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>When Ronald Graham, a concerned friend and fellow mathematician, bet him $500 that he couldn’t stay off his drug of choice for a month, Erdős accepted and easi

>When Ronald Graham, a concerned friend and fellow mathematician, bet him $500 that he couldn’t stay off his drug of choice for a month, Erdős accepted and easily won the challenge. When the 30 days was up, Erdős said to Graham, “You’ve showed me I’m not an addict. But I didn’t get any work done. I’d get up in the morning and stare at a blank piece of paper. I’d have no ideas, just like an ordinary person. You’ve set mathematics back a month.” This quote is hilarious, and I find it interesting that there's a difference in intelligence between drug users and non users. My gut feeling is that there would be no significant difference. I will note that most drug use does not impact intelligence negatively. Of course it can if abused to a great enough degree as that will significantly alter neural function but this also depends on the specific mechanisms of the substance. Dr. Carl Hart is a great example of this. He's been a recreational heroin user for 5 years and is a tenured professor of neuroscience at Columbia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hart https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hart

jeffreyrogers 5y ago
And yet most people who OD on heroin or otherwise ruin their lives due to it are not PhDs.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  You're right, but simply because most of the population does not have PhDs. If people had a fully tested and clean source of heroin (free from fentanyl) there would be less overdose deaths.
  - jeffreyrogers 5y ago
    2% of people in the US have PhDs. I would be surprised if 2% of people who die of ODs have PhDs. Harm falls disproportionately on those unlike the OP.
    - DarylZero 5y ago
      It's important to understand -- the ODs are caused by adulterated supply. Perhaps PhDs are on average better socially-connected so that they have better supply chains. But it isn't directly because of personal characteristics.
      - PraetorianGourd 5y ago
        Not entirely. Yes today most overdoses involve fentanyl but that’s a recent development. People were overdosing on pure heroin as well.
DarylZero 5y ago
Wow, he published a book admitting to using heroin. I would think even with tenure, you would get fired for that.

jeffreyrogers 5y ago

And yet most people who OD on heroin or otherwise ruin their lives due to it are not PhDs.

netizen-936824 5y ago
You're right, but simply because most of the population does not have PhDs. If people had a fully tested and clean source of heroin (free from fentanyl) there would be less overdose deaths.
- jeffreyrogers 5y ago
  2% of people in the US have PhDs. I would be surprised if 2% of people who die of ODs have PhDs. Harm falls disproportionately on those unlike the OP.
  - DarylZero 5y ago
    It's important to understand -- the ODs are caused by adulterated supply. Perhaps PhDs are on average better socially-connected so that they have better supply chains. But it isn't directly because of personal characteristics.
    - PraetorianGourd 5y ago
      Not entirely. Yes today most overdoses involve fentanyl but that’s a recent development. People were overdosing on pure heroin as well.

DarylZero 5y ago

Wow, he published a book admitting to using heroin. I would think even with tenure, you would get fired for that.