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Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Humorous Speculations on Elves Being Real

Users playfully suggest elves are literal entities revealed by the mushroom. "Could be that the mushroom just temporarily interferes with the substances the elves put in our water supply to keep us in the dark?" (nospice). "Occam’s razor would say they’re real." (bilsbie). "They keep the universe running." (ok_dad).

2. Links to Consistent Psychedelic Hallucinations (DMT, Salvia)

Hallucinations of tiny beings recur across substances like DMT "machine elves" and Salvia "smelves." "I've always been fascinated by written accounts of DMT triggering such oddly specific effects for users." (blincoln). "reminds me of trip reports from people trying Salvia Divinorum - there's even a name for these tiny people, 'Smelves'" (newman8r).

3. Excitement Over Potential Novel Hallucinogen

Interest in the mushroom's unknown compound, blue bruising, and Chinese history ("xiao ren ren"). "Could this mean we're on the brink of discovering an entirely new class of hallucinogens?" (isoprophlex). "The real question is WHY they keep stealing my underwear and left-foot socks?" (amarant, tying to cultural reports).

🚀 Project Ideas

Psychedelic Trip Report Analyzer

Summary

  • Aggregates and analyzes user-submitted trip reports from mushrooms/DMT/Salvia, using AI to identify common hallucination patterns like "machine elves" or "tiny people."
  • Core value proposition: Surfaces consistent cross-cultural themes and visuals, enabling citizen science for hypothesis generation on brain mechanisms.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Psychedelic enthusiasts, researchers, neuroscientists
Core Feature NLP/AI clustering of reports with visualization dashboard for shared motifs
Tech Stack React/Next.js frontend, PostgreSQL + Elasticsearch backend, OpenAI/Groq for NLP, D3.js charts
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Freemium (basic free, premium reports/export $5/mo)

Notes

  • "I always feel like they should bring along an artist for the trip so we can get a visual depiction of what it was like" – airstrike; "And a poet." – optimalsolver.
  • HN would love open data for science: "I hope a lot more rigorous science delves into both mushrooms and DMT" – astronads.

Hallucinogenic Bolete Identification App

Summary

  • Mobile/web app for identifying blue-bruising boletes like Lanmaoa asiatica, with geo-specific data, cooking safety warnings, and ethnomycology notes.
  • Core value proposition: Bridges English-language gap in documentation for "xiao ren ren" mushrooms, reducing risks for foragers.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Mycologists, foragers, travelers to Yunnan/Philippines
Core Feature Image recognition + GPS database of species, effects, cultivation challenges (e.g., ectomycorrhizal hosts)
Tech Stack Flutter for cross-platform, TensorFlow Lite for on-device ML, Firebase for user-submitted sightings
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • "The ethnomycological work in English is just not really there" – culi; US species noted by amanaplanacanal.
  • Practical utility for safety: "Many poisonings annually but the government are pretty good at helping people to ID" – contingencies.

Machine Elf Simulator

Summary

  • AI tool generates interactive 3D visualizations and simulations of "machine elves/tiny people" based on aggregated trip reports/videos (e.g., Corridor Crew, Salvia replicas).
  • Core value proposition: Lets sober users explore consistent hallucinations safely, aiding research/artists without substances.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Researchers, artists, psychonauts avoiding risks
Core Feature Text-to-3D/video gen from reports, VR mode for immersion
Tech Stack Three.js/Unity WebGL, Stable Diffusion + Llama3 for gen, YouTube API integration
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: Subscription ($10/mo for HD/VR exports)

Notes

  • Quotes visuals: Salvia videos (akka47), Corridor Crew (seg_lol), DMT elves (etyhhgfff).
  • Sparks discussion: "Would be interesting if the chemical mechanism is related... to the DMT one" – treetalker; high utility for "rabbit hole" exploration.

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