its limitations for me too. If somebody told me I should try out murder because it's a great learning opportunity and gives insight into human reaction to pain and reaction to extreme duress then I would forgo that learning opportunity because the cost was too high.

I generally prefer to get to the "source" of things. Read the source-code, check the references, etc. But sometimes the cost is too high. And it is a personal judgment call to determine when this is the case.

I want to reiterate that I'm not trying to persuade you to do something, but rather have an impersonal argument. This is my means of refining my own ideas and opinions about things.

I think there's more to be learned from alcohol and drugs in general than literary in-jokes. They are a way of literally changing your thinking through chemicals. This can be quite eye-opening. But as I mentioned earlier in this thread. There are tons of things that chemically change your thinking.

Exercise, sex, food (sugar especially), sunshine etc. I think the classification of all substances as either DRUGS or NOT DRUGS is kind of silly. Especially since many of the NOT-DRUGS are in fact consciousness altering.

But you've given me enough to think about for a while.

 

[snafupants]

Well, I agree with this. Personally I prefer to experience things first-hand than take somebody's word for it. Of course that line of reasoning has its limitations for me too. If somebody told me I should try out murder because it's a great learning opportunity and gives insight into human reaction to pain and reaction to extreme duress then I would forgo that learning opportunity because the cost was too high.

I generally prefer to get to the "source" of things. Read the source-code, check the references, etc. But sometimes the cost is too high. And it is a personal judgment call to determine when this is the case.

I want to reiterate that I'm not trying to persuade you to do something, but rather have an impersonal argument. This is my means of refining my own ideas and opinions about things.

I think there's more to be learned from alcohol and drugs in general than literary in-jokes. They are a way of literally changing your thinking through chemicals. This can be quite eye-opening. But as I mentioned earlier in this thread. There are tons of things that chemically change your thinking.

Exercise, sex, food (sugar especially), sunshine etc. I think the classification of all substances as either DRUGS or NOT DRUGS is kind of silly. Especially since many of the NOT-DRUGS are in fact consciousness altering.

But you've given me enough to think about for a while.

Yeah but does sunshine act on the basal ganglia and dopamine channels in a big way, like cocaine or nicotine, to reinforce the use of...sunshine?

 

[ObliviousGenius]

Back after 2 weeks. Drugs (weed the only drug I've done) don't manipulate my emotions as much as my environment when I'm high. When I'm sober I generally do not notice how I'm feeling at any given moment unless I'm upset, which is the only emotion I can easily identify within myself. When I'm high, I can easily discern just how I'm feeling.

That being said I don't think that drugs actually change how I'm feeling at all, I just become aware of my emotions. I believe that drugs make me less ignorant of how I feel and does not actually manipulate them.

 

[CLOfriendOSE]

I am going to state that drugs tend to *alter* the consciousness, not "manipulate my emotions".

I think it is beneficial to experiment in moderation with all kinds. If one does not, they have no right to say what the effect on cognition is, unless they want to wear a huge "I believe everything I am told" sticker upon their breast. Seriously.

We're talking about altered states of consciousness. Things that you (well, 99.99% of people) cannot imagine without experimenting. These are visual, aural, and kinesthetic functions that YOU WILL NOT HAVE if you do not try something out.

If anything, healthy experimentation ENHANCES cognition. There is a reason why so many substances have their roots in religious cultures.

Note: Obviously abuse can have adverse effects.

Let's look at shrooms - these effect people in different ways, but for me, it was the first kind of "mental malleability" I experienced. It's very different from day-dreaming. It was a real eye opener to the fact that I have sensory information, but my brain is capable of reordering it. Only after doing shrooms was I able to fully give myself to meditation and other practices of self-induced journeys into altered states. I imagine this is why such drugs were used as rites of passage. As people grow older it seems that their imagination/internal senses seem to fail with age, and introducing these altered states forcibly reminds them of their perceptions.


Anyway, this part is off topic. I've found most of my INTJ friends to have major problems with drugs/alcohol/etc. They get very defensive about loosing their control over everything. I think this makes sense, since, on "drugs", your Perception rules while Judgment gets fucked over.

 

[TriflinThomas]

I smoke (cannabis) because it makes music sound amazing and I don't eat much when I'm sober. I see my body as a biological machine; if I want to feel a certain way (usually because I'm bored) I'll take a drug.

 

[shortbuss]

My mind won't STFU so I like to take drugs in hopes that I will find a pleasant escape from the usual flotsam that swims inside my head. Plus, I have a natural curiosity.