There’s nothing here that will shock you or blow you away but I thought some of it was pretty interesting like Francis Crick (DNA) and Kary Mullis (PCR) doing LSD.
. . . In fact, a 2011 Johns Hopkins University study gave test subjects psychoactive doses of magic mushrooms. Of the 51 participants in the experiment, roughly two out of three identified the effects of their mushroom trip as one of the five most meaningful experiences of their lives.
In an interview with Wired , an early Cisco employee named Kevin Herbert said that a drug like LSD can be an effective tool in problem solving. He believed it so strongly that he stepped in to prevent Cisco from ever drug testing a technologist.
See also… Genius and Heroin.
Really surprised that they omitted Paul Erdős , as he’s the poster child for beneficial use of amphetamine. FTL:
After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month. Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence mathematics had been set back by a month: “Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper.” After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine use.
Other early LSD advocates included Henry and Clare Booth Luce of Time/Life fame ( Time Magazine published several positive articles on LSD in the 50’s) and Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill was very convinced that the therapeutic use of LSD would be helpful in the treatment of alcoholism. This led to a schism that ended when he resigned from the board of AA.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Kary Mullis had, at press time, something like 17 children with 8 different women, and didn’t support any of them, not even the ones he had with his 4 or 5 wives, all of whom were teenagers when he married them and all said he beat them. :eek:
nearwildheaven:
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Kary Mullis had, at press time, something like 17 children with 8 different women, and didn’t support any of them, not even the ones he had with his 4 or 5 wives, all of whom were teenagers when he married them and all said he beat them. :eek:
Total bullshit.
Mullis has been married 4 times. He has 3 kids from 2 ex’s.
I’ve met Mullis on numerous occasions. He’s a whackdoodle, but give the guy a little credit.
And a smart whackadoodle at that .
Mullis has also invented a UV-sensitive plastic that changes color in response to light, and most recently has been working on an approach for mobilizing the immune system to neutralize invading pathogens and toxins, leading to the formation of his current venture, Altermune LLC, in 2011.[20] Mullis described this idea this way:
It is a method using specific synthetic chemical linkers to divert an immune response from its nominal target to something completely different which you would right now like to be temporarily immune to. Let’s say you just got exposed to a new strain of the flu. You’re already immune to alpha-1,3-galactosyl-galactose bonds. All humans are. Why not divert a fraction of those antibodies to the influenza strain you just picked up? A chemical linker synthesized with an alpha-1,3-gal-gal bond on one end and a DNA aptamer devised to bind specifically to the strain of influenza you have on the other end will link anti-alpha-Gal antibodies to the influenza virus and presto!–you have fooled your immune system into attacking the new virus. [13] [21]
Oh, he’s plenty smart. Crazy, but smart. An interesting guy to talk to over cocktails.
The Altermune stuff is pretty interesting stuff. It kind of scares me - as a molecular biologist I can easily see multiple ways to use it for evil.