I am 100 percent in favor of the intelligent use of drugs, and 1,000 percent against the thoughtless use of them, whether caffeine or LSD. And drugs are not central to my life.
Timothy LearyRead
The PC is the LSD of the '90s.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote compares personal computers to the powerful impact of LSD in the 1960s and 70s, suggesting they offer significant experiences that can alter perception.
Timothy Leary's quote draws a parallel between the transformative experiences that users can gain from personal computers in the 1990s and the mind-altering effects of LSD, a drug that was known for expanding consciousness and offering new perspectives. The implication is that just as LSD opened up new worlds of thought and creativity, personal computers represent a revolutionary technology enabling users to explore information, creativity, and connections with others in unprecedented ways.
Themes
PcTechnologyTransformationExperienceCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
During a tech conference, I shared this quote to emphasize the revolutionary impact of computers on society.
More from Timothy Leary
All quotes βThink for yourself and question authority.
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There are three side effects of acid: enhanced long-term memory, decreased short-term memory, and I forget the third.
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The brain is not a blind, reactive machine, but a complex, sensitive biocomputer that we can program. And if we don't take the responsibility for programming it, then it will be programmed unwittingly by accident or by the social environnement.
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My advice to myself and to everyone else, particularly young people, is to turn on, tune in and drop out. By drop out, I mean to detach yourself from involvement in secular, external social games. But the dropping out has to occur internally before it can occur externally. I'm not telling kids just to quit school; I'm not telling people to quit their jobs. That is an inevitable development of the process of turning on and tuning in.
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The danger of psychedelic drugs, the danger of mind-opening, the danger of consciousness expansion, the danger of inner discovery is a danger to the establishment.
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