Turbo thought?
May 20th, 2008
Jonah Lehrer writes about the hidden cost of smart drugs. He examines Johann Hari’s account of taking Provigil and the drugs effect on how well he functioned.
The short summary: Hari felt he absorbed new information more easily, worked more steadily, got more done:
Normally, one day out of seven I have a day when I’m working at my best – I’ve slept really well, and everything comes easily and fast. Provigil makes every day into that kind of day. It’s like I have been upgraded to a new operating system: Johann 3.0.
Hari was able to stop easily as well, he reports. Eventually he felt conflicted, deciding “taking narcolepsy drugs when you don’t have narcolepsy is just stupid.”
Lehrer’s post looks at some of the potential drawbacks to such brain boosters. He quotes one researching as saying that distractibility may not be a bad thing — it may increase the information available to the conscious mind.
I’d like to be more productive, more focused, and a better dancer, too, but the pessimist inside me is reluctant to engage in “unclinical trials.”
And to some extent, I feel it’s the quality rather than the quantity of what’s going on inside my head. (Not that the quality is that high, necessarily, but it’s the quality I have to work with.) People complain about the fire hose approach to training and learning; why increase the water pressure?
On mornings when I’m feeling more sluggish than usual, for now I’ll stick with two cups of what I think of as Lutheran coffee.
Fire hose booster photo by Matt Adams.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 pm
You’re right on with the quality vs. quantity idea. Provigil just keeps you awake, it doesn’t make you smarter or increase your memory. I wish he hadn’t written such a sensationalist article, with no links to further reading or anything.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Mr. Gunn, I’m taking your comment to mean it was Hari’s article that was sensational, not Lehrer’s mention of it — though I wish Lehrer had provided a little further reading as well. (Correct me if I’ve got that wrong.)
As I recall, even as “simple” a drug as ibuprofen there can be significant negative side effects. I’m not saying never, but even Hari seems to think taking Provigil isn’t the best idea.
I notice that Hari is not yet 30. Maybe he’d just like to have a boosted brain for a longer period of time.