I truly am not intending this upcoming statement as an insult:
I did not struggle with 'looking behind the curtain' while reading GEB, nor did I find the concepts silly - I was rapt with curiosity the whole reading and came to many profound conclusions about the book and it's ideas - and I was not on LSD. Whatever helps you personally understand the world in a more meaningful light is wonderful, but it certainly was not needed for me and I doubt (based on what I know about the author) it was needed for him when writing this book.
You explicitly "wondered" if H was "experienced" with psychedelics, implying that you thought so since you found it "trippy". Go back and read your original comment. No one here is saying psychedelics are morally suspect, they're saying that your explicit suggestion that H was "experienced" is insulting.
Because it is. And your trying to move the goalposts after the fact is just digging that hole deeper.
That's really quite funny. Tell me again how I should read 'my' original comment - after you've compared my username with the one who made it.
The suggestion that Hofstadter has tripped isn't insulting because GEB is a trippy book. Even if it weren't it wouldn't be insulting, only confusing, unless you think that trippy is a bad quality. Examine that.
GEB is whimsical, fun and mind-bending. If it were written any other way it wouldn't be trippy. There is nothing wrong with that.
I did not struggle with 'looking behind the curtain' while reading GEB, nor did I find the concepts silly - I was rapt with curiosity the whole reading and came to many profound conclusions about the book and it's ideas - and I was not on LSD. Whatever helps you personally understand the world in a more meaningful light is wonderful, but it certainly was not needed for me and I doubt (based on what I know about the author) it was needed for him when writing this book.