I think this is a great idea, because I am a transhumanist: we are made of matter, and we can change ourselves by changing that matter. We have no telos, we can be as we will. There is nothing useful to be learned from suffering save sympathy for those who suffer, which we should engender in our children anyway (and which often doesn’t happen—often, the over-worked are cruelly unsympathetic to the poor); it is cruel to keep someone who wants to better themselves from doing so.

That being said, it’s important to make people aware of just how bad our current drugs are. I can see discouraging people from using these crude tools, because people are often not equipped to understand the extent of the damage they can do. I think something much like the process forced on people who wish to change their outward gender (again, using our hilariously primitive tool-set) might be in order.

And, as in the case of recreational drugs, we must understand the price to our freedoms and purses of attempting to stop this. We bet on freedom, faute de mieux.

These drugs are known to be addictive, cause heart problems, and shrink the brains of people who take them by about 10%, among other adverse effects.

Profits for the pharmaceutical industry are now senior to the health and well-being of Americans–and Big Pharma will do anything to keep the billions rolling in.

However, it is apathetic to just lie down and let the pharmaceutical bus roll over us and our children. When people know the truth about drugs, they become much less interested in taking them or giving them to others.

We can’t look to the “research” paid for by pharmacutical dollars for the truth, as the judgements against Eli Lilly for falsifying Zyprexa research so clearly illustrates.

I’d like to see a full vetting of who has paid for her “research.” The corruption of medicine by Big Pharma is so rampant, that any promotion of drugs should now be accompanied by a complete financial disclosure.

One thing I might caution potential users of “mind enhancers” both healthy and otherwise is this.

My 19 year old daughter died two years ago of ahrythmia. She was taking a legally prescribed large dose of Adderall and birth control medications. The coroner said neither of the meds had any influence in her death. She saidher heart got out of sync with her brain. Now I wonder…

Last week her 18 year old sister collapsed at work. She’s fine and wearing a heart monitor but after tests were run by a physican specializing in ahrythmia, lo and behold, she was taken off of anti depressents because (I was told) they can cause uneven heart rhythm in some cases. He thinks it may be a congenital syndrome.

Although it’s a rare disorder, I feel anyone who feels the need to ingest these drugs may want to have a conversation with a specialist who is familiar with the potential for them to stress the rhythm of heart.

By the way, has anyone done a study of the effects of mixing heavily caffinated drinks with their “mind enhancers”?

Personally, I feel that’s one of the reasons this country has gone so nuts!

Thank You! I really enjoy your show!

Americans are such a bunch of Puritans. Everything has to be really good or really bad. These drugs are neither. Puritanism with regards to sex results in teen pregnancy. (There are studies to back this up.) Puritanism with regards to drugs results in abuse, crime, imprisonment, budget deficits and death. Doesn’t anyone remember the first prohibition? There has to be some middle path, where nuances are recognized, people admit that this stuff is not the devil, but still find a way to discourage inappropriate use. Notice that I say inappropriate use. Appropriate use is a good thing.

I tend to think for anyone lacking any mental problems, this stuff is not worth it. At least over the long term. These are real drugs and do have some side effects, although the stimulants have been studied for MANY decades, even before WW2. However, there can be a real benefit, and in that case the side effects are acceptable.

I know a kid who’s now in prison for a really stupid impulsive thing he did with some other kids. And, after doing that, he belongs there. However, if you spent 5 minutes with this kid you’d know there was something wrong with his brain. If there wasn’t so much of a stigma, and if good treatment had been more available, this kid would probably be working 10 to 12 hour days (which he likes to do) at some reasonably high level job (he’s not dumb), instead of using up our money in prison and trying to keep his butt from being violated. He’s spent a lot of time in solitary because he won’t rat out the people that the guards won’t protect him from.

There are studies which show that with appropriate medication for ADHD, the criminals who have this condition (a very high proportion) deal with their impulsivity better, are less likely to get into trouble, and even are less likely to abuse the very same drugs that they are getting from the program.

This doesn’t mean that I approve of lots of college students taking this stuff all the time, but I think we’ve shown that draconian law enforcement is not the solution.

I myself don’t have so much of that impulsive thing, or at least I’ve learned to stifle it, but I do drift. If you think this kind of thing is imaginary, try doing a project when every time you put down a tool you forget where it is. I think, unmedicated, I average about a third of my time when doing projects just trying to remember where the tool is. And I have trouble remembering to take my medication for another medical problem unrelated to ADD. Even though the ADD drug somewhat increases my risk, I suspect that, with caution, it actually reduces my total risk because my “compliance” is better. So that way I can stay out of the emergency room and your health insurance is cheaper.

My IQ is someplace between 125 and 155. I graduated from a famous school you’ve heard of. Unfortunately, it took 14 years and I just made it. That was before adults were thought to have ADD, and before SSRI’s. (I tended to be pretty depressed, and sometimes very depressed.) If I’d had the medication, I bet it would have saved my old man $50,000 or more in tuition. And I’d like to be making a bigger contribution to society, but even with the drug, I’m a bit underemployed. If I had a normal level of focus, I’m sure I could have done much much more. As it is, the meds make it easier to hold down a good job, and much easier to look for one when I’m out of work. That saves you people paying taxes money. Still, they only sort of work. Anyone at work who knew what they were looking for could tell I had it. But I don’t let on because of the stigma. And my case is mild. I know people who have much worse problems. Talented people whose talents we don’t benefit from.

We are willing to believe lots of people have health problems. No one tells someone with diabetes to just buckle down and use their will to solve it. But lots of people have physical problems with their brains. Of course they do. It’s the most complicated part of the body. So let’s not get holier than thou about meds. They’re imperfect, they have dangers, but they can be useful.

Like I said before, the Pharma industry was not on this panel so why do people think that the Pharma industry is involved with this?? Because people have this preconceived notion about the drug industry with minimal solid proof to back up their claims.

I am a scientist and all neuro research I know about in the pharma industry is geared toward Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, parkinsons, neuropain and other serious neurological disorders. I know of no scientist who wishes to waste their time doing research on “mind-enhancing” drugs no matter what their employer pays. After all, when disgusted with current situations, scientists can, and do, move to other jobs. We are not stupid nor are we robots.

The Pharma industry neither has the interest nor resources to go after an indication like mind-enhancement that is 1) very controversial and 2) whose outcome (mind enhancement) is very subjective. During a clinical trial, how do you measure “mind enhancement”??? “Oooh. I feel good and focussed.” “Well, so do you feel this way because you took the drug or because you had sex today and released alot of built up frustration?” Dang. Talk about a placebo effect. Measurement of “mind enhancement” isn’t as easy as measuring effect of a chemo drug on tumor shrinkage.

Finally, I bet that with this controversy, Martha is getting alot of interest as a speaker and possibly selling a few more books.

My other point of view, in conflict with what I just said, is that personally, why should I care if person X wants to take drug X that may be bad for them? If they CHOOSE to do so, then they should be able to. Although, legal issue come to play with that. In an age devoid of legalized responsibility, maybe this type of approach is not a good idea.