Steve Jobs famously commented on Gates, "I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."
Psychedelics aren't for me, personally, due to anxiety, but they are fascinating.
Jobs also rated LSD as "one of the two or three most important experiences of my life." His experimentation with drugs is well-documented in his SF-86 (USG security clearance form), since he knew no matter what he said they had to clear him.
The whole document is kind of hilarious. Imagine Steve Jobs sitting across from Federal agents explaining a traffic arrest for his driving antics, and talking to them about acid blotters.
> Psychedelics aren't for me, personally, due to anxiety
That's a tricky one. They can be very helpful for anxiety and obsessive disorders. Getting a whack with the chemistry stick can help you settle into a better place. But it's not ideal to go in afraid, no doubt.
The cultural terror of drugs comes and goes over time and at some moments we can actually have real discussions and research. I hope we're swinging around to that again.
I hope you find something non-chemical that helps you.
Personally, psychedelics are just too high risk with my default internal attitude, even if they could help.
I have some odd form of somatic anxiety. It's basically chronic pain that varies with situational anxiety. I've had seizures, so it's probably some neurological disorder we don't really understand yet.
Mindfulness meditation, sensory deprivation therapy, CBT, journaling, and (by far most importantly) extremely intense exercise all help. All the first and second line treatments have failed (Benzodiazepines, SSRIs, pregabalin, MAOIs, etc.)
Basically, learning to live with the pain was a long and difficult process. It initially eroded my intelligence by about thirty IQ points, which was terrifying. My LSAT score, for example went from very high 170s (near perfect) to around 150 (dead average), before going back up.
I think most people around here could relate to how scary that can be, especially when intelligence is a key aspect of how you self-identify.
But eventually I learned to manage it, and my normal functioning has mostly returned.
Lots of people's drug histories are in the SF-86 and got clearances. The Fed would rather you be truthful on the form and say "never again" than lie. Lying on that form is the best way to not get a clearance, let alone a host of other consequences.
Oh, I know. Ironically enough, Bill Gates actually did take LSD as well and obtained a TS.
But the story of Jobs' clearance is especially funny.
Remember, this is the same Steve Jobs that only ate fruit for years, didn't often wear shoes, put his feet up on other people's desks, refused to put a license plate on his car, parked in handicapped spaces, and was generally an anti-authority hippie his entire life. It's fun to imagine him being grilled by the CSS.
That said, don't falsify a clearance document. It's a Federal crime, for starters. But the most severe typical consequence you'll face is having it committed to your clearance record forever. So if you lie on say a Secret clearance application form, there's no way in hell you're getting a TS/SCI.
You can absolutely get a clearance with past history of criminal behavior and drug use, provided sufficient time has elapsed and you've demonstrated reform.
Psychedelics aren't for me, personally, due to anxiety, but they are fascinating.
Jobs also rated LSD as "one of the two or three most important experiences of my life." His experimentation with drugs is well-documented in his SF-86 (USG security clearance form), since he knew no matter what he said they had to clear him.
The whole document is kind of hilarious. Imagine Steve Jobs sitting across from Federal agents explaining a traffic arrest for his driving antics, and talking to them about acid blotters.