Building Alien Worlds— The Neuropsychological and Evolutionary Implications of DMT

Building Alien Worlds— The Neuropsychological and Evolutionary Implications of the Astonishing Psychoactive Effects of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)

Andrew Gallimore

Abstract—Arguably the most remarkable property of the human brain is its ability to construct the world that appears to consciousness. The brain is capable of building worlds during waking life, but also in the complete ab- sence of extrinsic sensory data, entirely from intrinsic thalamocortical activ- ity, as during dreaming. DMT, an extraordinary psychedelic, perturbs brain activity such that indescribably bizarre and apparently alien worlds are built. This property of DMT continues to defy explanation. However, by regarding this unique molecule as equivalent to serotonin, an endogenous neuro- modulator with a long-standing relationship with the brain, DMT’s effects may be explained. Serotonin has evolved to hold the brain’s thalamocortical system in a state in which the consensus world is built. When serotonin is replaced by DMT, the thalamocortical system shifts into an equivalent state, but one in which an apparently alien world is built. This suggests that DMT may be an ancestral neuromodulator, at one time secreted endogenously in psychedelic concentrations—a function apparently now lost. However, DMT maintains a number of unique pharmacological characteristics and a peculiar affinity with the human brain that supports this model. Thus, the modern practice of ingesting exogenous DMT may be the reconstitution of an ancestral function.

Conscious awareness of a world appears to be a default state of the brain (Llinas & Pare 1991) and can be fully independent of incoming sensory data, as exemplified by dreaming. During REM sleep, the brain is perfectly capable of building completely realistic worlds, with all sensory modalities intact, despite having no access to the external world. In fact, even during waking, sensory stimuli contribute far less to the information used to build the world than might be expected (Edelman 2000). To understand what this means, we need to distinguish between two types of information in the brain. Information generated entirely within the brain, through the differentiated and integrated activity of the thalamocortical system, as discussed, is intrinsic information. Information that enters from outside, through the senses, is extrinsic information. It is a combination of these two types of information that the brain uses to build worlds. However, it is not simply a case of extrinsic sensory information adding to intrinsic information. Rather, patterns of sensory data amplify or “awaken” (Sporns 2011) existing intrinsic activity within the brain (Edelman 2000), and very little additional information is provided by sensory data (Tononi, Edelman, & Sporns 1998).  To put it another way, extrinsic sensory data is ‘matched’ to ongoing intrinsic activity, which it amplifies (Tononi, Sporns, & Edelman 1996). The intrinsic activity thus represents a repertoire of thalamocortical states that provide the context for any incoming sensory data. In fact, even in the complete absence of extrinsic sensory data, the intrinsic thalamocortical activity remains perfectly capable of building complete worlds. Of course, this is dreaming, which will be discussed in detail later. However, suffice to say that the principal difference between the waking consensus world and the dream world is the manner in which the former is modulated by extrinsic sensory data. Sensory information constrains conscious perception (Behrendt 2003), and the conscious awareness of a world is an intrinsic functional state of the brain that is modulated, but not created, by sensory input (Llinas, Ribary, Contreras, & Pedroarena 1998). Naturally, this begs the question as to why the intrinsic activity of the thalamocortical system tends to build the consensus world as a default and thus why extrinsic sensory data can be so effectively ‘matched’ to ongoing intrinsic activity. This suggests that extrinsic sensory data somehow shaped the thalamocortical system, i.e. that the brain used sensory data from the external world to learn to build a representation of it.

It seems the brain builds worlds in exactly the same way during dreaming as it does during waking—and why wouldn’t it? Indeed, it is the only way the brain is able to build the worlds that appear to us. As pointed out earlier, the primary difference between waking and dreaming is the manner in which the waking world is modulated by extrinsic information. During waking, the formation of coherent oscillatory assemblies (i.e. thalamocortical states) is modulated by incoming sensory information. During dreaming, however, the individual is disconnected from the external environment (although the reason for this remains subject to debate, see Nir & Tononi 2010). The primary sensory areas of the cortex, which normally receive the incoming information before passing it on to higher cortical areas for further processing, also become inactive, as does the prefrontal cortex (Braun et al. 1998). The higher sensory areas of the cortex remain active in building the dream world, using the repertoire of intrinsic thalamocortical states developed during waking life. As the dynamic sequence of thalamocortical states is not constrained by incoming sensory data, however, the dream world can become bizarre, often impossible...Unfortunately, loss of normal critical function means that such ridiculousness is rarely recognized for what it is, unless you happen to be a lucid dreamer.

The user typically rushes through a number of stages, before ‘breaking through’ into the characteristic alien worlds, which are the focus of this discussion. The accounts of Strassman’s volunteers and posters on Erowid. org who achieved this breakthrough, while varied, follow a number of recurring themes:

– Merry-go-rounds, fairgrounds, clowns/jesters, circuses; – Mischievous or playful elves/dwarves/imps;
– Insectoid and reptilian creatures, aliens;
– Futuristic hypertechnological buildings and cities;
– Complex machinery, hyper-advanced technology; – Being observed and/or experimented upon;
– Unknown places apparently on Earth.

A number of these features are common in ‘trip reports’ by users and, notably, unique to DMT. Users typically describe the DMT world as being more real than ordinary waking reality, even after the experience has ended. The lucidity of the experience is also striking—the lack of haziness or stoning allows the user to experience the effects as if in an ordinary waking state. Perhaps the most interesting of the recurrent themes, recounted by a significant proportion of users, is the experience of apparently hyperadvanced technological societies, with highly intelligent entities occupying futuristic cities and unearthly landscapes, manipulating complex machinery. Often the entities appear as mischievous or playful ‘elves’ that vie for the attention of the user...

...While elves, aliens, and insectoid entities appear regularly, they are by no means the only type of entity met in the DMT realm—angels, demons, monsters, chimeras, and animals, among others, also are reported (Shanon 2002), although some of these are more typical of ayahuasca. Sometimes, the entity isn’t identifiable by form, but manifests as an overwhelming presence that seems extraordinarily powerful (Strassman 2001).

It would be a truly startling coincidence if DMT, the simplest tryptamine possible with little chemical functionality, the most widely distributed in nature and a natural human metabolite, just happens to be the only one capable of perturbing brain chemistry in such a finely tuned manner so as to produce apparent transport to alien worlds—all by chance and without any functional significance. And yet, this is exactly what we are faced with. It is difficult to reconcile these characteristics of DMT and its effects on consciousness with the assumption that DMT is merely an exogenous psychedelic drug and that any psychedelic effects are incidental and unrelated to its neural function. The nature of DMT and its effects might be better understood if, rather than as an exogenous drug, we begin to regard DMT as a neuromodulator with a long-standing relationship with the human brain.

I did not read the entire paper, but scanned through it.  Fascinating stuff for sure.  Thanks for posting Sci!

Anyone have other experience with DMT?

Personally I don't think you can accurately say that you construct "completely realistic" worlds in dreams. The difference in quality, depth, complexity and consistency of laws in dreams is nothing compared to the real world. Even in lucid dreams.