

Thync – Calm or energy on demand - zemvpferreira
http://www.thync.com

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devindotcom
Please do not take the wild claims of these advertisers seriously. Mood and
energy are barely defined, let alone able to be controlled reliably by a bit
of transcranial stimulation.

This is a fabulously interesting field, but we should be spending millions on
basic research, not Skymall level products trading on ignorance. (Yes, the two
are not mutually exclusive, but the latter will hold back the former)

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dsjoerg
The safety study
([http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/432410/documents/peerJ.pdf?t=1...](http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/432410/documents/peerJ.pdf?t=1433240450459))
ran over a six-week period.

Has anyone seen studies that examine the longer-term effects or lack thereof?
I'm not touching this stuff until someone has studied the long-term effects.

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knodi123
Seriously, meddling in the workings of a running engine that we barely
understand? I'm all for _other people_ early adopting this tech, but I
probably won't try it on in the mall.

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mycelium
Historical evidence indicates that brain experimentation is generally pretty
great when done on other people and pretty awful when done on you.

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beefman
I tried this. The sensation on the skin was a step below pain but a step above
annoying and uncomfortable. I noticed no other effects. I only tried it once.
YMMV

Their website is impossibly vague. Have they ever disclosed the operating
principle?

~~~
jpwagner
I too have tried this. One of the founders walked me through the controls
(which you can set to as mild or as uncomfortable as you like).

Once on, you're supposed to try and forget about it. I think you'll notice
that if you try to think too hard about your shirt collar, it will feel
uncomfortable too.

So if you "try to feel something", you may not like it, but if you attach it
and walk around mingling at a party, you will notice soon that you feel quite
easy-going.

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kennywinker
The thought that you could be wearing this at a party mingling, and not be
ACTIVELY talking about it is pretty ridiculous. They'd have to be all but
ubiquitous to not be the subject of every convo you have every second while
you're wearing it.

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trevordixon
Related? [http://www.radiolab.org/story/9-volt-
nirvana/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/9-volt-nirvana/)

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jadell
Skeptical on this implementation, but it raises an interesting question. How
close are we to having wireheads/current addicts walking around with drouds
attached to their heads at all times? At what point does current addiction
become consumer-grade? I guess the bonus with this implementation is that it
doesn't involve dropping a wire into your brain.

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alexsherrick
I think this is a cool idea; however, after paying $299 you only get 5 calm
and 5 energy strips that are guaranteed for one time use. After that they cost
$19.99 for another 5. This would be a very expensive "habit".

~~~
lincolnq
Obviously worth it if it enables you to work - e.g., lots of people pay for
lattes etc.

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eveningcoffee
So these guys tested it [http://www.gizmag.com/thync-hands-
on-2/37820/](http://www.gizmag.com/thync-hands-on-2/37820/) and claim that it
worked for them.

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DannoHung
No mention of the testing protocol. Probably didn't even do a single blind.

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eveningcoffee
Oh, yes, I should have told "reviewed it" or something similar.

But according to them the effect was clearly there so it was not like finding
the best sounding speakers but finding the speakers that make a sound. I think
that you can find this with less rigorous testing.

~~~
DannoHung
I disagree. Your mood is possibly the most subjective experience you can have
and it is _heavily_ affected by your own perceptions of what it should be.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for people suffering from all sorts of
psychological maladies is significantly effective because we are so able to
affect our own perception of reality.

Therefore, they really, really need to do a rigorous experiment before we can
derive anything meaningful.

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bkudria
Study:
[http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/02/20/015032](http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/02/20/015032)
(N=82)

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lawlessone
I want to believe..

~~~
zemvpferreira
Me too, but I'm more than a little sceptical about the claims they make.

I'd be less wary if they had gone through FDA testing and could make proper,
analytical statements. With $13M to spend, I'd expect them to be able to
afford the process.

~~~
tmikaeld
But is it really a "drug" if it's not in a pill or food?

Maybe that's the issue?

~~~
bcg1
In the US, FDA also regulates medical devices such as pacemakers etc

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sdm
Only accepting American customers; disappointing. They should make that clear
on their landing page.

~~~
listic
Not to disagree with you, but if you're just interested in buying from them
anyway, there are always reshipping services [1] that those living outside of
the USA have to use more often than they would like.

[1] google for 'reshipping service'
[https://www.google.ru/search?q=reshipping+service&ie=utf-8&o...](https://www.google.ru/search?q=reshipping+service&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8;)
or try Shipito (I had success with it)
[https://www.shipito.com/](https://www.shipito.com/)

~~~
deciplex
Another data point for Shipito - I've been using them for a few years to re-
mail stuff to Japan from the US.

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_jomo
Woah, I misread this for theync (NSFW!!) and wondered what that's doing on
HN...

