Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Wow. I had no idea.

I have been to college and have had many great times since then with all sorts of artificial stimulation. To this day, I really look forward to weekends and can't imagine a world without (my drug of choice) beer.

But I have never done any of this while working. No drugs, no alchohol, no medication, just a rare cup of coffee.

I have been programming for 34 years in startups, small businesses, and enterprises. And I'm doing my best work ever right now. And I've done all of it naturally; I don't think I would have made it this long any other way.

If my back or wrists hurt, I get up and move.

If I'm sleepy, I sleep.

If I'm hungry, I eat.

If I can't figure something out, I either knock off or work on something else.

The idea of popping the artificial help cherry has always terrified me. I never wanted to sacrifice my natural soul for the sake of any project. I also have this strange Newtonian belief when it comes to personal energy: "What goes up, must come down." (And never without a price.)

My most important tools are my mind and my body, so they always come first, before any emergency, deadline, or impasse. The crisis du jour will soon be gone, but I'll still be cranking along like the Energizer Bunny.

What I do is a marathon, not a sprint. I want to be doing this for the rest of my life, so natural is really the best way for me to go.

Just something to think about before you reach for <whatever>.

For some reason this strongly brought to mind the passage in Chuang Tzu about the butcher and the ox:

The cook puts down the knife and answered: "What I follow is Tao, Which is beyond all skills.

"When I started butchering, What I saw was nothing but the whole ox. After three years, I no longer saw the whole ox.

"Nowadays, I meet it with my mind Rather than see it with my eyes. My sensory organs are inactive While I direct the mind's movement.

"It goes according to natural laws, Striking apart large gaps, Moving toward large openings, Following its natural structure.

"Even places where tendons attach to bones Give no resistance, Never mind the larger bones!

"A good cook goes through a knife in a year, Because he cuts. An average cook goes through a knife in a month, Because he hacks.

"I have used this knife for nineteen years. It has butchered thousands of oxen, But the blade is still like it's newly sharpened.

"The joints have openings, And the knife's blade has no thickness. Apply this lack of thickness into the openings, And the moving blade swishes through, With room to spare!

"That's why after nineteen years, The blade is still like it's newly sharpened.

"Nevertheless, every time I come across joints, I see its tricky parts, I pay attention and use caution, My vision concentrates, My movement slows down.

"I move the knife very slightly, Whump! It has already separated. The ox doesn't even know it's dead, and falls to the ground like mud.

"I stand holding the knife, And look all around it. The work gives me much satisfaction. I clean the knife and put it away."

-- http://www.truetao.org/chuang/butcher.htm

> The most important tools I have are my mind and my body

Alcohol gives you a buzz by destroying your brain cells. There are better (and smarter) ways to enjoy yourself.

>Alcohol gives you a buzz by destroying your brain cells.

That's totally incorrect.

Alcohol INCREASES levels of norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter responsible for arousal. Elevated norepinephrine also increase impulsivity.

Alcohol REDUCES activity in the prefrontal cortex and temporal cortex. This is where decision making, rational thought, memory formation, and aggression suppression is managed.

In large amounts it's much harder on your liver than your brain, but in moderation it's fine.

Hm. Thanks for that, I always just assumed that was true.

"Is alcohol a dangerous toxin foreign to our bodies?
Quite to the contrary. Every living human body continuously produces ethanol (beverage alcohol) 24/7. It's called endogenous ethanol production. Human life does not exist without the presence of alcohol.
Microorganisms in our digestive system constantly convert sugar into carbon dioxide gas and ethanol. The quantity of alcohol produced depends on our diet, but can reach about an ounce of "pure" alcohol per day. That's equivalent to almost two alcoholic drinks: two beers, two glasses of wine, or two shots of whiskey.
Our belief that alcohol is a poison and foreign to our bodies is based in our temperance past. The United States imposed National Prohibition for almost 14 years (1920-1933) and we are currently experiencing significant neo-prohibition sentiment.
Temperance activists disregarded scientific knowledge and, instead, made many clearly absurd assertions...
...

Instead of stigmatizing alcohol and trying to scare people into abstaining, we need to recognize that it is not alcohol itself but rather the misuse of alcohol that is the problem."

From http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/Alcohol-A-Dan...

> What I do is a marathon, not a sprint

The problem I see is that all the other top marathon runners around me are taking nootropics (adderal etc) to stay in the lead.

Not everyone is born Kenyan. :P

Hey's saying these drugs only help you sprint, because what goes up must come down.

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