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:
2007-08-29
Well, yes. Our present average lifestyle is unnatural, as it happens. And, interestingly enough, the unnatural parts tend not to be very healthy.
Coffee is bad for you. Soda is bad for you. Smoking is bad for you (smoking has no positive side effects whatsoever). Not sleeping during the night is bad for you. Looking at a CRT (or LCD) very much is bad for you. Not getting enough sleep is bad for you. Obesity is bad for you.
You're going to have a long, uphill struggle if you want to argue that boosters have no detrimental side effects. A reasonable argument might be that an acceptable product or behavior is one the utility of which exceeds its health detriments.
EDIT: A "natural" lifestyle would be hunter-gatherer, and nobody is arguing for going back that that. The health benifits of a few of our unnatural advances (agriculture, medicine, germ theory) easily outweigh all the detrimental practices combined, which is why a smoking couch potato still has a life expectancy about twice that of any population on earth until quite recently.
Edited 2008-04-11 03:00 UTC