Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Thu 10th Apr 2008 22:12 UTC
One in five Nature readers -- mostly scientists -- say they up their mental performance with drugs such as Ritalin, Provigil, and Inderal. [...] when asked how they felt about professional thinkers using drugs to enhance their cognitive performance, nearly 80% said it should be allowed. While this report reaches a different part of science, the usage of these drugs can be utilized by software developers alike. What is your opinion on this, somewhat new, development?
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Member since:
2005-07-06
I disagree and have seen several examples to the contrary. For example one person I knew showed no real aptitude for math and failed first year mathematical analysis god knows how many times at university. But for whatever reason he wanted to be a mathematician so he refused to give up and kept working on it. And while he'll probably never be a great mathematician, he at least got good enough to get his Masters and be offered a PhD position at a fairly prestigious university.
Don't underestimate the power of sheer bloodymindedness. Passion and interest are far more important that natural aptitude. As a counterpoint to the above story I met several people at university who figured they'd go for a math degree, not because they where passionate about it, but because they had a natural aptitude for math, got straight A's through highschool without having to study and figured to math at university would be the easy for them. Long story short, most of them failed most of their exams and had dropped out by the end of the first year or second year.
In fact one of those people was me. I found math and physics easy throughout high school, yet dropped out of physics at university with horrible grades because I found I had no passion or interest for the subject. So I gave up on academia and spent a few years doing low level sysadmin and programming jobs instead. Later through I series of events I found my passion for math rekindled and headed back to university where I this time around managed to get my Masters in mathematics without any significant problem, because this time I really wanted it and enjoyed the subject.
Funny you should say that, because if I was to make a list of things you had to be good at to be good at math, abstract thinking would easily top the list. So as such I don't think it's that you suck at math per se. it's probably more likely a combination of bad teaching and a lack of passion and interest from your side. Which is perfectly cool, because if everybody was good at math I'd never get a job.