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Re:Psychoactive Substance Use by Professional Programmers by swayvil on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @03:50PM (#35892572)
Sometimes, when I hit a wall algorithm-design wise, I'll get high. (weed).

It works quite well. Well enough to keep using it as a getting-through-the-wall technique, certainly.

New ideas will present themselves. New perspectives become apparent.

I recommend it.

(Attention is like a flashlight in a dark room. One of those focusable flashlights. You can narrow the beam to a very bright spot. Make a very small place very clearly lit. But that also renders the rest of the room pitch black (how deep is that darkness? Do you know???). Sometimes the broader beam is called for. Sometimes it's useful to lose control of the light entirely.)

Re:Psychoactive Substance Use by Professional Programmers by mostin on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @04:21PM (#35892929)
Personally I get a Ballmer peak after a beer or two but I can't code at all high.
Re:Psychoactive Substance Use by Professional Programmers by thomasfromcdnjs on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @04:25PM (#35892987)
Same, love drinking while coding, one puff of weed and I'm on Youtube before I exhale.
Re:Psychoactive Substance Use by Professional Programmers by swayvil on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @04:43PM (#35893227)
I can't code high either. I don't code high. I take notes high. A sketchbook. Words, drawings, psuedocode.
Re:Psychoactive Substance Use by Professional Programmers by csdvrx on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @04:24PM (#35892972)
My simpler solution is to cut on my sleep for just one day: after only 4h or less, I'm extremely tired but I have a lot of new ideas and perspectives.

I'd only suggest doing that once every 2 week, and sleeping normally at least each night for the week before for maximal results.

Also, it's a bad idea to code when tired (due to risks of negative productivity): it's better to just think and take notes, draw diagrams etc

BTW I've heard people who are on ADHD drugs report a similar "too focused" attention: a very narrow beam on a very bright spot.

Re:Psychoactive Substance Use by Professional Programmers by swayvil on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @05:12PM (#35893593)
I think it isn't a "too focused" effect so much as an "any focus" effect. It's just a matter of degree.

And that darkness, that wraparound blind spot. It doesn't exist. You know what I mean? It, in all likelihood, is not accounted for at all in your reality.

I mean, you don't say to yourself, "gosh, I'm blind to all this stuff". No. the stuff just doesn't exist.

And add habit to the mix, that subconscious robot. Habit that governs this universe-dividing attention.

Titanic feats of reality-conditioning could be happening right under your nose, constantly. And you'd never even know it.

Re:Psychoactive Substance Use by Professional Programmers by hirvi74 on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @09:15PM (#35896015)
As someone on the medications, all it seems to do is just activate my hyperfocuing abilities more consistently. I just have to cross my fingers that the stars align so I hyperfocus on what I need to focus on and not play Jedi Survivor for 6 hours straight.