that sounds like a plot hole so let's put some plot into it
a lot of technological advancements happen in times of war, that's when scientists get the funding to make weapons, but that research doesn't go to waste afterwards, the knowledge stays and can help in times of peace
what if the ship was sent, and a great war broke out soon after, all records and those who remembered it were destroyed, all whilst technology advanced becuase of the race to invent new weapons, and now the knowledge is being utilised for a more cheerful cause - space exploration, and FTL travel
the forgotten ship would peacefully sail across the great dark blissfully unaware of what happened, of how their mission has been erased from history, regardless if it was on purpose or accidentally. Their eventual arrival would make news across all human colonies, their language so ancient, their biology similar but in a strange way imperfect, living relics of the old world ripped right out of already faded pages in history, what a shock it would be for both sides of the encounter
the receptors for psychedelics are the same as normal happiness receptors, just constantly stimulated by the drugs binding to them (similar to SSRI). prayer and meditation can have partially similar effect, fractals, feelings happiness, and even ego death yes, but there is more to psychedelics than those, they can completely alter your perception of reality and thoughts
in my personal edgy opinion, religions are a cope & a great tool of control.
They give you hope against the biggest fear ingrained in us - death, and even worse - death being equal for everyone, good person, bad person, both will die. It's a nice thought to believe that there is fairness to it all, that good actions should be done despite bad actions being easier. It's a nice thought to believe there is something else after you die, and none of your good (or bad) deeds go unnoticed, that you, a good person, will live in paradise, and your enemies will finally suffer the consequences of what they've done.
it also helps bring people together, creates a unified peoppe and a culture of those who believe in the same thing & allows a potential leader to have an easier time rallying everyone towards the same goal.
religion is a wonderful tool for both coping with existential dread, and unifying people. but as a tool it has the capacity for explaining away both good and bad things quite equally (helping poor, crusades, personal growth, bigotry).
what relgion is based on is close to irrelevant, it just has to be something, preferably a good overall story with many smaller stories that teach the common folk how to be a good [insert religious identity]. Try reading ancient Egyptian mythology, i suspect most of that shit was written on heavy doses of psychedelics, and despite how completely insane all of it is - it unified people and was an integral part of the biggest empire of the ancient times.
honestly i don't want to "debunk" people's religions, if it's something that keeps them going then why take it away, i personally tried but failed multiple times at believing in any god, but i can't lie the existential dread of "one day i will die, no matter how much i managed to achieve, no matter how good of a person i was, i will die the same as every murderer or war criminal, and there will be no justice in that, and then, one day my name will be spoken for the last time, and i will be forgotten" is a heavy thought to bear, no wonder that as a species we've always tried to find some reason, any reason, for that not being the case
i honestly take that option for granted lol, it's so weird when someone else's computer bloops when a notification pops up. same with phones honestly, if i'm not expecting an important call it's staying on silent
yeah i was referring more to the chemical reactions. the 2+2 example is not the best one but langauge itself is a great case study. once you get fluent enough at any langauge everything just flows, you have a thought and then you compose words to describe it, and the reverse is true, you hear something and your brain just understands. How do we do any of that? no idea
tbf, how do you know what to say and when? or what 2+2 is?
you learnt it? well so did AI
i'm not an AI nut or anything, but we can barely comprehend our own internal processes, it'd be concerning if a thing humanity created was better at it than us lol
it doesn't actually click on stuff. it "clicks" so that the advertisers' and your digital footprint's statistics get messed up, but you never see the results of the clicking, nothing pops up, nothing gets downloaded
but then i'd need to swipe to flip the page on both of them, that's like, effort