For decades, the U.S. government banned medical studies of the
effects of LSD. But for one longtime, elite researcher, the
promise of mind-blowing revelations was just too tempting. At
9:30 in the morning, an architect and three senior
scientists—two from Stanford, the other from Hewlett-
Packard—donned eyeshades and earphones, sank into comfy couches,
and waited for their government-approved dose of LSD to kick in.
From across the suite and with no small amount of anticipation,
Dr. James Fadiman spun the knobs of an impeccable sound system
and unleashed Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68.”
Then he stood by, ready to ease any concerns or discomfort. For
this particular experiment, the couched volunteers had each
brought along three highly technical problems from their
respective fields that they’d been unable to solve for at least
several months. In approximately two hours, when the LSD became
fully active, they were going to remove the eyeshades and
earphones, and attempt to find some solutions. F