Modafinil is a hot topic these days
Peter said he thought he needed modafinil. Why is it a hot topic now? His thought way back was that it was everything he needed at the time--mood regular, stimulant.
Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
21–30 of 642 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#22Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#23A lot of people experiment with various psychedelic drugs for the psychedelic purposes. Marijuana is pretty much normal. LSD is sometimes used in the form of microdosing that produces no psychedelic effects and should improve focus and creative thinking. And of course coffee and alcohol are abused hugely.
And MDMA. I've heard a fellow engineer say, "it lets me enjoy being an extrovert."
Yeah, forgot to mention that one, very true.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#24A lot of people experiment with various psychedelic drugs for the psychedelic purposes. Marijuana is pretty much normal. LSD is sometimes used in the form of microdosing that produces no psychedelic effects and should improve focus and creative thinking. And of course coffee and alcohol are abused hugely.
Yes, I've been reading about psychedelics. But that seems to be more to spark creativity (and there also appears to be some actual therapeutic benefits to it). Whereas opioids or stimulants seem to be used for different purposes.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#25i may have a somewhat atypical story and experience to share with you as i was certainly a heavy user of mind altering substances during the period of the past where I was a white collar software engineer. ive sent you an email about it, hopefully we can discuss it there. but all that aside I am madly interested in the potential output of this project as it has strong relevance to my individual life path.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#26A lot of weed and alcohol. People more curious than that will try LSD, schrooms, DMT, cocaine, Exctacy and MDMA. And pretty much any other drug they come across, at least once, except opiates. Never met anyone in IT doing opiates as far as I know (could be wrong). That is my experience amongst colleagues under 40 in the IT industry. Doesn't differ much from the other industry I've been in. None of these people have been effected by their weekend sins much besides hungovers and a thinner wallet.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#27A lot of people experiment with various psychedelic drugs for the psychedelic purposes. Marijuana is pretty much normal. LSD is sometimes used in the form of microdosing that produces no psychedelic effects and should improve focus and creative thinking. And of course coffee and alcohol are abused hugely.
And MDMA. I've heard a fellow engineer say, "it lets me enjoy being an extrovert."
Can you work better on ecstasy though? Isn't that more a recreational thing than a productivity related thing?
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think a human being is really only capable of like 6 hours of solid mental work throughout the day. And even that is tough, with all the distractions of modern life. When you take something like Adderall, that doubles to, say 12 hours and enables you to get hyper-focused on the task at hand. Sure, you can still get hyper-focused on the wrong thing , but if you can reign that in you're golden. Not only that, the amo…
Very insightful, I think, about the exec at a big company. A therapist who treats tech people in Sil Val said she has been told there is coke being done openly at some exec committee/board meetings, etc. and pressure to do it. Like Wall Street in the 1980s. Do you think there's any validity to this?
I'm not so sure about that (never seen it myself)... but cocaine is a LOT more prevalent than people realize.
There is a funny meme I saw recently that rings true:
Two biggest shocks of adult life.
1. everyone does cocaine
2. cheese is fucking expensiveRe: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#29i may have a somewhat atypical story and experience to share with you as i was certainly a heavy user of mind altering substances during the period of the past where I was a white collar software engineer. ive sent you an email about it, hopefully we can discuss it there. but all that aside I am madly interested in the potential output of this project as it has strong relevance to my individual life path.
I will be checking that email too, later today, and will respond. Thank you.
Re: Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
And MDMA. I've heard a fellow engineer say, "it lets me enjoy being an extrovert."
Can you work better on ecstasy though? Isn't that more a recreational thing than a productivity related thing?
i find psychedelic experiences to be very beneficial to productive states if you wield them properly, and stimulants often do help with focus and efficiency when it comes to working, so, i could certainly see MDMA having some very beneficial neurological effects during the course of the experience.