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It's an interesting idea, but ultimately being sensationalized. The article starts off by making a compelling case that the widespread adoption of these impulse
by lurk2 2y ago
It's an interesting idea, but ultimately being sensationalized. The article starts off by making a compelling case that the widespread adoption of these impulse-control drugs will disrupt the economy and lead to many changes in business models built around impulse buys. The issue is that these drugs only entered the public consciousness within the last two years, and many of the business model changes that the author implies are attributable to the drugs have been going on for a lot longer than that. His treatment of retail is an obvious one (he's ignoring the impact of changing consumer practices that came about due to online shopping). The replacement of anchor stores with medical centers is another one - I can remember reading about this on Hacker News in 2017.
I suspect his projections on the impacts these drugs will have on crime rates and alcohol consumption are probably also overblown. I could be wrong, but I would think that the sorts of people who seek out prescription drugs for impulse control aren't likely to overlap with people who drive drunk in the first place.
The anecdote about the lost muffin revenue was still quite interesting.
- sfpotter 2y ago??? They're going to be trying to get on a weight loss drug, not an "impulse control drug". And I don't see why you would assume there's little overlap between people who desperately want to lose weight and people who drive drunk.
- lurk2 2y agoFrom the article: "We're not just talking about weight loss. We're discussing the first medication that effectively regulates human impulse control. Think about that." > I don't see why you would assume there's little overlap between people who desperately want to lose weight and people who drive drunk. This is only a hunch, but I would guess that drunk driving is associated with low conscientiousness and that the sorts of people who are going to go through the trouble of getting medicated to lose weight are unlikely to be the sorts of people who drive drunk in the first place. Maybe I was misinterpreting the point he was trying to make.
- sfpotter 2y agoThe way ozempic is currently marketed is as a weight loss drug. People can be overweight for many reasons. Impulse control might be one of them. Drunk driving is associated with low impulse control due to being drunk. Being drunk might be associated with the kind of lack of impulse control that ozempic targets.
- jajko 2y agoRevolution it may be, but yeah its made to be sensational, which often means facts may be used out of context or twisted for specific narrative. Don't worry there will be tons of complementary businesses like overpriced healthy food megastores and countless gyms that will absorb unemployed workforce and all that 'suddenly available' cash. Junk food is cheap, quality tasty healthy one not so much.