There's an alternative interpretation here: that the heights of human achievement are not available "cleanly." Truth be told, there's a lot of doping in other

There's an alternative interpretation here: that the heights of human achievement are not available "cleanly." Truth be told, there's a lot of doping in other fields. I've hung around startuppers, scientists, and med students who heavily use racetams, modafinil, amphetamine, B12 megadosing, "stack" diets, and massive amounts of caffeine. Musicians and artists use psychedelic drugs to artificially enter hyper-creative states. Isn't that a form of doping? Would we have most of the music we have if there were no THC, psilocybin, or LSD? And doping is just augmentation. A bicycle itself is an augmentation. Shoes and special clothing are augmentations. The list goes on. A race where runners run almost naked and are strictly limited to a straight diet would be interesting in itself, but it would not achieve anywhere near Olympic performance numbers. I'm not necessarily saying that doping in sports is good, per se. If the rules don't allow it in your event, you are cheating in your particular sport. (There are no such rules for startups, science, or music.) What I'm really getting at here is that there is another issue, and that the overall issue is more morally complex than "honest and clean" vs "doped." I also know that doping can destroy your health. Those modafinil/amphetamine stackers in the startup world might be shortening their life spans. LSD and psilocybin can make you go nuts. Steroids can cause cancer, heart disease, and mood disorders. But what if that's the price for exceeding the records?