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Would psychedelics really lead to democratic transformation?

History offers many reasons to look askance at technical shortcuts to the reformation of human character: a response to Vikram Zutshi.

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Adam Smith.jpg
Adam Smith.jpg

Credit: Flickr/Torbakhopper. CC BY-ND 2.0.

In his recent article for Transformation Vikram Zutshi argues that if psychedelic drugs can radically reform our relationship to nature and each other, then “those of us committed to social transformation must start to take the use of psychedelics much more seriously.” He suggests that in the face of environmental collapse and intensifying hatreds, “perhaps real change begins with rewiring our perceptual framework.”