Why aren't we working on drugs to make people smart?
As someone who benefited greatly from a few mentors in childhood and adolescence, my goal is to be able to give the same to at least a few other people in my lifetime.
But then, if 'mentors' applies to parents, then I guess I'm saying the same thing.
Having said that, my teenage son wastes a lot of his life playing online games with his friends, but having said that, I heard him say mid-game to a friend of his "Brazilian isn't a language you idiot!". So, I mean it's trivia, but he knows there's no language called Brazilian. He's a smart kid (that's not the only data point).
(I had to look it up: Portugese is the official language of Brazil).
+1. Same for me.
Relationships has been more important than what I could consider ideal or optimal (in terms of how many missed opportunities are there).
Once I was reading a technical paper from a colleague and could not follow much. Spoke to him and he could explain the crux of it in two-three sentences. I was left wondering why that was not there in the paper itself. But that happens repeatedly. People are able to explain much better than the literature they produce*.
This perhaps has a contribution as to why good relationships and mentors end up being so important. But then, this ultimately comes in the way of scalability.
* Of course, it may possibly also be that in a verbal conversation when the author personally knows the reader, they can explain to that reader better. However, I think this effect is less important than people being able to write better.
Whether they are successful and whether they are mostly a bunch of snake oil is another question...
I am naturally so tired around 9pm when I shut the lid of my laptop that I fall asleep within minutes of getting in bed.
On a side note.. Somehow my dreams have been insane and I’ve low key enjoyed the vivid worlds I find myself in over the past few months.
Wake up around 5 or 6, go for a stroll and then eat some breakfast.
Then I can work taking only breaks for lunch and dinner. Sometimes a 30 min nap in the afternoon in the park.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge
> Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated as sXe or signified by XXX or simply X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs in reaction to the punk subculture's excesses. Some adherents refrain from engaging in promiscuous or casual sex, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet and do not consume caffeine or prescription drugs. The term "straight edge" was adopted from the 1981 song "Straight Edge" by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat.
Weird. First time I've ever seen that (abbreviation?) For straight-egde. Thought you were talking about some supplement at first.
I'm naturally tired at around 2am. I barely dream, or can't remember my dreams. I struggle to wake up at 6:30 even after 7+ hours of sleep.
I do like an afternoon nap, but Sunday's are almost the only opportunity. As a bad consolation prize, I involuntarily micro-sleep at my desk, working from home or in the office, a handful of times most days, generally at peak afternoon nap times (1:30pm - 3:30pm).
I wouldn't say I'm productive, but I would say that the work I produce is generally of a high quality.
For instance we banned meth and other drugs that have tremendous productivity effects at the expense of the individual and how we had to deal with them, so it's not a rhetoric question.
Your apparent disbelief in ADHD doesn’t make it imaginary, by the way. Consider yourself lucky that you do not have it; I am unemployable without medication.
I should have been clear I saw it in the "make people smart" light, as doping an already acceptable situation, instead of correcting something perceived as a pathology.
Meth was widely available over the counter at some point, and we made it legally disappear outside of strict medical settings.
I wonder what academia would look like if adderall, vyvanse, modafinil were just as accessible, or even less controlled substances that are considered to enhance mental performance like L-tyrosine, alpha-GPC, Lion's Mane mushroom, Bacopa, or Ginko.
We really, really know the long term effects.
Modafinil is straight up better than caffeine though, which is a crappy and addictive stimulant.
I'm not sure where the distinction actually lies, but it is also considered a (generally recognized as safe) drug.
But none of them work as well as sleep and exercise.
...or me?
tbf tho, I am somewhat contradicting another comment I made about bioavailability on this very gp thread so suffice to say, I do understand your point.
On the other hand, I just looked at Twitter and saw two different people get ~$3000 payments from a class action lawsuit against Juul, which is by far the biggest payment I've ever heard of from a class action signup, so I suspect they're about to die.
https://www.psypost.org/new-intranasal-rna-therapy-shows-pro...
Wonder why more people aren't using it.
That is not totally true for at least three reasons:
1. Modafinil can interact badly with some other stimulants. One must remain careful.
2. Modafinil by itself can cause SJS and similar serious problems in rare cases.
3. Chronic use of modafinil can easily produce anxiety, so much anxiety that it makes using modafinil impossible. This is even in a very low dose.
Because it's classified as an amphetamine in large parts of the western world and would be illegal obtain without a prescription.
You're perpetuating "be ashamed of not knowing" instead of encouraging "learn by asking questions".
If you agree, consider upvoting downvoted questions.