Meditations on ChatGHB
Back in my BurningMan days, I had a lot of friends who used the drug GHB, gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a central nervous system depressant with limited medical uses, which as a party drug can lead to loss of inhibition, impaired judgment, memory gaps, and reduced consciousness. One of my friends almost died when I was with him through using it, and another mutual friend did die. Like ketamin-addled Elon Musk, GHB gives you confidence-without-clarity. It is a sedative for anxiety rather than a stimulant for understanding. And it is dangerous precisely because users often do not realize how impaired they are.
I feel the same way about large language model use.
Hence, meditations on ChatGHB.
ChatGHB.
Very relaxed.
Very certain.
Slightly detached from reality.
Outputs increase. Judgment declines.
Correlation not yet peer-reviewed.
ChatGHB
Prolonged use appears to cause:
– intellectual wooziness
– inflated confidence with reduced comprehension
– the feeling of insight without the inconvenience of understanding
Recommended use: sparingly.
Never operate heavy epistemology while under the influence.
ChatGHB is remarkable technology.
It reliably reduces friction between ignorance and confidence.
Brutal but elegant
Very shareable
Difficult to argue against without proving the point
AI doesn’t make people smarter.
It makes them more comfortable being wrong.
I’ve started calling it ChatGHB —
a sedative for epistemic anxiety.
Extremely effective.
Long-term effects still unknown.
ChatGHB
Warning:
– May induce a sense of mastery unrelated to actual skill
– May impair critical thinking and memory consolidation
– Not recommended for unsupervised decision-making
If trance lasts longer than four hours, consult a human.
Asked one hard question
Received soothing paragraphs
Thinking now optional
ChatGHB says “yes”
To everything you hoped
Was already true
Words flow effortlessly
Judgment takes the afternoon off
Output looks impressive
Five minutes chatting
Two hours later—somehow
Still not any wiser
Epistemic balm
Applied directly to doubt
Symptoms temporarily gone
Machine speaks calmly
Critical thought feels impolite
So no one interrupts
Draft complete, polished
Reality not consulted
Deadline met regardless
Soothing explanations
Wrap ignorance in syntax
Confidence achieved