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God, when I was scanning HN's front-page, for a moment saw this as "Using heroine helped decode Linear B"! Which brings to mind two things: * Many people have
by Jun8 13y ago
God, when I was scanning HN's front-page, for a moment saw this as "Using heroine helped decode Linear B"!
Which brings to mind two things:
* Many people have used "mind-expanding" drugs to create new art, literature, etc. but I wonder if there has been any cases where they helped with a scientific discovery, e.g. similar to the classic example of Kekule seeing a snake biting his tail while day-dreaming and realized that this was the structure of the benzene molecule. On a different note: can you code while you're high (caffeine doesn't count!)?
* The other thought was gaining intuition on how the brain decodes writing, there seems to be a probabilistic aspect to it, where word meanings have probabilities assigned to them, much like a spelling checker: http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html
- youngerdryas 13y ago> I wonder if there has been any cases where they helped with a scientific discovery Paul Erdos was a prolific mathematician who was notorious for using speed to keep going on a problem. He briefly quit for his health but quickly decided it made him too unproductive.
- thebooktocome 13y agoSome form of "hard" stimulant use (i.e., not just caffiene) is widespread in the circles of academia I frequent.
- Jun8 13y agoI've heard that Ritalin (ab)use is widespread in academia.
- ScottBurson 13y agoWell, as I have read, Erdos didn't "use speed" the way one might think most people use speed. He took the same small dose -- 5mg, IIRC -- every morning. He quit to prove to a colleague that he could quit, but once that was established, as you say, he went back to his previous practice. The point is, if everyone who used psychoactive drugs did so as responsibly as Paul Erdos, there would be little reason to make them illegal.