Can the use of psychedelic drugs induce lasting changes in metaphysical beliefs? While it is popularly believed that they can, this question has never been formally tested. Here we exploited a large sample derived from prospective online surveying to determine whether and how beliefs concerning the nature of reality, consciousness, and free-will, change after psychedelic use. Results revealed significant shifts away from ‘physicalist’ or ‘materialist’ views, and towards panpsychism and fatalism, post use. With the exception of fatalism, these changes endured for at least 6 months, and were positively correlated with the extent of past psychedelic-use and improved mental-health outcomes. Path modelling suggested that the belief-shifts were moderated by impressionability at baseline and mediated by perceived emotional synchrony with others during the psychedelic experience. The observed belief-shifts post-psychedelic-use were consolidated by data from an independent controlled clinical trial. Together, these findings imply that psychedelic-use may causally influence metaphysical beliefs—shifting them away from ‘hard materialism’. We discuss whether these apparent effects are contextually independent.

/pdf/psychedelics-alter-metaphysical-beliefs-3ncb7tzp90.pdf

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Psychedelics alter metaphysical beliefs.

We discuss Boltzmann’s probabilistic explanation of the second law of thermodynamics providing a comprehensive presentation of what is called today the typicality account. Countering its misconception as an alternative explanation, we examine the relation between Boltzmann’s H-theorem and the general typicality argument demonstrating the conceptual continuity between the two. We then discuss the philosophical dimensions of the concept of typicality and its relevance for scientific reasoning in general, in particular for understanding the reduction of macroscopic laws to microscopic laws. Finally, we reply to various common criticisms of the typicality account.

/pdf/typicality-irreversibility-and-the-status-of-macroscopic-3t8ga0yzw9.pdf

Typicality, Irreversibility and the Status of Macroscopic Laws

One of C. S. Peirce’s most misunderstood ideas is his notion of abduction, the process of generating and selecting hypotheses to test. Contemporary philosophers of science have falsely cited Peirce’s idea of abduction as a conceptual precursor to the modern notion of inference to the best explanation, a mode of inference used to decide which of competing explanations of a phenomenon to regard as true. Here, I examine how the misunderstanding originated by exploring influential discussions of inference to the best explanation in the works of Gilbert Harman, Bas van Fraassen, Paul Thagard, and Peter Lipton. While all these authors either failed to cite, or incorrectly cited, Peirce, I show that Thagard has noted a sense in which Peirce’s early work provides a precursor to the modern notion of inference to the best explanation. However, a careful reading of Peirce shows that “abduction” has never been a proper synonym for “inference to the best explanation.” So Peirce is not to blame for the misunderstanding. I conclude by defending the philosophic importance of abduction and demonstrating how applying Peirce’s criteria for good abduction to debates in evolutionary theory can move the field forward.

How did Abduction Get Confused with Inference to the Best Explanation

Understand the relationship between information theory and the physics of wave propagation with this expert guide. Balancing fundamental theory with engineering applications, it describes the mechanism and limits for the representation and communication of information using electromagnetic waves. Information-theoretic laws relating functional approximation and quantum uncertainty principles to entropy, capacity, mutual information, rate distortion, and degrees of freedom of band-limited radiation are derived and explained. Both stochastic and deterministic approaches are explored, and applications for sensing and signal reconstruction, wireless communication, and networks of multiple transmitters and receivers are reviewed. With end-of-chapter exercises and suggestions for further reading enabling in-depth understanding of key concepts, it is the ideal resource for researchers and graduate students in electrical engineering, physics and applied mathematics looking for a fresh perspective on classical information theory.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Citations

Psychedelics alter metaphysical beliefs.

Typicality, Irreversibility and the Status of Macroscopic Laws

How did Abduction Get Confused with Inference to the Best Explanation

Wave Theory of Information

Models and Methods to Identify Peer Effects

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