2 ms·

The whole fucking Valley has been out of their mind on prescription amphetamines for at least a decade. The most visible people like Matt and Elon and a few oth

by CPLX 12d ago

The whole fucking Valley has been out of their mind on prescription amphetamines for at least a decade. The most visible people like Matt and Elon and a few others have the most visible effects but breakdowns like this are happening hourly with less fanfare. See if you can think of any other interesting historical events that happened when the whole leadership and rank and file were on prescription amphetamines.

embedding-shape 12d ago
Well, and good old cocaine of course. Never in my life have I been so often jacked up on coke as when I got dragged into a multi-day "retreat" involving executives from multiple SV companies.
noir_lord 12d ago
I do wonder if they are actually on the same level as was used in WW2 (which is what I'm assuming you are referring to and the routine use (by both sides but especially the Axis side/Germany)). SV has always had it's weird outliers but they do seem more for want of a better word - manic lately and much less outliers.
- roryirvine 12d ago
  There's a long tradition of amphetamine use within the British establishment, too. Most obviously, Anthony Eden's reliance on Drinamyl was responsible in large part for the spectacularly poor decision making which led to the Suez crisis. People in power absolutely do have an incentive to over-medicate themselves, and I'd be shocked if that didn't extend to SV tech leaders.
  - scarecrowbob 12d ago
    I love that "over-medicate" language (really). I will add that to my list of "things that are classy when rich people do them". I always forget how geeked out these folks probably are and so I appreciate the reminder here. About two days a month of my time is spent handing out bubbles and points to folks to get them to better manage their habits (in addition to other street medicine stuff). Stimulant culture is very foreign to my own chemistry, but yeah, the idea that most of these folks are just gakd up all the time certainly lines up with my experiences debraiding hobo feet. I'm similarly not personally familiar with ketamine, but i've been doing first aid at festivals this year and understanding that most of the folks running the stuff in the US are on some spectrum of chemical impairment has been very helpful. I don't miss drinking, but it was helpful in understanding the mindset at least. If folks are interested in an ivy league business education but can't afford the tuition and life changes, I suggest that they can learn much of what it's like to be around a bunch of folks with poor impulse control and who are on a bunch of stimulants by volunteering with their local street medic group. The aesthetics are different but the general decision making processes seem very similar to me.
    - noir_lord 12d ago
      It's just the way we wash the language when talking about the ultra wealthy. If you are poor and mentally ill, you are crazy, if you are rich you are eccentric. If you are poor and a felon you can't vote, if you are rich and a felon you can win the presidency. It very much is a two tier system and guess what, statistically if you are reading this you aren't in that fortunate tier. From the eyes of a Musk or an Altman none of us matter and there isn't much difference between us and someone on the street using drugs.
bluecheese452 12d ago
Unless they are taking abusive doses I don’t see the issue.
- sellmesoap 12d ago
  I think the implication here is that these drugs while adding focus also alter other personality traits and can lead to dark places. Stopping amphetamines is regularly painted as a traumatic experience. Here's some examples: - An old roommate of mine talking about the agressive mental state as side effects of her ADHD meds. - Regular use in the military, likely providing some buffer for the remorse and trauma of taking life or losing comrades, or precluding moral objection to bombing the civilian target etc. Stuff like that, channeled into being the CEO.
  - bluecheese452 11d ago
    Well I am talking doctor proscribed doses here not abusive doses. It seems like an incredible stretch to say taking a moderate amount of Adderall is going to make you care less about bombing civilians. I have never heard of people being traumatized because they couldn’t get their adhd medicine renewed. This whole thing seems like baseless fear-mongering against adhd meds because they are chemically similar to meth. If you can show me some actual strong evidence I would be willing to look at it. All I am seeing so far in this comment chain is some wild false equivalents between natzi’s meth use and prescription adhd meds along with vague claims of harm.
    - sellmesoap 11d ago
      A quick search showed me Adderal reduces narcissitic traits and increases empathy (yay) and roughly the same search but for meth shows lower empathy and increases aggression. I'm sure there are vast differences in the compounds and the dosing size. There's also a gulf between science committed to "adderall is good" and science asking "why meth bad?" Maybe when cartels fund open science we'll have more balance!?! I'd say this thread is groping for a reason C suite can trend towards being narcissistic or psychotic. I'm sure there's a lot of pressure, and having to make a decision to reduce staff, or build a technology that will make jobs across industries redundant, and the broad effects that has on people's lives could lead to a numbness to those branches of empathy. I've personally known people that moderate their state multiple times a day, stratigizing what street or pharmaceutical drug to take to help them get something done, or to chill out, or be trippy up down or sideways, and they have the bladder issues that go with some of those drug choices to boot. I've known some who take ketamine all day and make code that looks like art and runs like a dream. I don't endorse the method, but I've seen it entwined with logic and beauty!
alchemism 12d ago
They probably like to imagine that they are Mentats from Dune, but the reality is closer to truckers cooking in a motel bathtub.
- nkrisc 12d ago
  None of them are smart enough for that. They think of themselves as Thufir but really they hold power because they’re more like Rabban.
m4rtink 12d ago
Just the other day there was an article of the whole civilization in the Andes basically running on drugs so there are certainly precendents.

by CPLX 12d ago

embedding-shape 12d ago

Well, and good old cocaine of course. Never in my life have I been so often jacked up on coke as when I got dragged into a multi-day "retreat" involving executives from multiple SV companies.

noir_lord 12d ago

I do wonder if they are actually on the same level as was used in WW2 (which is what I'm assuming you are referring to and the routine use (by both sides but especially the Axis side/Germany)). SV has always had it's weird outliers but they do seem more for want of a better word - manic lately and much less outliers.

roryirvine 12d ago
There's a long tradition of amphetamine use within the British establishment, too. Most obviously, Anthony Eden's reliance on Drinamyl was responsible in large part for the spectacularly poor decision making which led to the Suez crisis. People in power absolutely do have an incentive to over-medicate themselves, and I'd be shocked if that didn't extend to SV tech leaders.
- scarecrowbob 12d ago
  I love that "over-medicate" language (really). I will add that to my list of "things that are classy when rich people do them". I always forget how geeked out these folks probably are and so I appreciate the reminder here. About two days a month of my time is spent handing out bubbles and points to folks to get them to better manage their habits (in addition to other street medicine stuff). Stimulant culture is very foreign to my own chemistry, but yeah, the idea that most of these folks are just gakd up all the time certainly lines up with my experiences debraiding hobo feet. I'm similarly not personally familiar with ketamine, but i've been doing first aid at festivals this year and understanding that most of the folks running the stuff in the US are on some spectrum of chemical impairment has been very helpful. I don't miss drinking, but it was helpful in understanding the mindset at least. If folks are interested in an ivy league business education but can't afford the tuition and life changes, I suggest that they can learn much of what it's like to be around a bunch of folks with poor impulse control and who are on a bunch of stimulants by volunteering with their local street medic group. The aesthetics are different but the general decision making processes seem very similar to me.
  - noir_lord 12d ago
    It's just the way we wash the language when talking about the ultra wealthy. If you are poor and mentally ill, you are crazy, if you are rich you are eccentric. If you are poor and a felon you can't vote, if you are rich and a felon you can win the presidency. It very much is a two tier system and guess what, statistically if you are reading this you aren't in that fortunate tier. From the eyes of a Musk or an Altman none of us matter and there isn't much difference between us and someone on the street using drugs.

bluecheese452 12d ago

Unless they are taking abusive doses I don’t see the issue.

sellmesoap 12d ago
I think the implication here is that these drugs while adding focus also alter other personality traits and can lead to dark places. Stopping amphetamines is regularly painted as a traumatic experience. Here's some examples: - An old roommate of mine talking about the agressive mental state as side effects of her ADHD meds. - Regular use in the military, likely providing some buffer for the remorse and trauma of taking life or losing comrades, or precluding moral objection to bombing the civilian target etc. Stuff like that, channeled into being the CEO.
- bluecheese452 11d ago
  Well I am talking doctor proscribed doses here not abusive doses. It seems like an incredible stretch to say taking a moderate amount of Adderall is going to make you care less about bombing civilians. I have never heard of people being traumatized because they couldn’t get their adhd medicine renewed. This whole thing seems like baseless fear-mongering against adhd meds because they are chemically similar to meth. If you can show me some actual strong evidence I would be willing to look at it. All I am seeing so far in this comment chain is some wild false equivalents between natzi’s meth use and prescription adhd meds along with vague claims of harm.
  - sellmesoap 11d ago
    A quick search showed me Adderal reduces narcissitic traits and increases empathy (yay) and roughly the same search but for meth shows lower empathy and increases aggression. I'm sure there are vast differences in the compounds and the dosing size. There's also a gulf between science committed to "adderall is good" and science asking "why meth bad?" Maybe when cartels fund open science we'll have more balance!?! I'd say this thread is groping for a reason C suite can trend towards being narcissistic or psychotic. I'm sure there's a lot of pressure, and having to make a decision to reduce staff, or build a technology that will make jobs across industries redundant, and the broad effects that has on people's lives could lead to a numbness to those branches of empathy. I've personally known people that moderate their state multiple times a day, stratigizing what street or pharmaceutical drug to take to help them get something done, or to chill out, or be trippy up down or sideways, and they have the bladder issues that go with some of those drug choices to boot. I've known some who take ketamine all day and make code that looks like art and runs like a dream. I don't endorse the method, but I've seen it entwined with logic and beauty!

alchemism 12d ago

They probably like to imagine that they are Mentats from Dune, but the reality is closer to truckers cooking in a motel bathtub.

nkrisc 12d ago
None of them are smart enough for that. They think of themselves as Thufir but really they hold power because they’re more like Rabban.

m4rtink 12d ago

Just the other day there was an article of the whole civilization in the Andes basically running on drugs so there are certainly precendents.