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Cosmetic Neurology
The New Yorker has a long piece examining the growing trend of healthy people, not diagnosed with any mental condition, taking drugs that enhance mental functioning, including Adderall and Provigil. The profiles include a Harvard student, a professional poker player, a number of brain researchers, and a self-described transhumanist. "Zack [Lynch]... has a book being published this summer, called 'The Neuro Revolution'... In coming years, he said, scientists will understand the brain better, and we'll have improved neuroenhancers that some people will use therapeutically, others because they are 'on the borderline of needing them therapeutically,' and others purely 'for competitive advantage.' ... Even if today's smart drugs aren't as powerful as such drugs may someday be, there are plenty of questions that need to be asked about them. How much do they actually help? Are they potentially harmful or addictive? Then, there's the question of what we mean by 'smarter.' Could enhancing one kind of thinking exact a toll on others? All these questions need proper scientific answers, but for now much of the discussion is taking place furtively, among the increasing number of Americans who are performing daily experiments on their own brains. ... [A cognitive researcher said,] 'Cognitive psychologists have found that there is a trade-off between attentional focus and creativity. And there is some evidence that suggests that individuals who are better able to focus on one thing and filter out distractions tend to be less creative. ... I'm a little concerned that we could be raising a generation of very focused accountants.'"
"Cosmetic neurology"? What's wrong with the existing term for someone who takes Adderall without a prescription: Amphetamine abuser. Take it from someone actually has (quite pronounced) ADD: It doesn't work the same way on someone who doesn't have ADD. Likewise, if I overdose, I don't get the intended effect either. (and the dosage that 'works' best for me is about ~30-60 mg a day. Not really an addictive-level dose. In fact, I have a much harder time holding up on coffee) It's hardly news that someone taking amphetamines can be more productive than someone who's not. But not for the same reasons that an ADD patient is. Amphetamines don't make ordinary folks more concentrated. It makes them more active. Whereas, at the correct dosage, it has the opposite effect in an ADD patient. (I can literally take 30 mg of amphetamine and then go to bed and fall asleep.) When you're using a prescription drug without a prescription, that's drug abuse. When you're using a drug in a way its not intended to be used, that's drug abuse. Let's not kid ourselves with name games here.