Carnegie Mellon University

Independent research @ andykong.org

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Inducing mental/physical changes using parasites

Hello! I've observed a few instances of people drastically altering their mental/physical states through parasitic infections, whether intentional or accidental. I'm looking for any more examples people have seen, and whether they believe it's worth the negative externalities that come with the parasite.Some fan pages on Twitter claim to have lost their obsession with their famous person after being cured of a black mold infection or carbon monoxide leak. Grain of salt since it's self-reported2. Toxoplasma gondii (crazy cat lady disease) increasing entrepreneurial activity / other risk taking behaviors in humans3. The “tapeworm diet” fad. Turns out this doesn't work for weight loss because they mostly eat your nutrients and not calories.Anyway, I believe it's possible that if you ran a closed-loop behavioral monitor, you could potentially use environmental factors such as parasitic infection or specific nutrient/mineral deficiency to tune your mind/body to prioritize whatever factors you needed at the moment. In the same way you might take a nap to become more alert or drink a beer to act more social, you could give yourself toxoplasma gondii to become more entrepreneurial. Thoughts?