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Gene Therapy Turns Slackers Into Workaholics

Posted by michael on from the water-cooler-sales-drop dept.

DrLudicrous writes "According to a recent Reuters article, scientists have been able to cause monkeys to stop procrastinating by blocking the development of a dopamine receptor in the brain. The net result- the monkeys turned into workaholics. An article has appeared in the online version of Nature. Apparently, monkeys, just like human beings, tend to slack off on tasks until the very last minute. They become quite adept at judging how long they have till they absolutely must complete these tasks. The original article appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. An additional blurb appears here courtesty of Science Blog." NIH has a press release.

11 of 525 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Great by ALeavitt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cue all the parents of kids with "ADD" to start another Ritalin trend. When are people going to learn that, to some extent, we are the way we are. People learn differently from each other. People work differently from each other. Just because one person doesn't like to sit down and read from a textbook for two hours straight doesn't make him a deviant in need of drug (or gene) therapy, it means that he doesn't learn that way. While I wouldn't consider myself a slacker, I also wouldn't consider myself a workaholic, but the contributions that I make around my office are valuable because they are different from the contributions of those around me, and one reason for that difference is that I think and work differently. If everyone thought and learned the same way, as the current generation of attitude-changing psychiatrists is attempting to cause, we'd have a nation of mindless, workaholic zombies with few differences between one person and another.

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    1. Re:Oh Great by ALeavitt · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I knew I should have added this to my original posting:

      I've been diagnosed with ADD and prescribed Ritalin. I have to tell you, I think it's complete bullshit. The doctor who diagnosed me called me the "posterboy" for late ADD diagnosis. Yes, sometimes I have trouble finishing what I've started. My room is constantly a mess, and I lose things easily. However, I am an engineering student at a good university, and I get pretty good grades, too. I can buckle down and study when I need to, and I can finish my tasks if I put my mind to it. When I take Ritalin, I feel, for lack of a better word, zombified. Yes, I can focus on anything, but my personality changes. My friends can tell when I'm on my Ritalin, and because of the way it makes me feel, I've pretty much stopped taking it. It had no effect on my grades, it didn't make my room any cleaner, and it didn't help me find things. I really do believe that there are people who need Ritalin, and who are much worse off than me in their ADD. However, that doesn't stop Ritalin from being a trendy drug, and it doesn't change the fact that doctors are quick to diagnose ADD. I just believe that in many cases there are better solutions than drugs (or gene therapy) to problems, but as a society we are very quick to take the easy way out that a drug like that can provide.

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    2. Re:Oh Great by Ioldanach · · Score: 4, Interesting
      When I take Ritalin, I feel, for lack of a better word, zombified.
      So try another one, like the only FDA approved treatment for ADHD/ADD in adults: Strattera. I started on a course of treatment for it a few months ago and my concentration is way up without being a zombie. In fact, I'm more alert than ever and can process inputs, like speech, better than I used to be able to. One of my big problems was always that I had to have something written down because then I could look at it again and again, but speech only comes as input once, so I'd have to ask to have things repeated. I knew I'd heard them right the first time, I just couldn't remember what was said, since my mind would randomly wander in the middle of a sentence.
    3. Re:Oh Great by LordKaT · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I knew I'd heard them right the first time, I just couldn't remember what was said, since my mind would randomly wander in the middle of a sentence.

      But, that's ADHD/ADD. While I'm not the parent poster, I share a similar experience. I'm a Computer Science major, and I've found is somewhat difficult to complete tasks - these are just tasks that are ones I place upon myself, with no set limit. These tasks (cleaning a room, making a small program, whatever) are almost never finished (unless it really bugs me, like my room is a complete mess right now); however, I can finish tasks that have a deadline (like an english paper, or the class project in my compiler design class, etc ...)

      When I confronted my doctor on the subject, he didn't hesitate to disagnose it as ADHD. That's the problem we have: it's something elses fault. It's not because I'm a naturally lazy fuck (I would rather watch television all day than do something productive).

      While you may actually have a serious problem with paying attention, that same problem only happens to me because I'm a lazy fuck, or I'm already concentrating on something; for example, when I'm driving, I find it VERY difficult to have a conversation with someone because I'm constantly asking "what did you say?" I don't count that as ADHD, I count that as a heuristic computer focusing on one task, then being forced to concentrate on multiple tasks.

      Yet, my Doctor spent no more than three minutes to "diagnose" the problem.

  2. Mental Disorder. by LEgregius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The reason the monkeys worked harder was that they could no longer judge how much work had to be done before they got a reward. Essentially, they became unable to estimate how long the work would take to complete. I don't think this has any practical application for humans. It's just helpful for understanding existing human mental disorders.

  3. What will happen to slashdot by Launch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If it wasn't for procrastination, would there even be a slashdot? I mean, how many of you out there are at work right now reading this when you really should be doing something else... Just throwing that into the mix.

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  4. I wouldn't quite call them 'workaholics'... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have read the article and I think the headline is a bit misleading. Blocking the dopamine made the monkeys pull the lever quicker because they couldn't make decisions properly. It didn't motivate them or make them super-workers, it just messed with how they think so they wouldn't hesitate to pull a lever.

    Later on in the article, it mentions how people with mental disorders cannot associate work with reward. It goes on to say that people with mania will often work very hard to a futile reward. Sort of like monkeys who pull levers all day.

    In other words, have they created manic monkeys?

  5. A comparison. by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wage slave that works as little as possible, putting off things to the last possible moment: Slacker.

    Corporation that uses just in time logistics, so that it doesn't have to lease warehouse space, corporation that produces just enough to meet demand: A winner that everyone, shareholders and pundits, raves about.

    Conclusion: It sucks to be a wage slave.

  6. Risperdal helps me work by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Risperdal is a dopamine blocker, I think, and helps my concentration.

    Last fall when I was hallucinating and paranoid because of my schizoaffective disorder, I was completely unable to focus on my work for several months, and got absolutely nothing done.

    The psychiatrist I saw about it said that I had psychotic breakthrough symptoms, and this would make it difficult to concentrate. Such symptoms are the result of too much dopamine activity in the brain.

    My dose was raised from 3 mg a day to 5, and after a few weeks of time off to recover, I was able to start working productively again.

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  7. Re:when will we start giving this stuff to our kid by Feanturi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    its not that people are lazy, people just don't like to work when they can play.

    That seems to be exactly what this is about though. The work *is* the reward (feels good to get things done) when this D2 receptor gets zapped by their little DNA injection. A more difficult job and longer hours sounds like hell, but maybe in this altered state you'd actually enjoy that and find the challenge welcome.
    I'll be the first to say that's no way to live, but many people are forced into that lifestyle anyway, so perhaps they can be helped to at least enjoy it without splattering their brains all over their office wall.

  8. Re:when will we start giving this stuff to our kid by composer777 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The reward is for those at the top of economic food chain, at least in capitalism. We've more than doubled our productivity since the 1960's. Are people working half as long? no. This is a byproduct of our economic system, if you don't like it, then you need to consider changing it.

    BTW, I agree with you, it is a sham that no matter how much more productive we are, it just ends up leading to more abuse. Of course, being a better slave never made anyone free.