6 ms·
Reading this reminds me of Paul Erdös's amphetamine habit. Excerpt from "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers": Like all of Erdös's friends, Graham was concerned abo
by cypherpunks01 13y ago
Reading this reminds me of Paul Erdös's amphetamine habit. Excerpt from "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers":
Like all of Erdös's friends, Graham was concerned about his drug-taking. In 1979, Graham bet Erdös $500 that he couldn't stop taking amphetamines for a month. Erdös accepted the challenge, and went cold turkey for thirty days. After Graham paid up--and wrote the $500 off as a business expense--Erdös said, "You've showed me I'm not an addict. But I didn't get any work done. I'd get up in the morning and stare at a blank piece of paper. I'd have no ideas, just like an ordinary person. You've set mathematics back a month." He promptly resumed taking pills, and mathematics was the better for it.
- sillysaurus2 13y agoThere's probably a good chance the placebo effect was holding him back during that month. He was already nervous that he might need the drugs to continue working (otherwise he wouldn't have made the bet) so it follows that he may have tricked himself into believing he needed the drugs to keep working. It's hard to say either way.
- GrahamsNumber 13y agoQuitting amphetamines after a long time of use would definitely make your brain go blank for a while.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- carterschonwald 13y agonot so sure about that. when taken in the prescribed doses, amphetamines have no side effects that persist after cessation of treatment. They're among the safest prescribed substances on the planet. Amphetamines aren't used for creativity. They more accurately could be characterized as "reducing the activation energy for entering (and resuming) the focused state needed for a task". quitting caffeine by contrast, will cause terrible headaches and a shitty mood for a at least half a week.
- GrahamsNumber 13y agoI am sure about that, as someone who's taking prescribed doses.
- sliverstorm 13y agoThey're among the safest prescribed substances on the planet. That seems like a very doubtful claim. To my knowledge, for example, antibiotics are pretty much 100% safe (unless you have an allergy). Are you indeed comparing amphetamines to all other prescription drugs? Or perhaps only to prescription drugs with abuse potential?
- greenfieldprod 13y agoAntibiotics can be pretty taxing on your body and metabolism.
- gnaritas 13y agoAntibiotics are not 100% safe, they can have serious life threatening consequences. They can knock your bacterial balance out of whack in your digestion system leading to colon issues.
- sliverstorm 13y agoSo... more dangerous than amphetamines?
- gnaritas 13y agoI have no position on that, I just wanted to point out that antibiotics are not totally safe.
- greenfieldprod 13y agoAmphetamine is a dopamine agonist with downstream effects that inhibit the reuptake of monoamines and trace amines. Dopamine agonists and monoamine reuptake inhibitors cause tolerance and withdrawal. Cessation after chronic use at prescribed doses will cause a rebound of apathy and inability to focus.
- Killah911 13y agoBS, that isn't "placebo" effect. Tried that experiment. Amphetamines are addictive as hell. Sure you can stop taking them but it leaves your neurochemical state in the crapper for a while, so you're down & out (Maybe a withdrawal symptom). IMHO, best not to screw with the brain. It's a fairly complex bit of machinery & you may be wishing you left it at good enough. I know someone who did the electromagnetic stimulation thing, it sounded crazy to me at the time but then actively flooding you bloodstream with crap that will "hack" you brain isn't that far off either
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Killah911 13y agoFYI, guy who tried the electromagnetic stimulation had a baby, when I saw him afterwards he always seemed tired. I'm assuming any benefit from the electromagnetic stimulation was negated by lack of sleep... Did not seem to get significantly smarter or anything.
- pmiller2 13y agoYou clearly didn't know him personally. Although I didn't, I know people who did, and, trust me, he probably would have made the bet either way. ;)