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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1h

Screenshot of the paper's abstract, which reads:

Aesthetic experience is widely believed to foster creativity, yet the neural mechanisms mediating this link remain poorly defined. Here, we propose five key brain networks that may support this process and systematically review the evidence. In the creative generation stage, immersive aesthetic stimuli first activate the default mode network (DMN), which supports memory retrieval and spontaneous divergent thinking. Concurrently, the executive control network (ECN) remains suppressed, enabling associative thinking and intuitive creativity, while the salience network (SN) monitors novel or emotionally salient features. During the creative evaluation stage, aesthetic processing synergistically engages the SN, DMN, and ECN. The SN flexibly modulates the coupling between the DMN and ECN. The DMN contributes to affective and interoceptive evaluation, retrieves prototypical events, and supports insight generation, whereas the ECN inhibits conventional ideas, facilitates mental set shifting, and promotes the formation of novel associations. In the creative expression stage, aesthetic experience recruits the sensorimotor network (SMN), enhancing creative output and improvisational capability. Across all three stages, the reward system (RS) plays a dual role in both initiating and sustaining creativity. Dopamine released in response to aesthetic pleasure increases cognitive flexibility and task persistence during the generation and evaluation stages. In the expression stage, it maintains high creative motivation, thereby driving creative implementation and reinforcing emotional resonance. Importantly, none of these stages is mediated by a single brain region or network; instead, creativity is supported by the dynamic reconfiguration of connections within and between these networks. Finally, the review addresses current challenges in the field and proposes promising future directions.

Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1h

Aesthetic experiences enhances creativity by dynamically reconfiguring five major brain networks; creativity emerges from network-level coordination—I think this has a lot of relevance to #psychedelic research, too. Abstract ⬇️

#aesthetics #creativity #neuroscience

doi.org/10.1186/s400...

Mapping the brain networks underlying creativity enhancement via aesthetic experience - European Journal of Medical Research

Aesthetic experience is widely believed to foster creativity, yet the neural mechanisms mediating this link remain poorly defined. Here, we propose five key brain networks that may support this…

doi.org

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 17h

Well, the Instagram algorithm has decided I'm a gay zillionaire daddy and has been showing me ads for the gay zillionaire daddy demographic—which is not quite the manifestation I was hoping for, but I'll take the win. 😹

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 23h

Everyone be safe and be peaceful out there today. #NoKings ❌👑

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

It sounded like a little girl's voice, and almost like it was being tuned in on a radio sort of. She must have decided I wasn't very interesting, bc I haven't heard a peep since. The whole thing was very creepy.

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Reposted by Daniel

kitklein.bsky.social @kitklein.bsky.social · 1d

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

I wish more of those artists were here on Bsky. I don’t actively use Twitter anymore, but I keep it for the art.

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

I love it as well. When I had more resources, I collected a few pieces I found really compelling. I think those artists are so insular bc there’s an unfounded and unfairly negative perception of NFTs. As a result, those artists tend to support each other. I’d collect more if I had the money tbh.

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

And singling out philosophy as addressing "trivial questions" is pretty ridiculous, too—I just saw an academic paper on the aesthetics of bubble chains in fizzy beverages. Not to be unkind, but who cares? I mean, someone does, but at least philosophy can be/is directly relevant to one's life.

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

The idea of #philosophy as politically neutral is a pretty silly one. But I do think more people are interested in engaging with philosophy than may appear to be the case, but are often bogged down by arcane language and proofs—then they give up. The issue is accessibility. ⬇️

Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 1d

Philosophy seems to address incomprehensible q only of interest to other academic philosophers&inaccessible to the ordinary inquirer. It seems to miss the point of the original philosophical urge&thus seems even more pointless than other arcane academic studies www.theideasletter.org/essay/bloodl...

“Bloodless Pedantry” - The Ideas Letter

The academic study of philosophy tends to inspire contempt, from within and from without. Stephen Hawking’s pompous pronouncement in 2010 that “philosophy is dead” is just one version of a…

www.theideasletter.org

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

BTW, the English title of the book is The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves, but the English edition is out of print, I think. Jean Clottes signed one of my copies of the French edition when I met him in Chicago at a lecture he gave at the Field Museum.

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

See also this really cool paper that hypothesizes that the limited oxygen resources in caves would have been depleted by artificial light sources, which may have induced mild hypoxia and altered states of consciousness, and contributed to the cosmological significance of liminal cave environments.

Hypoxia in Paleolithic decorated caves: the use of artificial light in deep caves reduces oxygen concentration and induces altered states of consciousness

In this paper, we present a novel hypothesis as to what led humans in the Upper Paleolithic to penetrate and decorate deep, dark caves.

www.researchgate.net

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

Somewhat adjacent to my last post—this little book is what initially sparked my interest in #psychedelics as an #archaeology undergrad who wanted to study ice age cave paintings in Europe. Their descriptions of altered states are a little, ah, naïve, but I didn't know that at the time. ⬇️

Couverture de « Les chamanes de la préhistoire : Texte intégral, polémiques et réponses » (2007) par Jean Clottes et David Lewis-Williams

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

Screenshot of the paper's abstract, which reads:

Religious experiences are important for many human traditions. A predictive processing-based approach to religious experiences previously identified sensory deprivation and the influence of authority as probable means of their induction. To observe the effects of these factors on human perception and psychology, this qualitative study focuses on the alternative-spiritual practice called Dark therapy, which combines days alone in complete darkness with the influence of authority—a guide consulting clients daily. Qualitative data were obtained via interviews and engaged field observations; interview data from 12 participants were analyzed using open and hypothesis coding. Findings demonstrate that Dark therapy induces psychologically challenging experiences and unusual perceptual phenomena. Participants who can gain a feeling of control could actively exploit the Dark by gaining perceptually active experiences related to their expectations, beliefs, and previous cultural learning. Guides could influence clients’ experiences, but clients only chose to learn from them when perceiving guides as prestigious. Combining sensory deprivation with social seclusion and the influence of authority thus seems to be a potent practice for the induction of spiritual and other special experiences. The predictive processing framework and theories on human ethology can provide a useful explanatory framework for the observed effects of these factors and point to interesting future directions in research on religious experiences.

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

Really interesting—especially "Liam's" comparison of his dark therapy experience to the DMT flash (pp. 11–12). Abstract ⬇️

(As an aside, I've always been really curious about what a strong psilocybin experience would be like in a cave.)

#darktherapy #darkness #spirituality

doi.org/10.1177/0084...

Sensing the darkness: Dark therapy, authority, and spiritual experience - Jana Nenadalová, 2025

Religious experiences are important for many human traditions. A predictive processing-based approach to religious experiences previously identified sensory dep...

doi.org

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Reposted by Daniel

Brian Frink @bfrink.bsky.social · 1d

That Strange Reflection
2025
28x22"
Acrylic on canvas

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

Now this is #Dalí realism I can get behind.

Salvador Dalí @salvador-dali.bsky.social · 3d

Portrait of Dolores Suero Falla (1955)
https://botfrens.com/collections/63/contents/20988

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

This actually pretty heartbreaking song is stuck in my head this morning.

#PostMalone #MusicSky

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Ww...

Post Malone - Mourning (Official Visualizer)

YouTube video by PostMaloneVEVO

www.youtube.com

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 1d

Well, I've had coffee by now, and while I think this painting is technically excellent, I personally still don't think it's very interesting—although I'm willing to concede that maybe it's not very interesting bc it doesn't really conform to my own expectations of the "typical" Dalí painting. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 2d

Gonna be honest—it's a Salvador Dalí, sure, but it's giving "started out at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and is now on clearance at a Tuesday Morning in Omaha, Nebraska." It's red delicious art.

(Maybe I'll reassess after I've had some coffee. Lol)

Salvador Dalí @salvador-dali.bsky.social · 2d

Figure at a Window
https://botfrens.com/collections/63/contents/19516

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 2d

Dang I wanna learn physics for optimal tofu pressing 😹

John Smillie @johnsmillie42.bsky.social · 4d

Same vibes

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Reposted by Daniel

DJ Boozy Brunch @griph.bsky.social · Aug 22

If you ask me the problem here in Göbekli Tepe is that the kids spend too much time concerned with “aura farming” and not nearly enough time with “aurochs farming.”

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 2d

Gonna be honest—it's a Salvador Dalí, sure, but it's giving "started out at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and is now on clearance at a Tuesday Morning in Omaha, Nebraska." It's red delicious art.

(Maybe I'll reassess after I've had some coffee. Lol)

Salvador Dalí @salvador-dali.bsky.social · 2d

Figure at a Window
https://botfrens.com/collections/63/contents/19516

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Reposted by Daniel

Moodsoup @moodsoup.bsky.social · 18d

Vertigo

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 2d

You're telling me this is almost 30 years old? 😮 Stfu.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5u...

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

YouTube video by ChumbawambaVEVO

www.youtube.com

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Daniel @thisispsychedelico.com · 2d

😮😱

Lol, yeeeeessssss! I'm sure I've seen that parody before, but I'm going to look it up later anyway. 😹 (Did you ever meet that one adult performer named Bruno? 😅)

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