Have any of you seen the recent newspaper articles about Stone Age cave painters deliberately starving themselves of oxygen to bring about hallucinations? The theory, according to newspaper reviews of a study in the journal 'Time and Mind', is that they 'intentionally induced a state of hypoxia'. Personally, I think it's a load of tosh. The researchers may have modelled the effect of torches decreasing the levels of oxygen in underground car parks, spaces 'similar' to where cave paintings are found (really?), but did they try painting under these conditions? The cave paintings are so perfect and sophisticated that I don't believe they could have been created while the artist was experiencing 'hallucinations and out-of-the-body experiences'. Which aren't produced by hypoxia, anyway. The Haaretz newspaper has a long review, with many contradictions - I wonder if the newspaper has misinterpreted the the original study.
Over to you.