There’s a whole new suite of “cognitive enhancement” drugs out there. In many cases, they’ve been designed to address the difficulties of people with conditions such as Alzheimers, or ADHD. But they’re also being used by people to get peak mental performace. Some university students take Ritalin to stay focused and pull all-nighters.
As drugs and treatments emerge to improve human performance, is the line between ‘treatment’ and ‘enhancement’ blurring? Would you take pills if you thought they would improve your memory, focus, or alertness without side effects? If most people in your workplace took them, would you feel pressured to do so too?
Why can’t I find the podcasts for these?
Tema,
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some use ambien, a sleeping aid, which when you force yourself to keep awake you get a cheap high. Similarily with seroquel.
I go the other way i have to slow down to “normal” level with drugs otherwise ill stay up for days via mania. So is this the same thing? I have to take “stupid” drugs.
Unless work is a disease, you don’t need a treatment for it.
If taking pills makes a job better or you better, then you’re in the wrong job.
But since we need jobs to live, and some jobs are competitve I’d consider taking something that “improved” my ability to cope if it was (a) not going to cost me my health (b) was not illegal (c) was relatively cheap and (d) everyone else is doing it.
Coffee, exercise and web-browsing work for me.
It’s true that we know that caffeine affects us in certain ways. We know that exercise adds to feelings of wellness, not to mention ‘runner’s high’. Perhaps not only is the line between enhancement and treatment blurry, but the line between drug and lifestyle is blurry…
As far as the workplace is concerned, I don’t think there is a blur at all. It is a choice. I don’t even think the ethics are blurry. It’s about work (usually not a choice) and the job you do (a choice) – if you need pills to enhance work performace, please get a different J-O-B.
The thought of pills to help me at my job is spooky but not as spooky as me being defined by my job.
As for drugs that enhance mental, sexual or physical performace I would say that they too become the lifestyle. That is to say, the lifestyle is drug taking and the outcome of that is whatever the drug dictates.
I don't think it is at all possible to dope the brain without having some sort of physical after effects. Every drug that comes to mind that can effect the neural chemical balance of the brain or effects the physical or chemical structure of the brain can also cause side effects *usually adverse ones*. Any sort of chemical enhancement to the body has a chance to cause tremendously bad things as side effects, thus anything effecting the brain will be no different. If these kind of drugs are needed to help with an illness the use them under supervision but using them to perform outside of your natural abilities will only lead to damage. So in answer to the question, no i wouldn't use mental doping as a way to improve my performance, i like my brain the way it is! Thanks
What frustrates me is kids are expected to fit in the shape the teachers expect them to fit in (ie. my son always finds the other side of an idea and will respectfully question a discipline or a rule imposed in the classroom. So guess what? He’s been labeled as ADHD and supposed to be taking meds to treat his wandering mind…as a parent I am torn between allowing my son his own bubbly creativity or having him fail in school and having a “pill-pushing specialist” refuse to have him as a patient if he doesn’t take meds to calm his shortcircuit in his brain – as was explained to my son to justify his taking medication. A 13-year-old boy has little chance of sprouting in or current school system. Thanks.
I think we should think about and except the fact that we already use “drugs” to effect and alter our performance and mood. Whether this is good or bad I think depends on the long term, if any, health consequences of using those drugs. Many people have a moral rejection to using drugs because they think it violates being ‘natural’ and pure. that anyone who does take drugs becomes in away unnatural and therefore weak. Whether its using coffee to wake up and be alert, or ritalin to focus, or using some natural herbal supplement, these all are a form of drug use. All of our ideas of health and nature are riddled with cultural biases.
I believe, and I can only speak for myself, that there is no drug out there that can increase intelligence, and I am one who is strongly against the artificial development of human nature. Sure, I won’t disagree; I would love to smarter then I am right now. I’ve pretty well flunked school, but passed enough to graduate through high school. I would love to go back and take the courses that I so desired to add to my resume, but never understood it entirely. Messing around with artificial substances, which to me, is 98 % of all drugs on the current market, have more drastic effects then me care to notice. I see it all the time with friends, loved ones and family members. I notice the settle changes and the side effects. And in two instances, they are fighting for their lives because of it. Lise D, I now where you’re coming from. I was one of those children. But I had ADHD. I had always thought a little too ahead of myself, and defied the rules with what the teacher had said. I am now 21, and if you hadn’t known that I told you I had ADHD, you wouldn’t guess it. I have NEVER taken any medication for it, and my mother was strongly against the teachers enforcing that I do take it. Plus, as much as it doesn’t seem to be a big factor to tell your kid they have to take pills for the rest of the school years, it will affect your child. A kid would be devastated to find out he/she needs to take pills to ‘fit in’ with the rest of the kids. What an immoral society we live in.
I’m curious as to if the people from Spark have any sites that deal with the’ ritalin’ issue with ADHD kids, something like a support group for all ages. I know this has been an ongoing battle, because I grew up dealing with when I was little, and still watch the many children with ADHD and their parents struggle with it. I would like to get involved in such a support group, because I’ve been there.
@Hamish,
Very interesting idea about the culture bias in how we think about drugs vs. what’s natural.
I guess I do wonder where the end point is. If our pharmaceutical research agenda is linked to ‘enhancement’ rather than (or in addition to) treatment.
As usual with me, I’m of two minds.
@Jason, we haven’t really started doing our research on the topic yet. It won’t air until Feb 20th/23rd, but a good suggestion.
Thank you for the consideration. When you do come across some information please leave me a message at da_bom_vs@hotmail.com
Like I’ve already said this has been a topic that I’ve been dealing with all my life, and I want to help people deal with their issues. Great Show, Nora and the crew! Keep it up guys!
This has a been a topic I’ve thought about over the years.
The temptation to cheat generally increases with what is at stake. Aside from a few vain bodybuilder types, there is little or no doping in recreational sport, since the well known harmful side effects of performance enhancing drugs make them not worth the risk, hassle and expense for most people. Once the prospect of money enters the picture, everything changes, and as we know, there are many professional and semi-professional sports where doping is part of the culture.
I’ve always conjectured what might happen should effective “mental steroids” ever come on the scene. In this case, everybody is part of the competition (ie; grades in school, job hunting, career prospects…) so intrinsically, the talent pool for this scenario potentially involves everyone, whether the prize in question would serve to simply pay the bills or reap shiny shiny lucre.
In certain ways, we frequently make such deals with the devil. Developing nations will tolerate a far higher level of pollution, to attract industry and achieve some economic benefit. Many western nations can afford not to. So, depending on how potent any future “mental steroids” may become, the question could become: Who could afford not to?
@kdott,
I think your right about what people would be willing to put up with in side effects if the market/social forces made it necessary keep on par with with our peers. There was a time in western culture where taking a mental health drug was slightly taboo. but obviously we have moved past that and pharmaceuticals have become quite acceptable now. I think that as ‘newer, better, faster’ drugs are developed allowing us to “improve” our performances we will all follow along with new ideas about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior in relation to them. For example, as has been pointed out many times before look at our new acceptance that 70+ year olds “should/ought” to be sexually active with the introduction of Viagra. And the impact of Viagra on mens relationships with their penises. How has our culture been changed by new ideas of health and the “medicine” that gets us there. Who knows, maybe our ideas about work have changed after caffeine was introduced.
Hmm… Interesting topic. As Jason and Lise pointed out, medications are not always what they seem. Or perhaps it is the misappication of medications…
I am another one of those who was a candidate for drugs to calm/focus me in school (uppers and downers at the same time if you can believe it). Fortunately for me my parents chose to go a different route.
As a young adult, I got into, and graduated from, one of the top business schools in the country without having achieved grade 13.
I would say off hand that it was my teachers and the education system that were the problem, not me.
Perhaps as part of this show, you could look at the possibilities of mis-application and misuse of such drugs.
Fred
Well, fred, it’s a proven fact; I think it’s 8 out of 10 times in the instance where a kid needs more focus, it is the teachers fault because the are A. Impatient to the point where the want the kid drugged so he can be up to level with the rest of his class, B. Foul humour, or multiple bad days can cause them to be irritable, especiqally if teacher finds the peculiar student over active, C. Failure to comply to the school rules, or the rules that the Teacher has issued or laid out and addressed, D. Failure to help that student ‘better’ their mark, because he/she is failing horribly.
These tend to be some of the main reasons that I’ve seen, noticed and concluded. I have heard other stories, but these are a few of the reasons that came up the most. There are other reasonings. Also, not to mention, the education system ‘expects’ to understand some material, which maybe hard for someone who had an Attention Deficit Disorder or ADHD. The education system then places that student in a ‘special ed’ class until they learn the material they need. People with ADD and ADHD are naturally smarter then the average student, and choose to ‘defy’ the systematic rules through words and logic, not physical strength.