
Like It or Not, “Smart Drugs” Are Coming to the Office - primodemus
https://hbr.org/2016/05/like-it-or-not-smart-drugs-are-coming-to-the-office
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imh
I'm surprised not to see a single mention of coffee. I've used it as a drug
plenty of times (not drinking it because I want to, but because I need the
caffeine boost to meet expectations), and so has pretty much everyone I know.
Does the discussion change because something only comes in pill form or is
synthetic?

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jameslk
I came here to say exactly this. Because it's not served in the form of a
culturally accepted brewed drink, it's "cheating." Assuming a safe drug, the
next country to embrace the drug will immediately be at an advantage, and then
other countries will have to amend their laws just to keep up economically.

It's the same situation as genetic modifications. Right now called "designer
babies," but the first country to embrace it will cause that negative
connotation to fall to pragmatism as everyone will have to do it just so their
kids can keep up.

It's the inevitable march towards the future, regardless of how it's viewed.

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ap22213
Are ADHD medications really that effective for those without ADHD? They can
boost your mood, for sure. And, they can keep you awake. But, for me, the
dosage needs to be precisely adjusted just to be effective, and I have to take
them just to be functional.

I've seen a lot of people in the workplace taking them lately. But, the result
isn't pretty. Overly focused but on all the wrong things. Less creative. In a
tweaked out state where they just keep switching tasks. Or, sending rambling
emails or going on long tangents about nothing. To me, it seems like they were
much more effective before the medications.

I remember watching a show years ago where the hosts had drugged people doing
different types of tasks. One of them was amphetamine, and they were trying to
put an ikea desk together. But, they took a really long time because of all of
the reasons above.

Interestingly, ADHD has strong genetic correlation and has comorbidity with
other psychiatric disorders. And, ADHD was certainly under diagnosed for a
long time, as were many mental diseases. In the US there is strong social
pressure to not reveal mental diseases, and it's awkward to discuss them with
others because many people don't even believe they are real. It's sad really,
because many smart people could have succeeded in life if only they had been
diagosed and treated.

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damptowel
Maybe it's because of my sentimental mood, but I can't help but think, perhaps
we're too focused on achieving maximum productivity in a competitive market.
It's like for the first time in history abundance for every human being is a
possibility yet humanity has not broken free of its mindset to claim ownership
over scarce resources. A means to an end has become a means in itself. There
was an article on here recently about humans becoming more like preprogrammed
automata by the living environment we have set up, in our global
hyperconnected society with it's carefully constructed sociocultural
normativity it's like we're building a cybernetic collective concious inside
some Huxlean dystopia.

Drugs and human augmentation to fuel the rat race, good grief, anyone actually
think that's a noble thing to strive for?

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chadlavi
Ownership interests that stand to make more profits probably think this is rad
as hell.

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ArkyBeagle
Sure. Take an organization past its prime ( for path-dependent and ironclad
reasons ) and raise the mental voltage/head pressure.

Look, just getting activities sorted by precedence should be enough for most
things. Organizations all have "hull speed". Adding more motor won't help.

We _have_ to get past making drugs some sort of moral nexus, and only
concentrate on the pragmatic effects of them.

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thesz
You already have two wonderful smart drugs at your disposal, they are called
"walk" and "rest".

Walk rises blood level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, growing neurons
and synapses. Rest allows other important parts of brain to be heard, making
you sharp and creative.

Walking can help you with Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer [1]. Show me
"smart drug" that can do that.

[1]
[http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279085.php](http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279085.php)

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anonbanker
could this be considered a success for the Transhumanism movement?

