There is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which a supreme being, Q, offers the android character Data the opportunity to experience human laughter.
This would be the equivalent of a psychedelic experience on the part of a machine.
It is merely the introduction of a radically new context for all previous experience.
The episode does not explain how this is done for Data, but in humans laughter is a form of primeval communication.
It simply lets those present know that the individual laughing feels safe and that those present should too.
One should wonder if such a simple impulse could be that profound for Data, but since laughter draws so much energy from the nuances of an individual's entire character there can be no doubt that every iota of Data's being was somehow effected.
Where have you to laugh as if you have never laughed before?
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For the better part of the last two years, I've been on gabapentin for nerve pain. it works by reducing neurotransmitter firing, pretty globally across your central and peripheral nervous system. I had a surgery in november that eliminated my need for it, so I stopped taking it.
I experienced enormous sudden changes in my experience of the world. everything was more beautiful and real, my emotional space became intense and chaotic. It was like the drugs had made me "knurd", and now that I was sober, it felt like being on a low dose of acid all the time.
I was holed up, recovering from the surgery, watching the sitcom 30 rock on my laptop. I don't remember what it was, but some joke in the show made me start giggling uncontrollably. I couldn't even remember the last time I had involuntarily laughed - it was an incredible transcendent experience.
Thank you for your story, Benjamin. It makes me wonder if the entire world is on gabapentin relative to the possibilities. There is a disproportionately low sense of magic in the world for how much there really is.
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