Plant suffering depends on completely unverified theories of subjective experience (See https://iep.utm.edu/hard-problem-of-conciousness). Suffering is possibly unmeasurable. We only know that we can suffer and we assume others can suffer because they seem similar enough to us. Plants are different enough than animals with central nervous systems that assuming they can suffer seems a shaky proposition. One could write a microcontroller program that makes some signal if it's circuit is damaged. Does that mean that program can suffer?
I did an experiment and prompted ChatGPT4 to guide me in the Coherence Therapy model. I did an hour long session, treating the session as seriously as if I was with a valued human therapist. In this narrow context, I felt empathized with, understood, and effectively guided through healing a bit of my pain. I've already done a lot of healing (largely mdma+psilocybin sessions), have a good idea of the types of emotional wounds I have, and have a pretty good understanding of how healing works. I think this experience was valuable in guiding GPT4 to do what I ...
I'm glad to see others are talking about this! I've had an exceptionally effective experience healing severe early childhood emotional neglect through around 10 MDMA/psilocybin combo trips over the past 2 years. I started with a trusted guide and then transitioned to solo once I got the hang of things. It saved my life and made me much more compassionate, rational, and effective. I'm also less attached to my identities. I feel whole and alive for the first time in my life.
I also used to view my value as largely instrumental. My mental health was bad enough...
Hi everyone, I'm new here. I'm particularly interested in the positive effects of healing unprocessed trauma (via MDMA therapy[3], psychotherapy, etc). It increases cognitive flexibility, increases compassion, and reduces the rigidness of identities. I think some effects of extreme unprocessed trauma like narcissism, manipulativeness, dehumanization of others, violent crime[1], fascism, etc. have catastrophically large negative effects on society and treating the trauma at the core[2] of these problems should be among the highest of priorities.
[1] ht...
I've been using this method a lot and I realized there's a shortcut if you have an exceptionally powerful disconfirmation memory. The moment you realize a distressing feeling has arisen, activate the powerful memory and hold it until reconsolidation is complete. You don't need to identify the target schema or identify a relevant disconfirming experience. The identity of the schema is usually revealed during reconsolidation, which feels easier than identifying it before reconsolidation. For me the memory was taking MDMA (alone, therapeutic context) fo... (read more)