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Using Adderall In the Office To Get Ahead
HughPickens.com writes: The NY Times reports on the changing usage of psychostimulants like Adderall. They were once only prescribed to help children with attention deficit disorders focus on their school work, but then college students found those drugs could increase their ability to study. Now a growing number of workers use them to help compete. What will happen as these drugs are more widely used in the workplace? According to Anjan Chatterjee, the use of neurotechnologies to enhance healthy people's brain function could easily become widespread. "If anything, we worship workplace productivity by any means. Americans work longer hours and take fewer vacations than most others in the developed world. Why not add drugs to energize, focus and limit that annoying waste of time — sleep?" Julian Savulescu says that what defines human beings is their extraordinary cognitive power and their ability to enhance that power through reading, writing, computing and now smart drugs. "Eighty-five percent of Americans use caffeine. Nicotine and sugar are also cognitive enhancers," says Savulescu.
But cognitive neurologist Martha Farah says regular use on the job is an invitation to dependence. "I also worry about the effect of drug-fueled productivity on people other than the users," says Farah. "It is not hard to imagine a supervisor telling employees that this is the standard they should aspire to in their work, however they manage to do it (hint, hint). The eventual result will be a ratcheting up of "normal" productivity, where everyone uses (and the early adopters' advantage is only fleeting)."
But cognitive neurologist Martha Farah says regular use on the job is an invitation to dependence. "I also worry about the effect of drug-fueled productivity on people other than the users," says Farah. "It is not hard to imagine a supervisor telling employees that this is the standard they should aspire to in their work, however they manage to do it (hint, hint). The eventual result will be a ratcheting up of "normal" productivity, where everyone uses (and the early adopters' advantage is only fleeting)."
the stains become a warning
sports like snowboarding and swimming
What about the sport of waterboarding?
It's not just pot or meth. It's true for alcohol as well. The general phenomenon is called state-dependent memory, and it's been established science for many decades -- the Wikipedia article cites a text from 1835.
Yeah, but if they get drunk again, do they get the memories back? Imagine the possibilities:
"We need to send an engineer to Yekaterinburg to diagnose some issues on site. Anyone speak Russian?"
"Hell, yeah, I'm totally fluent in Russian but only when I'm falling down drunk."
"Not a problem. You'll get along fine over there."
"Call your doctor immediately if you experience a coding session lasting more than four hours, as this may indicate a serious side effect."
Doctor? Hell, I am calling a hooker!"
As a software developer in my late 40's, I have no trouble concentrating. I can go long stretches without any
holy shit! a Squirrel just hopped from one branch to another outside my office window! A grey squirrel... Let me look that up on wikipedia...
dammit, DNS is down... I wonder if there's a new bind exploit? I should look it up. I'll use my phone because DNS is down.
Oh look! A text message!
whoa! There goes the squirrel again!