Tech | July 09, 2009 | 19 comments

Modern Bedfellows: LSD Inventor Wrote to Steve Jobs, Asked for Support

source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/07/09/modern-bedfellows-lsd-inventor-wrote-...

Image
ras_menelik
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is rumored to have dropped a little acid in his day, and apparently Albert Hofmann, the inventor of LSD, knew it. In fact, Hofmann reportedly wrote a letter to Jobs asking if the he’d be willing to donate some cash to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, an organization dedicated to investigating the psychological and medical benefits of psychedelic drugs.

A Huffington Post article brings us the original letter and a little background on the relationship between drugs like LSD and successful computer scientists:

Psychedelic drugs… pushed the computer and Internet revolutions forward by showing folks that reality can be profoundly altered through unconventional, highly intuitive thinking. Douglas Engelbart is one example of a psychonaut who did just that: he helped invent the mouse. Apple’s Jobs has said that Microsoft’s Bill Gates, would “be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once.” In a 1994 interview with Playboy, however, Gates coyly didn’t deny having dosed as a young man.

Thinking differently—or learning to Think Different, as a Jobs slogan has it—is a hallmark of the acid experience. “When I’m on LSD and hearing something that’s pure rhythm, it takes me to another world and into anther brain state where I’ve stopped thinking and started knowing,” Kevin Herbert told Wired magazine at a symposium commemorating Hofmann’s one hundredth birthday. Herbert, an early employee of Cisco Systems who successfully banned drug testing of technologists at the company, reportedly “solved his toughest technical problems while tripping to drum solos by the Grateful Dead.”


Far out, dude.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Tech,   Random,   Hallucinogens
  2. tags:
    News,  Random,  Tech,  Maps,  2 more
  3.     
    |

19 comments // Modern Bedfellows: LSD Inventor Wrote to Steve Jobs, Asked for Support

  • Ihatethemall
  • sickinjersey
  • GodsnLiberals
  • Mob_Barley
  • bansheewail
    • 0
      bansheewail  

    • If our government can mandate "Public Service" thru Americorp, then we should also have a mandatory psychadelic workshop the Summer between high school and college, any outdoor music festival will do just fine.

    • 3 years ago
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  
    • Image

    • Think the art that has come from these experiences.

      Salvador Dali
      The Beatles
      Pink Floyd

      Just to name a few. These great works certainly didn't come from this dimension.

    • 3 years ago
  • Robroy1
    • 0
      Robroy1  

    • Yep it sure does create its own cyberspace, from what I understand Hofmann wandered onto LSD while looking for a cure for the common headache. I must say that it does cure a headache for sure anyone on a good trip sure as hell won't have a headache!

    • 3 years ago
  • sickinjersey
  • ThoughtNu
    • 0
      ThoughtNu  

    • I would in no way condone someone to risk their sanity by trying this, it's kinda like stepping off a cliff ; no turning back.

      LSD , DMT (N-dimethyltryptamine )

      Create some interesting ideas that deserve further attention... not that i would know ...wink

    • 3 years ago
  • cyman01
  • ras_menelik
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  

    • This video drama is presented by MAPS - the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (www.maps.org). It provides four basic principles to help someone having a difficult psychedelic experiences:

      1. Create a safe space
      2. Sit, don't guide
      3.Talk through, don't talk down
      4. Difficult is not necessarily bad

    • 3 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • ras_menelik
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
    • 0
      SHAWN_RITTIMAN  
    • SHAWN_RITTIMAN:

      Here...I haven't caught up. My girlfriend got us tickets for Ratt and Extreme at the Hard Rock hotel and a room at Planet Hollywood in Vegas 3 days next weekend....been kinda focused on that. We used to have a harvest fair near Ruch, about 40 minutes from here.

    • 3 years ago
  • Debrinconcita
  • ras_menelik
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
    • ras_menelik:

      Dear Mr. Steve Jobs,

      Hello from Albert Hofmann. I understand from media accounts that you feel LSD helped you creatively in your development of Apple computers and your personal spiritual quest. I'm interested in learning more about how LSD was useful to you.

      I'm writing now, shortly after my 101st birthday, to request that you support Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Peter Gasser's proposed study of LSD-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. This will become the first LSD-assisted psychotherapy study in over 35 years.

      I hope you will help in the transformation of my problem child into a wonder child.

      Sincerely,

      A. Hofmann
      * * * * *

      Dear Rick,

      Thank you for all you do for my problem child. I am pleased to add whatever I can do from my part.

      I learned much from your great letter, to do things after waiting for the right moment, how clever and careful you organize and do your work.

      I do hope that my letter to Steve Jobs corresponds to your expectation, especially what regards the choice of the writing paper. [Doblin had asked Hofmann to use his personal letterhead. It's not what you're thinking.] I believe that I followed your prescription.

      Hopefully Dr. Gasser will be successful with his request.

      Cordially -

      Albert

    • 3 years ago
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
    • ras_menelik:

      President of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, MAPS.org, Dr. Rick Doblin discusses the use of LSD for medical purposes and talks of LSD inventor Albert Hoffman's forthcoming 102nd birthday.

    • 3 years ago
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos