NationStates Jolt Archive

Linky (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6558871.stm)

The government is assessing the impact of a new generation of drugs that are claimed to make people more intelligent.
The Department of Health has asked the Academy of Medical Sciences to assess these so-called "cognition enhancing" drugs, some of which are already being widely used in the US.


What do you think of this?
At the moment I have to say I don't think that this is a good idea. Just like steriods and other performance enhancing drugs are banned in the Olympics and sports competitions, these should not be allowed in exams and academic competions (like the maths olympics). Does this mean We'll have to give people drugs tests before exams? The article also mentions the possible effect on employment, people taking the drugs to stay competitive should the use become more widespread, making the whole thing a neccessary part of work.

I would use such drugs to be teh uber on NSG :D

Obviously there are going to be side effects to these drugs, and I cannot think of any naturally accruing substances that can actually make you smarter. I have a feeling these will end up on infomercials the same way fat burning pills have.

Mentats! I wonder when Psycho and Jet will be coming out?

See, that's the problem. At first they had steroids banned at games - which was okay. But then they banned people from using steroids just to look/be tough.

Banning intelligence drugs - as they likely will - just... ew,

I think if there's a method to get smarter and people can use itt, those who wish to, should be allowed to. It will benefit us all.

Yeah, I'd imagine these drugs are in the same vein as the magic weight loss pill or hair growth spray.

What do you think of this?
One word - Placebo.

I think if there's a method to get smarter and people can use itt, those who wish to, should be allowed to. It will benefit us all.
Well, there's a difference between

- artificially enhancing the amount of knowledge a person can hold and process at a time, such as (for example) through very basic cybernetics
- actually physically changing the composition of the chemical balance in the brain

In the latter case, you're not just changing how smart a person can be; you're consciously altering the way they think, and that makes me seriously uneasy.

Mentats! I wonder when Psycho and Jet will be coming out?

Jesus christ, heart for you.

Well, there's a difference between

- artificially enhancing the amount of knowledge a person can hold and process at a time, such as (for example) through very basic cybernetics
- actually physically changing the composition of the chemical balance in the brain

In the latter case, you're not just changing how smart a person can be; you're consciously altering the way they think, and that makes me seriously uneasy.

Wouldn't make them smarter also adjust the way they think?

Wouldn't make them smarter also adjust the way they think?

That's what he said :P

These drugs cant even exist...
If u take them its not like you will suddenly know more things, u still have to learn them. Maybe these drugs increase your concentration so you will be better at learning, but anything more is impossible.

knowledge has to be gathered... ;)

Intelligence =/= knowledge.

Unless this somehow causes rapid cellular division in the brain, it isn't going to make you smarter.

Wouldn't make them smarter also adjust the way they think?
Not necessarily. Imagine, for instance, that you had a high storage memory array attached to your head that you could read and write thoughts from/to in a similar way that we might tell our hands to type something on screen or gather from our hearing that someone is telling is to go jump off a bridge. The only change this would have on you would be that

a) you'd be able to remember more
b) you'd more readily be able to commit something to memory.

Your sense of reasoning and experience would be unaffected, even while you would be able to learn more and learn more easily. The kind of thing suggested in the OP, however, will deal with thought on a chemical level, which will actually change how you think (possibly even without making you any "smarter" as a result).

It would be an excellent idea to put these in to the market. If they were to have proven cognition-enhancing effects it would be a major boon to a lot of different fields; we could always use more intelligent engineers, doctors, scientists, politicians and everything else. It would enable people not fortunate enough to be born with high intelligence to achieve more, and for those already intelligent to push themselves even further.

Besides, people have been using the cognition-boosting substance known as caffeine for hundreds of years, so it really is just a further step along the same road. And if people have to take them to be more productive at work, so be it; our economy could benefit massively from that kind of enhancement and I really wouldn't have a problem with productivity enhancement as long as it's safe. We already force people to augment their intelligence through education to work anyways, so this would just improve upon the current situation.

I personally would prefer outright augmentation and replacement of the brain itself, but this is hopefully an early step in the same vein.

does anyone on this thread actualy know what the drug does? I mean i understand that it is supposed to make you smarter... but how dies it accomplish it? it seems to me that there could be any number of ways of enhanceing certain brain funktion.... im no expert on the subject, and i dont know if anyone else here is, but it seems u could have a drug that increases youre capability to quicly memorize things, or store more stuff... or increase the mylin on your neurons and speed up brain activity, any of these things mate make you seem smarter... i guess my question is, does anyone actualy know what they are talking about? because there seems to be alot of, it would do this or that or alter that... so is there an artikle out that i haven't read, or aree ther alot of biochemists and ... people that study the brain (don't know the technical term for that) that can accurately guess what would happen.


As for weather its moral to use, as long as there are no side effects dangerous to your health, it should be marketable, and as long as it doesn't somehow alter the way you think to make you more violent or reckless, then it should be your choice as to weather you use it, as fore legality in things such as mathletes or jeapordy or w/e i guess its the individual organizeations call

it gets more complicated when it comes to qualifying to university or scholarships or w/e. If you are smarter for whatever reason, in a practical world, doesn't that make you more qualified for an intleigence related job? it seems it should be qalright to use, UNLESS it turns out to be extremely expencive, in which case it is lending a huge advantage to the haves, and by over qualifying the rich people, you are further damageing the possibilites for the have nots to make a better life for themselves (like if a bunch of rich people can afford to enhance their intelligence and get into good universities and take of all the places there for dissadvantaged people, or further drive the price up, then it becomes an immoral use for the drug...

please excuse the poor structure of the arguement.