It can be hard to discern causality in one’s own life, but I think it’s fair to say a certain LSD trip is why I chose to study history.

It was the summer following sophomore year. I was twenty-one and working on a small software development team, leading the design of a higher-dimensional spreadsheet. We made plans to end the summer with a tour of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Standard & Poor’s. By then we would have a product ready to demo.

At the start of the summer we laid out our goals. In a team meeting before our first presentation of these goals to other groups within the company, I played “High for This” by The Weeknd. The following month or so was full of professional optimism, a fair amount of weed, and a steady soundtrack of similar songs. July 4th was the day of my acid trip. I took a larger dose than ever before and this time, unlike times before, I had a question on...