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A society that runs on stimulants is badly broken
- jollyllama 1mo agoHasn't it been that way for at least a few hundred years? I'm surprised the article didn't mention the OG stimulant, tobacco.
- theokrueger 1mo agocoffee houses (previously a threat to the monarchy) would buckle at their knees in front of the dose in caffiene pills or energy drinks even tobacco has turned to vaping to deliver more nicotine quicker
- homer456 1mo agoSometimes I wonder if coffee is responsible for modernity.
- mapontosevenths 1mo agoIt literally is. Technologists are all the degenerate intellectual children of Voltaire - who famously drank 40-50 cups of coffee per day.
- ahartmetz 1mo agoProbably, by replacing alcohol in places where people gathered during daytime.
- BiraIgnacio 1mo agoPerhaps since the beginning of what we came to call society.
- hoppp 1mo agoThe romans had society. No tobacco or coffee
- AndrewKemendo 1mo agoThey were alcoholics, opioid and weed smokers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_abuse_in_ancient_Rome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_abuse_in_ancient_Rom... Also there’s absolutely no aspect of Rome that I would want to repeat it was a bunch of pederasty, slavery and overall horrific conditions for almost everybody
- hoppp 1mo agoHeroin? That was not discovered till acetylation was invented in the 19th century.
- grackasthebig 1mo ago[dead]
- oopsieDayz 1mo agoPresident ran a child rape cult First world office workers codependent on sweatshop slavery ...but conditions improved for majority 1 of 3 we did better than the Romans
- cindyllm 1mo ago
- nitwit005 1mo agoEven animals will do things like get drunk on fermented fruit. Humans just figured out how to get a regular supply.
- throwitaway222 1mo agoI was on a prescribed stimulant for 6 months. It was nice for work, but it ended up with too many side effects that kind of mess with ones head. It tends to "simplify" complex decision making processes and not just for code but for life decisions.
- copperx 1mo agoSimplifying decisions can be a positive outcome, just to add balance to your comment.
- throwitaway222 1mo agoAnd I don't disagree!
- suburban_strike 1mo ago> It tends to "simplify" complex decision making processes and not just for code but for life decisions. Improving executive function is literally the point of prescription stimulants. Rather than endless spirals about whether you should do ___, it just makes everything sound like a great idea to you...for better or for worse. Cocaine has the same effect, only amplified.
- deepc4life 1mo agoI don't know how we do it. I am much more clearheaded without coffee or anything of the sorts.
- hoppp 1mo agoIts an addiction, just like a lot of things.
- deepc4life 1mo agoSo the article should be about how we are an addicted society to accurately capture the essence. You can be addicted to anything - good or bad or indifferent. And that's definitely the culture...
- RevEng 1mo agoThere's a fine line, as with alcohol. A single cup of tea might feel refreshing. A monster energy drink is going to feel like a fight or flight response. Some people are also more sensitive than others and some are addicted more really than others.
- deepc4life 1mo agoI guess I am a little bias here too - if my caffeine intake goes near 200 mg for the day then I get shaky. I have a friend who can toe the line at 700-800 mg! Which I read the other day that is the 'danger zone'.
- Barrin92 1mo agoI do find the economics / work narrative relatively unconvincing. For one workload in the developed world has fallen by about 40-50% over the last 100 years. Consuming stimulants is as popular among call it the 'lazy bum class' (no offense, I grew up in a deadbeat town) as it is among strivers. Coffee goes back five thousand years, Nicotine as far as recorded history, that is 10k+ years. They've always had recreational or even ritual use, and the health fads against stimulants and cleansing crazes usually come from the work-obsessed than anyone else. So I don't think that we run on stimulants, I'm pretty sure we'd do them regardless.
- ElijahLynn 1mo agoI hypothesize that most of the stimulant use is actually due to poor sleep hygiene and jacked circadian rhythms, because of electricity and lighting on-demand. And trauma, of course.
- card_zero 1mo ago> brutal labor conditions in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Indonesia, where more and more workers are turning to amphetamines to “work without stopping.” ... > All of this adds up to one thing: a form of hyper-capitalist imperialism Does this just not happen, then, in communist Vietnam or Laos? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_drugs
- aaron695 1mo ago[dead]
- MichaelRo 1mo ago>> There’s a generational split in those numbers; among the under-35 crowd, it’s 60 percent. The older demographic still prefers coffee, and 66 percent of Americans drink that every day, too. But, but! Isn't coffee consumption supposed to provide health benefits too? Like "reduced risks of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver conditions, and overall mortality". Seems odd to lump coffee into the same bucket with energy drinks.