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Mathematician Paul Erdos heavily consumed amphetamines, and they did not consume him. This guy most likely had some psychological issues to begin with. You'd h

Mathematician Paul Erdos heavily consumed amphetamines, and they did not consume him. This guy most likely had some psychological issues to begin with. You'd have to be a medical student, end up in a psychiatric hospital and not see that as a big red warning sign. Sadly, policy is made around these incidents.

apl 14y ago
> Sadly, policy is made around these incidents. You're offering equally fallacious reasoning: that Erdos managed to handle his amphetamine consumption tells us nothing at all. Policy should be made around solid data, not carefully chosen data points that confirm our respective biases in the matter.
- murbard2 14y ago
  It does, it shows that not all cases are similar and that there is potentially a large variance in outcomes and thus calls for collecting more data. It's a proof by existence.
jeffdavis 14y ago
He ended up in the psychiatric hospital after the abuse had already gone on for a while. Why do you say that he most likely had "psychological issues to begin with"?
- murbard2 14y ago
  I didn't say he probably had psychological issues because he ended up in the psychiatric hospital, I'm saying he had these issues because it did not trigger a wake up call.
sneak 14y ago
You don't get to reference the Erdős story and not tell it, it's too good: > His colleague Alfréd Rényi said, "a mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems",[31] and Erdős drank copious quantities. (This quotation is often attributed incorrectly to Erdős,[32] but Erdős himself ascribed it to Rényi.[33]) After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month.[34] Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine use. (From wikipedia)

apl 14y ago

> Sadly, policy is made around these incidents. You're offering equally fallacious reasoning: that Erdos managed to handle his amphetamine consumption tells us nothing at all. Policy should be made around solid data, not carefully chosen data points that confirm our respective biases in the matter.

murbard2 14y ago
It does, it shows that not all cases are similar and that there is potentially a large variance in outcomes and thus calls for collecting more data. It's a proof by existence.

jeffdavis 14y ago

He ended up in the psychiatric hospital after the abuse had already gone on for a while. Why do you say that he most likely had "psychological issues to begin with"?

murbard2 14y ago
I didn't say he probably had psychological issues because he ended up in the psychiatric hospital, I'm saying he had these issues because it did not trigger a wake up call.

sneak 14y ago

You don't get to reference the Erdős story and not tell it, it's too good: > His colleague Alfréd Rényi said, "a mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems",[31] and Erdős drank copious quantities. (This quotation is often attributed incorrectly to Erdős,[32] but Erdős himself ascribed it to Rényi.[33]) After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month.[34] Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine use. (From wikipedia)