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Gene Therapy Turns Slackers Into Workaholics
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.
The scientists said "We're working on it. We'll get it done soon. Don't worry about it."
"Billy, go take your medicine...."
"Ahh... I'll do it tomorrow..."
Hmmm.
Do we start outsourcing more jobs to monkeys instead of India?
Liar... Liar...
Or, maybe, the members who don't have enough slack will have to undergo gene therapy in order to participate.
Sure, I can see it now: the High Priests of Slack will have a doping scandal.
John
Yes! Finally science has found a cure for my procrastination, now where can I get one of these worker monkeys?
Your mammas flamebait.
But it can wait.
Apparently, monkeys, just like human beings, tend to slack off on tasks until the very last minute.
Shouldn't it read "Apparently, human beings, just like monkeys, tend to slack off on tasks until the very last minute.
What with the evolution and all!
Free XBox, PS2
I'm looking for something quite the opposite...
Apparently, Valve got their hands on some of this stuff...
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.
This sig has been stolen. Return it to its original user for a reward.
... Seriously, read it (if you haven't).
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.
So here I am reading /. at work to find out about how to stop slacking off. Good thing I'm too lazy to read the article.
do not read this line twice.
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.
Your mammas flamebait.
I suppose this used sparingly could become useful for those that find it hard to concentrate on work.
At least until your company makes you take one of this before going to work. Or you find yourself "forced" to do so in order to remain competitive with the rest of the workforce.
(I didn't RTFA) I hope there are no ugly secondary effects for long time users of this drug. Otherwise you'll find people that shine at work but then arribe home and hardly do anything but sit there staring the walls.
What is really so bad with slacking, or procrastinating? What is so great about getting something done right away? I'm no scientist or a study in psychology, but could there perhaps be a reason, a very valid reason, we slack and procrastinate? Perhaps it helps keep us sane?
I, for one, do not want to live in a world where slacking and procrastinating are eliminated by a pill.
Pez
Since when do monkeys understand what a timeline or due date is?
They don't need to properly understand it. They can be your boss anyway.
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?
Im sure Pat Volkerding already works a lot!...
Anyone read The Speed of Dark ? It's a good book (although it has a depressing ending, IMO). Oh, and just to stay on topic... one of the central plots in the book is an experimental treatment to cure Autism, and to make people workaholics.
Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
From the Financial Desk...
Dateline 2004.08.12...
Shares of the popular slacker/hacker website Slashdot fell 97% this morning on news that gene therapy can cure procrastination.
(c) 2004 Reuters
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
After the study, the monkeys proceeded to work out not only their script for Hamlet, but also the complete works of Francis Bacon, and the source to SCO Unix.
This side up.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Which begs the question...
Nope, it prompts the question, not begs the question. You would be begging the question if you declared that the million workaholic monkeys would come up with a cure for cancer more quickly because clearly they would work more per day.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
I can imagine companies doing genetic screening for the workaholic gene.
Parents, make sure your fetus gets that gene therapy it'll need to compete in the global marketplace!
Oh yah, and try to enjoy life sometimes.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Leave human beings alone and take beavers. Beavers are held up as a sort of Horatio Alger example of what hard work can bring to the humble, right? It's just not true. Beavers work pretty hard in the fall, to shore things up before winter -- but they take a long break during the height of the summer, during which they do stuff like swim upstream or downstream looking for other beaver colonies to party with and scouting for new lodge locations and stands of aspen they might want to snack on. A whole lot of their time is spent pretty easily; at most you'd say they were engaged in "open-ended planning" about how to build on that next addition to the lodge or whatever -- sort of like gardeners during the winter thinking out their next planting.
Evolution doesn't seem to favor supermotivated nose-to-the-grindstone workers any more than it produces superfast rabbits or superbig brains. Apparently a nice medium-fast rabbit is best. Someone who can work and play, both, is apparently the superior model of human.
(He said while posting to /. at work.)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
In "A Deepness in the Sky", the evil-doers (not to be confused with axis-of-evil members) were able to "focus" people they enslaved to make them hundreds or thousands of times more productive workers. This article made me think of that so I posted it.
After the party dies down at the GOP and in the Management offices around the world, what's this going to do to our society? (Even presuming its effect on the economy is positive)
First, Workaholic parents put work before family. Now, I know some uber-management asshat somewhere is saying "Great!" but lets think about this for 1 microsecond at least. Parents working 23.5 hours per day -> kids raised by TV & school system -> not very smart kids, who (being workaholics) know everything about trig and all the lines of Hamlet. But, kids don't feel loved, and have lots of emotional/social problems (requiring more drugs & therapy). This is a good outcome? Noooo....
No matter how dedicated you are, after around 38 hours per week, your productivity dips. Yes, that means you with the Lexus and the gold Timex. Staring at your secretary's boobs doesn't count as "work".
Let's say that our society can adjust as needed (I'm not saying it could, I'm saying let's just say it did, nevermind how). Let's say productivity per worker DOES go up (cots in cubes, working weekends, and presume I'm wrong about diminishing returns of productivity). Great for business right? Well, yeah. Those of us/you who are already wealthy and have $$ in the market, might see a stock bump. Meanwhile, 15% of the workforce is laid off. Oh, yeah well.. at least my stock is up. That 15% isn't coming back. That's not gonna help the economy. It may or may not help the richest of the rich.
Now imagine what it's going to be like to be on this drug. You don't mind working 10 hours per day, cause your brain chemistry is in tune with that. Meanwhile, your home life goes to utter shit. Your spouse hates you. Your kids stop loving you. You'd go to church for solace (if you're that type) but, mandatory unpaid weekend overtime is enforced because "no one minds working overtime anymore, and if they do, they're fired and replaced before the workflow is impacted."
This might have an application, somewhere. But we should enact legislation NOWNOW NOW!!! to ensure that the use of this (or similar) drugs can NEVER become mandatory or even suggested.
Work-aholic... now where did that suffix come from?
"A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
"d'Oh!" ~Homer
It's just another manic monkey... whoa whoa
mmmmmmmmm.
"A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
"d'Oh!" ~Homer
When will all kids by default be forced to take this pill so they can do their homework? How long before this pill is forced on you by your employers? I don't like the idea but the idea is useful, I just don't think working "harder" matters very much though. For some people working harder would get them into an elite school, but working harder only leads to working harder, you get a more difficult job, you get longer hours, and you get more responsibilities, wheres the reward? Isnt it logical to ask this question? its not that people are lazy, people just don't like to work when they can play.
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
Even though the terms gene therapy are being bandied about in conjunction with this story, there is no such thing as a slacker gene.
What the experiment did here was essentially introduce a learning disorder into the primates, using a method to inhibit a dopamine (specific kind of neurotransmitter) generating process in a localized area. This made it impossible for the primates to connect the visual stimulus indicating the number of tasks remaining and the introduction of a reward - hence the completion criteria becomes effectively decoupled through this dissociation and they have no clue when they will be rewarded.
This does not translate well into humans, which have several other cues that can connect activity with the expectation of reward. The induced learning dissability would have to cover these as well, and would have a disastrous societal effect; no effective expectation of reward also translates to reduced expectation of punishment.
Alternatively this same behavior could be produced in the workplace without the chemistry by having managers arbitrarily provide discipline and praise. This technique has been known for some time, and even quantized into a specific practice (though without conscious concession to this premise as the genesis for the method) in the awful book "The One Minute Manager," whereby an environment is constructed to remove personal validation of the employees and place the entirety of that role on the manager, who is then free to act illogically (or semi-logically, personality and cluefulness depending) in their delivery of the same.
Any spoon would be too big.
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.
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.
/.
And in the meantime, we read
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
If they start rolling this out for human consumption, then Slashdot's ad revenues could take a bath. After all, this is everyone's favorite means for procrastination at the office.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
Section 2 Subsection 3.1
The employee, herein after known as the "code monkey" shall, at their own expense, take such measures as are necessary to ensure their dopamine receoptors are suppressed. Failure to take such action and to be in the office with unsuppressed receptors shall be deemed, at the company's discretion, as gross misconduct and subject to summary dismissal without notice.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
You know, I'm getting really tired of this calling Graduate Students monkeys thing. It has to stop.
So, would an infinite number of workaholic monkeys in a room generate Shakespeare that much faster?
"Ford!" he said, "there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they've worked out." -- Arthur, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Blog,Twitter
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.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
All technological breakthroughs are driven by one common underlying theme: laziness.
Or in technical terms "quality of life".
Runnning water is great, now we don't have to carry buckets from the well, washing machines are great, now we don't need to stand around all day bent over a washboard, etc, etc...
The predominant measure of quality of life is how much time is spent on relaxation/recreation v/s work. By genetically redefining the meaning of quality of life, we threaten that which has driven all human progress.
If, at a genetic level, I _enjoy_ spending 12 hours bent over a washboard, what motivation is there to develop a washing machine?
If no one will buy the new widget that saves them 15 minutes doing task X, what motivation is there for a company to spend money on R & D to develop the time saving widget?
In closing, let me be the first to welcome our new hypo-manic overlords... the lithium is in the fridge.
Drinking habits can be dangerous. You can choke on the cloth and the nuns will wonder where their clothes are.
I find it interesting that whenever we read about a possible discovery that could "enhance" a normal human (like the recent slashdot article on the mouse that got muscles from injections) or this one that scientists ALWAYS take great pains to point out that their research is ALWAYS to "understand" or to help people with disorders.
Why CANT we do research on human enhancement? What's ethically wrong with looking for ways to make us "Better...stronger...faster...smarter" by science? It's as if there is some un-written rule somewhere that most medical researchers that say " Though shalt not ever engage in research for the purpose of enhancing humans over the norm"
I procrastinate at work by starting my morning reading Slashdot, Wired, OSNews, BBC news, NY Times, Washington Post, The Economist, Google World News, The Register, LA Times, and more ....shit its lunch time already...
from a common slacker ancestor.
- "They misunderestimated me."
If you'd read the article, you'd know that the "increase in work and concentration" is brought about by the supression of the monkeys ability to look forward to the eventual reward. The reason there is no slacking and or daydreaming is because the neural mechanisims have been surpressed. At the same time, other, more useful neural mechanisims, ALSO have been surpressed.
Thus, this would only have very limited benefits for anyone working a non-repetitive job. Might do wonders for garbage collectors though. The whole thing sniffs a little of "Brave New World".
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Um.. maybe it's just me, but perhaps both Humans and Monkeys slacking is because there is some evolutionary benefit for us to do so?
I dunno what it would be, but it seems that it is a theme. Maybe it's conservation of energy... only take actions you HAVE to take, instead of stressing your body unnecisarilly (sic (i know it's WAY off, but I'm too lazy to look it up. Which fits my point nicely.))...
We spend all this time making technology to make ourselves more efficient, but we dont use that efficiency to work less... we use it to work more. Which is stupid. I don't believe my reason for being on this earth is to buckle down and do more work. I think its to learn and play and do interesting things. Which I suppose is why all the truly happy people have jobs that are exactly what they do for fun too. They play all the time.
Renewable Resources + Proper Planning + Automation = Semi-Permanent vacation. (in a utopic idealist vision anyway)
Oh well.. I hope there was a coherent point in there somewhere. But it's doubtful.
... what the globalist technofeudalist billionaire overlords want--willing serfs. Add in implanted RFID chips, remote controlled drug delivery, then this type of drug, you start to get a lot closer to the alpha to epsilon society. You will learn your place, and stay in your place, slave, and like it, literally.
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.
I had no idea! :)
:)
Let's rename this website to Slackdot...if it doesn't reflect a bunch of the readership, it'll reflect at least a handful of the dupe editors.
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
I am a lazy person. That doesnt make me unproductive. I try to get my stuff done really fast so I can watch StarTrek or do some funstuff with my Linuxbox/girlfriend.
I keep my flat clean and organized since I hate searching thru all the cupboards for the carkeys.
I write shellscripts that make my work easier and if only I was smarter I would invent something really useful that makes all our lifes easier (like the car or the microwave). Most inventions are there to have more time for laziness. Never underestimate the power of laziness.
Hypthetical situation: I am a chronic procrastinator. I find that this is something that I don't particularly like about myself, and I'd like to change it, especially since I have a deadline rushing up, ready to swoop past if I don't get my doomaflotchy prototype ready before the big convention.
So here's the question: If I have so much trouble staying on-task that I can't finish a major project on which my reputation, credibility, and livlihood depend, when am I going to get around to heading to the nearest facility to offer this gene-therapy treatment? Even if it was in a pill form, it would probably be prescription only, and even if it was OTC, I'd still have to go to the pharmacy.
So, it seems likely that, if this ever sees the light of day in humans, we'll be getting a lot of instances of "Quick, I need that DontputitoffXL treatment, and I need it by 3:30 today!"
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
How do monkeys slack off?
"Man, I know I should be throwing this poop, but I just don't want to right now."
Macintosh humor! MacComedy.com
Why CANT we do research on human enhancement? What's ethically wrong with looking for ways to make us "Better...stronger...faster...smarter" by science? It's as if there is some un-written rule somewhere that most medical researchers that say " Though shalt not ever engage in research for the purpose of enhancing humans over the norm"
Because western society is still smarting from early abuses of the concept of Eugenics (as applied to humans), and the rhetorical hijacking of such notions, by such toxic regimes as the Nazis, Khmere Rouge, Mao, and others, and we have chosen to throw the baby out with the bathwater rather than grapple with such complex and emotionally high-charged subjects in any rational public debate.
As a result, it will probably not be a western country that first engages in significant planned evolutionary enhancement (e.g. increasing people's intelligence). There are of course other factors (religious dumbing down of the masses, political dumbing down of the masses, corporate dumbing down of the masses) that are particularly pronounced in the United States, but to which even Europe, with its better educated and more critical populace, is not immune. In short, many regimes don't want smarter people, they want dumber people.
As a result, should scientists develope a way to enhance the intelligence of unborn children (as they have gender selection, and the elimination of many genetic diseases), it will probably be a country like India or China that first applies the technology and moves their people forward through a deliberate act of planned pro-evolution, leaving us behind. Those regimes don't appear to have an issue with intelligent people, chosing instead to control information flow or use other means to insure allegiance instead.
The real intersting question is that, once left behind like this for emotional, religious, or other irrational reasons, will we ever be able to reach parity again, or does that spell the end of western culture and the ascendance of another, smarter, less irrational culture instead?
Because rest assured, sooner or later, some group of people are going to choose artificially enhanced intelligence for their children (if not retroactively for themselves), and they will have a significant edge over those of us who remain behind. Decrying it, wishing it weren't so, praying to God, swearing allegiance to America, etc. will do nothing to make it go away, or to help those prosper who will have certainly lost any economic edge they might once have enjoyed.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
A civil servant that doesn't procrastinate, would defy the laws of physics. An object at rest will remain at rest, unless given a swift kick in the ass.
Because Our Techno-Dystopia Isn't Hellish Enough.
How long 'til this becomes mandatory for employment? Or citizenship?
Me? Pessimistic? Nah.
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.
I am a government contractor... and I can tell you that we're WAAAY more like the monkeys BEFORE the lazy gene blocking.
Sean
... but I'm too lazy. I can't see any eventual reward I would see for doing something like that. Hey, I wonder if I can sell moderator points on eBay?
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
When will all kids by default be forced to take this pill so they can do their homework? How long before this pill is forced on you by your employers?
It will happen in the exact same way as kids, employees and athletes are forced to take other pills that enhance your strength, wits or ability to go on without sleeping. That is, it won't happen generally, but in some sectors it will be rather common. And it will be partly due to the free will of the individual and partly because he is forced or tricked in to using these pills.
How exactly is this a bad thing? Seriously I know some true workaholics, depressed people who never take time off to relax because they are always pushing themselves to be earlier and earlier and to get yet more things done. Typically the end being acheived is overshadowed by the need to "do" the need to push more units rather than acheive any real effect or even get a good night's sleep. Depressed dot commers, or office slaves who consume a lot of booze.
The article states that the monkeys are very good at judging just how long each task will take and then, it seems, they do it when necessary. You call it slacking, I call it a combination of good time management and gathering roses while one may. Why should it be the case that everyone be working so far in advance that they burn out like true workaholics?
IMHO you shouldn't call someone a slacker unless they do nothing, and you shouldn't conclude that not working 24/7 is a sign of poor character, poor genes, or some disease that needs to be "fixed."
I'm in agreement with the other posters who compared this to Ritalin for ADD kids. Just another non-disease that was manufactured from hysteria and stupidity not real need.
The way I figure it, we might as well just give the kids crack. It does the same thing; you get wired, can't stop working, go to Walmart at 2:30 in the morning to get crayons, construction paper, glue and glitter to finish your latest project. Of course, only to through it away the next day and spend the rest of the next day curled up with crossword puzzles and jollyranchers. Not like I would know or anything...
The American Psychiatric Association invents diagnoses to perpetuate an industry geared to helping people with these newly discovered and (conveniently) medicinally treatable "diseases." They invent problems. This is discussed in depth in Making Us Crazy By Herb Kutchins, but alternate forms of therapy have been discussed for decades (see Jean Piaget, for example). Undeniably, some severe conditions like Schizophrenia are treatable within the Psychiatric paradigm. Most more pedestrain difficulties--bipolar, depression, ADHD, homosexuality (oh wait, the DSM finally stopped classifying that as mental illness in the 3rd edition!) are best treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. Change the behavior and you change the brain chemistry. Psychotropics are terribly harmful and do nothing to address the underlying behavior that's causing the difficulties.
It's not inflamatory or wild speculation to say that if this discovery with monkeys makes its way to a human treatment, that it will thrust upon every bored 10 year old who's lacking challenge.
This message has been brought to you by a person who was diagnosed with ADHD at 15, took ritalin in high school at 16, and who finally, through behavioral changes in his 20s, was retested at 27 and can no longer be diagnosed with ADHD.
I'm a friend of a friend of the working class.
Is working harder necessarily a better thing?
How many (good) programmers have seen over-zealous newbies write a huge amount of code because they didn't stop, think, and then implement.
Usually being lazy helps me find the fastest possible way to my destination. And usually it's the most(or one of the most) efficient solution too.
To programmers, "working" is more about pondering the problem than doing the implementation.
If we all were super-hard-working people, would we still care about re-use when designing a system? Heck, why have functions, you can just re-type the code when you need it?!
I believe you have a saying: "Work smarter, not harder."
If they consider giving it to federal workers?
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
And in other news, simian use of Slashdot has dropped by over 80%!
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
Is anyone else reminded of Focus from Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky? Kind of scary. (If you haven't read the book, then I highly recommend it. Don't worry that's it's a sequel -- or prequel? -- to another book. You really don't need to have read the first one.)
On the other hand, a mild version of Focus might not be so bad. Especially if it were people other than me who it was being done to. (Starting to feel like Pham Nuwen...)
If the stuff could make me stop surfing /. during the work day, it would way more than offset any negative effects!
One thing to notice: what drugs affect the same dopamine receptor? Amphetamine, Methamephetamine, Ritalin, Cocaine, etc. What are the effects of these drugs? Initially anyway, they all improve concentration, focus and the ability to work, just like these monkeys seem to experience. Are there side effects? Gee, duh. This research won't result in a capitalist nirvana any more than handing out Meth to employees would.
You should write a book on it! "The mythical monkey minute"
Music speeds up when you yawn, but does not change pitch.
Boss: Johnson, have you taken your pill today? Johnson: er... no, I was just about to get to that!
Why don't they use some of their intelligence to find out why people slack in the first place.
Some people are depressed, don't like the job that they are doing, etc. That is reality, not a pill that will "magically" get them do "work".
They forget the problem is not that all employees are lazy, if they care to really put an effort into some research or get grants from someone with intelligence they could find out that you must hire the right people for the job.
This kinda reminds me of that saying "When you have a hammer all your problems look like a nail".
Lastly did they ever think that the reason people are slacking is because they don't know what they are doing? How will turbo charging them help?
To me this sounds like a goverment sponsored narcotic. Cocaine will deliver some of the same results and we look down as we should on users / abusers of these drugs but since this is 'researched' does this open the door to other narcotics being ok? Are abusers just merely people who want to get ahead in life and should get tax breaks for thier habbit?
Of course have they realized that this will not make anyone do the work *they* want them to do. It will just make them consentrate on what the user feels like doing. Sounds sick to me where do you think it could go from here?
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
I hate it when philosophy types bring this up.
Look, even if you accept an archaic definition of the word beg (to assume) as still current (which it isn't) the phrase (as used in logic) still doesn't make sense. You're not assuming the question, you're assuming the answer to the question. So the phrase (in logic) should be "Assumes (or begs, if you must) the answer."
But even if you accept the logic falacy phrase as semsible (which it isn't) that still doesn't preclude other gramatically and semantically correct usage of the phrase, such as "That begs (urgently pleas for) the question [to be asked]: {insert question here}."
Just because, say, "power triangle" refers to the vector diagram of real, reactive, and apparent power in electronics doesn't mean sombody couldn't refer to a three-sided battery pack, or a group of three nearby power plants as a "power triangle".