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Cognition Enhancer Research
oschobero writes to tell us the Economist has a look at pharmaceutical research as it applies to cognition enhancers. While the research is obviously focused on things like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and schizophrenia, the resulting drugs may also have a benefit to healthy minds. "Provigil and Ritalin really do enhance cognition in healthy people. Provigil, for example, adds the ability to remember an extra digit or so to an individual's working memory (most people can hold seven random digits in their memory, but have difficulty with eight). It also improves people's performance in tests of their ability to plan. Because of such positive effects on normal people, says the report, there is growing use of these drugs to stave off fatigue, help shift-workers, boost exam performance and aid recovery from the effects of long-distance flights."
as much as scientist claim they can enhance or reduce certain abilities, it is also a reality science is just beginning to understand human metabolism.
We don't know much about how each part the human metabolism affect the others, so it's very difficult to anticipate possible side effects.
It's also widely known that many of the current drugs where discovered by accident while trying to cure something else (like the discovery of viagra, and the heart benefits obtained from aspirin). So, as much as we don't want see it, our scientist can be wrong.
Let's hope we don't see our Universities bloated with new kind of "brain enhancement" drugs.
- Human knowledge belongs to the world
Based on what findings is it stated that most people can only hold 7 digits in memory?
I wonder if there is a connection to how many digit you need to make a local phone call.
In the states I assume you can or could leave out the area code, and then needed to remember xxx-xxxx.
In Denmark as a kid and now, we need to remember 8 digits to make a phone call.
I see a correlation, but.. heck, digits for thoughts.
I think religious people might metaphysically have a hard time with this because this goes against the whole "Garden Of Eden" model of health which is Humans were made perfectly and they fell from perfection when they got curious and ate the special apple hoping for some sort of benefit. Only disease is allowed to be treated in order to restore the system to what god intended.
So you can't get a prescription for viagra because you want to have loads of sex, you can only get it for treating the dreaded disease known as "Erectile dysfunction".
What is the long-term (or even all of the short-term) effects of this? IIRC, Ritalin comes with a bucketload of side effects.
I guess that drugs specifically made for the mind start (at least for me) creeping deeper and deeper into questions of morality and ethics than one designed to treat any other body part. Just something that makes me a bit wary about them... For instance, is an "enhanced" person more susceptible to suggestion than otherwise? Are they more focused on the task at hand, but not as aware of their surroundings? How does it affect multitasking? Emotions? Attitude and outlook?
Dunno... but caffeine seems to work just fine for me, and I get to keep a clear mind which I retain full control of while I'm at it.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
These drugs would be immensely beneficial to the human race. And what sane person wouldn't want to be smarter? Unfortunately, they will be opposed by very powerful religious and conservative forces. it will probably devolve into a cyclic, pointless, and unyielding debate like the one about abortion.
:(
Caffeine is one of these substances; probably the most widely available, too. Personally I can think faster, clearer, and longer with about 300mg of caffeine in me. Unfortunately, I'm getting tolerant to it now...
Regardless, these drugs have the possibility to change the world. Hopefully people will get these things on the market in time for my SATs!
it's probably because of how your brain works.
Maybe you are trying to memorize 7 numbers (symbol + significance in our society) instead of memorizing a 3cm x 1.5cm illustration (the area in a paper where those numbers can be written) or instead of memorizing a 10 second sound (the aprox time in wich those numbers can be pronounced).
The problem might not be your memory, but the way your brain processes and stores the information it receives.
- Human knowledge belongs to the world
I think remembering 7 digits is primarily because of the need for knowing telephone numbers. Perhaps you just need to call people more often?
What happens to your cognition once you stop taking it, after you've gotten used to taking it? Do you get a tolerance, so you not only need higher doses for a smarts boost, but you also just return to your base performance after getting used to it?
What's the withdrawal like?
I suspect that maybe the many kids given Ritalin while growing up learn to depend on it for their baseline. When they outgrow their "hyperactivity" (AKA "childhood"), they quit the drugs, and sink into an unfamiliar dullness in which they can't think at their previous baseline without the artificial stimulation. And how much do they just get burned out from the steady drugging?
Something's got to explain the evident steady decay in average intellect as the years wear on, despite these synthetic boosts.
--
make install -not war
There are no completely safe drugs, there are no drugs without side effects. That being said, even if these drugs are significantly safer, it just seems to be a bad idea to depend on drugs to run your everyday life. The line between theraputic and recreational use is blurring.
If I had to take non-theraputic medications to perform my job I'd get a different job.
I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
As a few people have touched on above, there are some huge problems with the enthusiasm for these drugs. They are very poorly understood, not least with regard to side effects. So, let's say that the benefit outweighs the risk for people who truly need them (severe disorder, or what have you) - not only are they over-prescribed, but they are widely abused by people with no prescription ... any student at an American university can confirm. By my observation, people who have used too much legal-Speed (Ritalin, Adderall, etc) think and act a lot like people who have used too much Speed-Speed.
It does improve their performance in the short run though. And what do you think a professor sees? More kids getting more work done in less time - time to assign more problems; it isn't necessarily quality work, but if it was just busy-work to begin with (or it's just a large class), that doesn't matter.
That's totally normal, don't worry about it.
Most people can retain 7 +/- 2 (5 to 9) semantic "packets" of information. A "packet" can be a part of a larger packet. Most people can reliably recall 5 random numbers or letters in a row. Or 5 groups of 5 numbers or letters. Or 5 random words. Or 5 unrelated phrases.
But don't try to memorize a paragraph worth of random letters and numbers -- that's more than 9 packets so it's almost impossible without a lot of repetition. That's why phone numbers have a dash in them, to break the number up into smaller packets that are easier to remember.
Instead of drugs have you considered getting an extra 1-2 hours of sleep per night? This is cheaper than taking drugs, does not make you feel odd, and 10 years from now will not be shown to cause cancer/depression/heart disease/... If you are feeling tired during the day the message your body is trying to send you is 'sleep more' not 'take drugs'.
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First person anecdotes are pretty useless for this topic. Many people who have dropped acid will testify in front of the Supreme Court that it enhanced their perception. Only a well controlled, well designed double-blind test is acceptable in this context.
I didn't realize all this in a concrete manner until somewhere in my late 20s after trying some of these drugs that made things like mental crises, and the utter inability to turn my brain off to focus or sleep optional. I've since taken them on and off as necessary, but being able to intuitively understand what it means to be able to cause one's actions to align with one's intentions on a regular basis is invaluable. I can say with complete honesty that I really didn't understand how the world worked before.