“When Silicon Valley Takes LSD”

This is the title of a segment on CNN describing a curious phenomenon – the extent to which IT developers and entrepreneurs have become dependent on LSD as a “creativity” prop. One of them, Tim Ferriss, states flatly: “The billionaires I know, almost without exception, use hallucinogens on a regular basis." Why should this be the case? Perhaps they really, really need it. Even in neurotypicals, engagement in a task that requires focused attention or analytical thinking shuts down the default mode network – the seat of insight and intuition in the human brain. The Silicon Valley types, no doubt, are much, much better at this. So they would desperately need a substance allowing some key hubs of the DMN to continue to hum, no matter what. Apparently, this is precisely what hallucinogen can help with – since they increase brain connectivity and the simultaneous activation of networks that are not normally correlated. This is something that happens spontaneously in the brains of people who are truly, naturally creative. They have patterns of brain activation akin to those of schizophrenics – but also enough executive power to be able to stay on top of all the visions and distant associations flooding their mental “matrix.”