Get Smarter
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
We know that communications overload reduces your IQ: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/sep2007/ca20070...
Of course, that's just e-mail at work. But the "dumbing-down" of IT, education and work in general is unlikely to increase our IQ.
Derek Bickerton, sometime co-author of the article's referenced William Calvin, believes that we may already be going the other way. In his book "Adam's Tongue" he points out how, over time, humans are becoming eerily similar to ants or termites, He also notes that it takes about 40 generations for a wolf to become a domesticated dog-like animal and that the caste system in India, which has probably been in place longer, may have left a permanent trace upon it's members.
In other words, he's comparing long time IQ change, and you're talking about short term.
I'm somewhat annoyed by the depiction of stimulants as intelligence enhancing pharmaceuticals. These drugs certainly do affect behavior (and as such they obviously play into that old "99% perspiration" maxim). However, I would argue that stimulants (specifically powerful drugs like modafinil and ADD medications) usually cripple intuition and creativity.
To me, these aspects of mental agility are significant components of intelligence. Intensely focusing on an extended stretch of work seldom yields optimal results (aside from those truly inspired "in the zone" moments). Years of experience/experimentation would indicate that I need sleep, breaks, and a balanced mind to produce anything even resembling my best work.
Has anyone here actually felt MORE intelligent while taking modafinil or ADD medication (or to a lesser extent, even coffee)? I'm very curious to hear what you have to say.
I would start working on a Sunday morning at 8AM and besides a lunch break I wouldn't take stop until 10PM or so. I was working on an art major as well as doing some web development on the side at the time, and for these sessions I feel I was working at or above my normal creative and intellectual output for the majority of the time.
Besides a stamina boost for the day I also feel there is a similar effect to the Balmer Peak. (http://xkcd.com/323/) I would be much more confident then my average self, and because of it try (and sometimes accomplish) things that I would normally shrug off as out of my league.
Do we even know the long-term affects of taking such drugs?
(I know it was only a small reference in the article, but it's the only thing that bugged me about the entire piece)
That isn't the same as declaring others are wrong for doing it. Risk tolerance (and the reward for doping) vary wildly between people.
Do you drink coffee?
I guess my initial comment should have been worded a bit more differently, as Coffee IS a drug ;) My bad.
I put off starting my coffee habit until I was almost forty years old, but now I wonder why I waited so long. The only time my coffee habit (rigidly just one cup of coffee each morning, every morning) was inconvenient to me was once when I had a business trip to Salt Lake City. I didn't have a coffee-maker in my room in my hotel (operated by the Mormon church). I couldn't get my local host (a high official in the Mormon church) to take me somewhere where coffee was served. As my sick headache from caffeine withdrawal developed, I was handed off to another local host, also a Mormon, but also a medical doctor, and he told me that sometimes the Mormon health code allows physicians to administer caffeine "medicinally"--that's really how he said it. He took me to a convenience store that sold caffeinated Coca Cola, and that is how I got my fix. Other than that, I think I have gained somewhat in concentration and productivity in my caffeinated years compared to my noncaffeinated years, although I am hardly an objective observer of myself.