David Jay Brown wrote:The term “smart drugs” was coined by John Morgenthaler, who coauthored two books on the subject, and unleashed a powerful meme into popular culture. Over the past twenty years a whole range of new drugs, technically known as “nootropics” or “cognitive enhancers,” have been developed that improve learning and memory, problem-solving abilities, verbal articulation, and even scores on standard I.Q. tests.
A substantial subculture of optimal health seekers, and self-described “transhumanists,” have been experimenting with these substances for years, posting their reports on websites like Erowid and Bluelight, and there is a wealth of information available to anyone interested in exploring this subject.
Many of these drugs were initially developed to treat memory disorder problems, and age-related cognitive decline, but a lot of healthy people interested in maximizing their cognitive abilities have discovered that nootropics can improve their mental performance too.
Nootropics are drugs, herbs, and nutritional supplements that reportedly improve mental functions, such as concentration, memory consolidation, cognition, motivation, attention, and other traits associated with intelligence. The word “nootropic” was coined by Romanian researcher Corneliu E. Giurgea in 1972, and although the term is not meant to describe psychedelics, it literally means “mind bender.” The word is derived from the Greek words “nous” (or “mind”), and “trepein” (meaning “to bend” or “to turn”).
Anyone else got anything on this? I also remember reading some descriptive statistics that showed that people who took drugs tend to have less cognitive decline as they age compared to those that haven't...
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:23 pm
by wub
When I drink half a bottle of tequila, I become like fucking Jackie Chan when it comes to DJing...does that count?
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:30 pm
by wilson
Joe Rogan swears by them on his podcast, he is joint owner of Alpha Brain. Considering trying them myself since you can claim your money back if they don't do much for you. http://www.onnit.com/alphabrain/
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:36 pm
by wub
wilson wrote:Joe Rogan swears by them
Joe Rogan is about two spliffs away from a tin foil hat
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:43 pm
by jigglypuff
wub wrote:
wilson wrote:Joe Rogan swears by them
Joe Rogan is about two spliffs away from a tin foil hat
so true
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:18 pm
by test_recordings
wilson wrote:Joe Rogan swears by them on his podcast, he is joint owner of Alpha Brain. Considering trying them myself since you can claim your money back if they don't do much for you. http://www.onnit.com/alphabrain/
I'd prefer pure, singular forms of things to mix and match but that still looks cool!
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:25 pm
by hoody
joe rogan definitely does a mad alex jones impression its at 9.45 and he definitely seems to swear by that alphabrain stuff but if he's joint owner he has a good reason to but kinda keen to give em a go one day though might do some mad mixes on that shit haha
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:32 pm
by mrdii
There's basically two levels of contrasting thought out there:
A) Using these drugs daily, with unlimited supply is the next step in human evolution. It isn't biologically induced, and is part of scientific/societal breakthrough instead of a physical change.
B) Using these drugs daily will enhance your intelligence, but will ultimately leave you with possible/future health problems. As well, there's a connection with eugenics, that these drugs will push the elite further from the masses. It's all a bit dystopian.
I actually know someone who takes these kind of drugs, as his main income is poker (he's very good at it) and he earns good money. The problem is, he needs to stay awake for long hours, with high concentration, so he does these drugs. Personally I would never take them, but I can see why it's done. It just all seems a bit 'Brave new world'-esque to me which is frightening!
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:53 pm
by Words
is piracetam legal in the uk? it's the one everyone talks about but seems hard to find here
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:55 pm
by Sexual_Chocolate
smoking teh weed has maded me smarts
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:25 pm
by TooMuch
did they not make a film out of this kind of debate? Very intriguing ideas but also very nervy/scary if you ask me!
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:47 pm
by dubfordessert
i would take these to counteract the cognitive effects of my mood stabilisers
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:01 pm
by idontreallygiveashit
I took Piracetam for a while during A-levels. Fucked up regardless.
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:10 pm
by dubfordessert
if i know i am fucked for an exam and haven't studied or revised i always end up a little bit sleep deprived and then rev up on caffeine and it seems to make up for it. i think the sleep deprivation just makes you giddy so you stop caring that you'll do badly and so you do ok
i might try some performance enhancers and see if that improves. you don't want your brain to get hooked concentrating on the wrong thing (like the fact you're fucked) or working out the wrong thing (like exactly how fucked you are to 3 sig figs)
summary: maybe emotional stuff is as important as actually how clever you can make your brain
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:20 pm
by kay
Don't need drugs to enhance intelligence. Improve your intelligence by using it.
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:22 pm
by dubfordessert
kay wrote:Don't need drugs to enhance intelligence. Improve your intelligence by using it.
effort
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:39 pm
by BLAHBLAHJAH
Anyway... Speaking of fish... If you wanna learn to swim, go buy a book on "how to swim" and pop these legal enhancers for every study session before jumping into the deep end and drowning in a most humiliating fashion. What could this mean? [DIRECTIONAL EFFORT IS A MUST]
Plenty of stnuc would take such drugs then spend 10 hours frying their dribbled brains out of their eyes and mouth, staring at their own hands just expecting the next reincarnation of genius to visit. In reality, they'd just get to level 90 at being a waste of oxygen if that's all they practice. There's plenty of other catalysts to use in learning... Even if it means using drugs to simply induce a strict routine or enhance endurance... Hell, even just to escape "the real world"... Ain't that intelligence.... guyz
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:20 am
by wobbles
jack daniels make me a fucking wizard of all skills
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:16 am
by _TraX_
nutella
Re: Drugs to specifically enhance your intelligence?
Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:20 am
by Ba-zinga
one time i brought a pack of crazy cores skittles to a calc test. got a perfect score. i might be on to something here. will use other flavors and report back. maybe it's just the crazy cores
