A few days after I left my job at CBA I travelled to the US. Here’s a brief writeup of the noteable things I did on that trip:
Stayed in NYC for a while. Explored coliving communities in Brooklyn.
I went to a festival called vibecamp that was organised through twitter where about 800 people from all over the world that mostly knew each other pseudonymously online came together for 4-5 days. It was kind of like a regional burn for nerds.
I went to the Psychedelic Sciences 2023 Conference in Denver, Colorado which was organised by MAPS. It was the first conference they had held in 6 years and it was an incredible experience. Key Takeaways:
- The US is undergoing a period of substantial drug reform and with it a number of psychedelic substances are being legalised at the state level and medically regulated at the federal level. Things are changing rapidly over there.
- There were ~11,000 attendees and the conference covered everything from fundamental research into novel chemicals; to clinical results on the efficacy of 5-meo-dmt for depression; to approaches on how insurance companies can begin to think about covering psychedelic treatment; to much much more.
- I have been deeply interested in this space for a while and this was an excellent opportunity to meet professionals and researchers working in the space, startups and organisations that are beginning to fill and commercialise this space, and to get a better sense of how this industry was evolving.
Hiking in Boulder, CO.
I almost got a ride with an old hippy dharma bum who was going from Denver to San Francisco to hold a clandestine mdma/meditiation retreat; but decided against it for a bunch of reasons.
I struggled to find a car to rent in Denver because two hailstorms had driven up the price of rentals in the state by over 100%.
I flew from Denver to Salt Lake City, hired a car there and drove to San Francisco over the course of a week - camping every night along the way. I got to explore:
- Northern Utah (amazing!).
- Idaho (vast).
- Wyoming (empty and vast and amazing!).
- Nevada (really struggled to not fall asleep driving on a straight flat road through the desert).
- California (stunning)
Stayed in San Francisco for a few days. SF is way colder than I thought it was.
Travelled from SF to Spirit Rock Meditation Centre in Woodacre, California
Did a 3-week silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock focusing on concentration and awareness practice.
Went back to SF for a week; explored coliving communities, third spaces, AI tech hubs and met lots of young people working on incredibly ambitious and exciting projects.
Flew back to Australia.