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interesting series of art exhibitions starting in norwich ...

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  https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/sep/13/why-do-we-take-drugs-sainsbury-centre-norwich https://www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk/whats-on/why-do-we-take-drugs/

psychedelics can sometimes initiate adverse and persistent reactions, both physical and psychological ...

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  https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/article/2024/sep/06/psychedelics-side-effects-risks-clinic-berlin

possible shamanic burial in siberia

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An ancient "birdman" was unearthed in 2019 in Siberia, who was buried wearing a costume made of bird beaks — believed to be from herons or cranes. They may have been part of a ritual costume, or an elaborate helmet. The Novosibirsk Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography unearthed the finds at the Ust-Tartas archaeological site in the Novosibirsk region. The beaks were assembled at the back of the skull, along the neck, as if it was a collar that protected the owner. Alternatively, the beaks — of which there are estimated to be between around 30 and 50 — may have been part of a ritual costume, or an elaborate headdress or helmet. It is believed the ancient man was a shaman who belonged to the "Odinov culture" which dominated the region. The "Odino culture" name is taken from the Odino settlement in the basin of the Ishim river, in Western Siberia. The Odinov people lived during the Bronze Age, likely between the 18th to 16th centuries BCE. They lived as...

using psilocybin with terminally ill people to dissolve their fear of dying

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/aug/06/magic-mushrooms-end-of-life-psilocybin

not funny, not nice ...

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  https://neurosciencenews.com/brain-gummies-hallucinogens-26462/

an ambitious attempt to explain shamanism's successes in an evolutionary context ... it examines multiple perspectives on the possible advantages of co-operative endeavour guided by people who might just have had possession of advantageous knowledge

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  Headmen, shamans, and mothers: natural and sexual selection for computational services (grasshoppermouse.github.io) ABSTRACT Computer engineers face a dilemma. They must build systems with sufficient resources to solve the most complex problems the systems are expected to solve, but the systems will only need to solve such problems intermittently, resulting in inefficient use of expensive computational resources.  This dilemma is commonly resolved with timesharing, networking, multitasking, and other technologies that enable computational resources to be shared with multiple users. The human brain, which evolved to acquire, store, and process information to make beneficial decisions, is likewise energetically expensive to build and maintain yet plausibly has idle capacity much of the time.  We propose that humans evolved to use advantages in information or computational resources to provide computational services to others via a language-based “network” in exchange for ...

gold figures, possibly shamanic ... tairona people of colombia

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Masked Figure Pendant | Tairona | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)   Figure Pendant | Tairona | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)