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Comment by BurningFrog | Hacker News Reader

I think of it as a drug that adapts us to modern industrialized life, while our genetic dispositions are still half in the hunter/gatherer stage.

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Sort of like nicotine. I don't think we would have made the transition to desk work as easily as we did without it. I'm pretty sure the US space program depended on it.

Observing general productivity of nicotine users: I'm surprised they managed to build a spaceship at all.

The engineers of old were very different engineers than today.

So were the deadlines and incentives. Global thermonuclear war, anyone?

Because they have to go outside to smoke?

They smoked indoors back then

Interesting observation. I think it could be argued that the average nicotine user today us a dramatically different kind of person than they were then.

During the time frame that the user you replied to was referencing, nicotine consumption was the norm. Now, with the extensive change in societal perspective that nicotine consumption has undergone, those who still use gravitate towards the uneducated and less successful.

Real engineers smoke a pack of Marlboros a day.

Marlboros? Those are for interns. The real work was done by those smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes.

Camel Straights... Two Humps!

Sounds like you just don't like nicotine users, and your observation is a little biased.

I've worked with smokers and non-smokers, both unproductive and productive alike.

I would venture to say that a metric like social media use has a higher correlation with lack of productivity, wouldn't you?

Smoking is also a natural Pomodoro technique, you take the necessary breaks for smoking so that keeps you going more.

Now.

Back then you could smoke at your desk.

Which was unfortunate for the non-smokers.

Only now. In the seventies, you’d light one up at your desk and continue powering through your work.

I suppose amphetamine was also more accessible then.

BTW if nicotine were such a powerful mental booster, nicotine patches would be vastly more popular. They provide all the upsides of nicotine without any of the downsides of smoking (harmful byproducts of burning, the smell, the need to go outside, etc).

I still think something else keeps smokers smoking: the taste, the ritual, looking cool, etc.

Do they though? I've wondered this before as a non-smoker.

I assume patches are slow release but smoking provides a bigger hit all at once. Sometimes that's important, both in terms of impact and building tolerance.

The downside of patches is the slow release. Smoking is instantaneous.

uhhh i don't know if you've noticed, but Juuls sure seem pretty popular right now...

Nicotine without smoke is still not a great thing to consume and has it's own negative effects such are arterial hardening leading to increased heart attacks and strokes. While it is far better than smoking, it still known to cause long term health problems. Getting the stimulating effects of nicotine also takes fairly sensitive portion control. Too little and it is not going to stimulate, too much and you will want to barf for the next 45+ minutes.

Psychology of habit plays into this.

I can say the same about alcohol

Or heroin, or cocaine

For me it's Kratom. It's helped me out of deep depression and also does more to help with migraines than any painkiller I've tried. I've been using it regularly for about 5 years now (with occasional cycles to reduce tolerance). So far, I have found no downsides except for the taste. When I stop taking it, there's one day of grumpiness which I would say it of similar strength to effect of stopping coffee after a regular habit.

(EDIT because I'm not allowed to make a new comment for some reason, this is a reply to the comment below)

Every person is different and you must take care of what you put in your body. I take kratom because it's a double whammy that reduces two problems - depression and migraine - to manageable levels, while having low potential for addiction. I have so far encountered no negative effects from taking it, only positives.

However, I would prefer _not_ to take it. I would prefer _not_ to have depression and migraines and not to need any drugs to maintain a normal lifestyle.

I work on this by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, sleeping well, meditation, and maybe I'll get there someday. In the meantime, kratom has increased my quality of life a lot over the past few years. This is not intended as a suggestion that anyone else should take it, just an anecdote about my experience.

Regarding constipation - I have heard this before, but never personally experienced it. I mix each dose (<1tps) with a full cup of water, which probably helps.

I don't want to talk about it, but people should be wary of kratom, went to some bad places with it.

Also at minimum constipation is a massive symptom

Yeah, it's not a wonder drug. There are serious risks. And in terms of treatment for something like depression, it should be regarded like any other depression treatment: it may work for some and be crap for others, and do awful things to some people. If you have access to quality professional mental health care, that should be your first stop, before self-educating.

My claim is that coffee makes you more industrious.

Alcohol does not enhance performance for most professions.

It's odd, I rarely drink but sometimes I will and alcohol motivates me to just bang out code or do something else that I've been putting off for a while. I've noticed this at night for personal projects but also after the rare work lunches.

I'm not saying it's good quality code, but it definitely removes the barriers to starting that I often struggle to get over. And starting is the most important step of iterating, I can fix it up tomorrow.

I've noticed the same thing sometimes. I particularly notice when there's a thing where there's an obvious flawed approach to the problem, but the flaws probably don't matter.

Interestingly, I can replicate that mind-state even without alcoho. The same is true of a couple other states of mind that I originally arrived at though the use of mind altering substances (sadly it does not work for caffeine though).

> I particularly notice when there's a thing where there's an obvious flawed approach to the problem, but the flaws probably don't matter.

Yeah absolutely. I often get hung up in architecture astronaut mode about whether this is the right solution, and entering that "who cares? make it work or nothing matters!" mindset is very liberating.

I've been taking some herbal anxiety pills because a friend suggested them.I didn't expect much but it does seem to let me focus on the process and not the what-ifs when I need to.

So you're still calibrating your Ballmer peak? :)

As an avid xkcd reader I'd completely forgotten that one! Perhaps it inspired me.

https://observer.com/2012/04/bottoms-up-the-ballmer-peak-is-...

Sounds like a case of alcohol removing your inhibitions!

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