3 ms·

The underground world of neuroenhancing drugs (2009)

22 points by sajid 12y ago

Dewie 12y ago
> Working memory has been likened to a mental scratch pad: you use it to keep relevant data in mind while you’re completing a task. (Imagine a cross-examination, in which a lawyer has to keep track of the answers a witness has given, and formulate new questions based on them.) Isn't it weird that we have to use auxiliary,learned tools as an analogy to how an innate tool works, and not the other way around? It's not like we don't have a lot of experience with thinking and forgetting, ourselves.
z0r 12y ago
I feel like I've read this before, but I must not have known who Paul Phillips was the first time around. Interesting to be reading about the poker player and not the compiler author
- Dewie 12y ago
  Oh damn, I didn't know they were the same person. All I knew about him beforehand is from watching this video[1], but it's weird to read about a person and then find out that they also were the same person that you knew from somewhere else. [1] (How Scala [Typesafe] is doing "everything wrong") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1lpKBMkgg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1lpKBMkgg
callesgg 12y ago
The article seams very sensationalized.
mylons 12y ago
i'm curious what the current state of nootropics is compared to 2009. who has some insights on their throwaway?
- johnward 12y ago
  I haven't read this article yet but this seems like a good summary of what's going on now: http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/wiki/faq
- hashberry 12y ago
  Adderall and modafinil are still the drugs of choice for focus. Modafinil can easily be bought online and is a favorite to many for its pleasant clear buzz and long half-life (15 hours).
lkrubner 12y ago
I understand that this article is focused on a different type of drug, but still I would have appreciated some mention of nerve growth factor. I find it interesting that Rita Levi-Montalcini worked until she was 102 years old, and I've read reports of NGF maintaining brain size in old people, so there is some evidence of it being "neuroenhancing" in some sense. It should get a mention in an article like this.
- Toast_ 12y ago
  I think the article may be focusing more upon the intention behind taking the drug, rather than the drug's actual function. If we were to extend the definition as functionally "neuroenhancing," you may end up with a rather wonky list; Take for instance 2,4-Dinitrophenol. Source:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/15216540600702198/abstract;jsessionid=48AA99076FE8C76A12359421A8042B00.f02t01 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/15216540600702198...

22 points by sajid 12y ago

Dewie 12y ago

> Working memory has been likened to a mental scratch pad: you use it to keep relevant data in mind while you’re completing a task. (Imagine a cross-examination, in which a lawyer has to keep track of the answers a witness has given, and formulate new questions based on them.) Isn't it weird that we have to use auxiliary,learned tools as an analogy to how an innate tool works, and not the other way around? It's not like we don't have a lot of experience with thinking and forgetting, ourselves.

z0r 12y ago

I feel like I've read this before, but I must not have known who Paul Phillips was the first time around. Interesting to be reading about the poker player and not the compiler author

Dewie 12y ago
Oh damn, I didn't know they were the same person. All I knew about him beforehand is from watching this video[1], but it's weird to read about a person and then find out that they also were the same person that you knew from somewhere else. [1] (How Scala [Typesafe] is doing "everything wrong") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1lpKBMkgg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1lpKBMkgg

callesgg 12y ago

The article seams very sensationalized.

mylons 12y ago

i'm curious what the current state of nootropics is compared to 2009. who has some insights on their throwaway?

johnward 12y ago
I haven't read this article yet but this seems like a good summary of what's going on now: http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/wiki/faq
hashberry 12y ago
Adderall and modafinil are still the drugs of choice for focus. Modafinil can easily be bought online and is a favorite to many for its pleasant clear buzz and long half-life (15 hours).

lkrubner 12y ago

I understand that this article is focused on a different type of drug, but still I would have appreciated some mention of nerve growth factor. I find it interesting that Rita Levi-Montalcini worked until she was 102 years old, and I've read reports of NGF maintaining brain size in old people, so there is some evidence of it being "neuroenhancing" in some sense. It should get a mention in an article like this.

Toast_ 12y ago
I think the article may be focusing more upon the intention behind taking the drug, rather than the drug's actual function. If we were to extend the definition as functionally "neuroenhancing," you may end up with a rather wonky list; Take for instance 2,4-Dinitrophenol. Source:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/15216540600702198/abstract;jsessionid=48AA99076FE8C76A12359421A8042B00.f02t01 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/15216540600702198...