A study from Johns Hopkins University indicates that a single psilocybin experience is unlikely to convert atheists to belief in God or alter perceptions of free will. However, it may lead individuals to perceive consciousness in animals, plants, and even inanimate objects like robots. Participants showed slight shifts in attributing consciousness to certain creatures, but their religious and metaphysical beliefs remained largely unchanged.
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Summary
A new study by Johns Hopkins University researchers on the effects of psychedelics suggests that—contrary to earlier evidence—a single psilocybin experience isn’t likely to make an atheist believe in God or dispel someone’s sense of free will. It may, however, inspire the belief that animals, plants, or even objects like rocks and robots have some sort of consciousness.
The study, published this month in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, surveyed hundreds of people who planned to use psilocybin in a non-laboratory setting, asking them about their beliefs both before and at two separate times after their experiences.
While participants reported small differences in certain perceptions of consciousness after the psychedelic experiences—being more likely to attribute consciousness to primates or insects, for example—their religious and metaphysical beliefs didn’t significantly change.
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