Hacking the Brain • Hacker News Board

Re: Hacking the Brain

#31

Post by beenBoutIT » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #17

Medicalidiot wrote: post #10

I'm skeptical of IQ enhancing drugs ever coming about. Intelligence is so complex even the actual definition is a controversial topic. So far we can show that intelligent enhancement can be predicated on exercise, outside of that there are temporary drugs (e.g. coffee) that "boost" intelligence but in actuality boost attention.

Intelligence is hard to improve upon because it's poorly defined (as you noted). However, specific parts of it can be trained and targeted, eg short term memorization and recall, number of productive hours awake (especially on little sleep), ability to hold strong emotions at bay. Medications that address such things this may not "improve intelligence", but at the end of the day, if they let someone concentrate and b…

Politicians blindly outlawed a shitload of potential real smart drugs in the rush to stop Americans from using MDMA. 2C-D looks promising https://erowid.org/chemicals/2cd/2cd_smartpills1.shtml

Re: Hacking the Brain

#32

Post by 0xDEFC0DE » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:25 PM UTC

Medicalidiot wrote: post #10

I'm skeptical of IQ enhancing drugs ever coming about. Intelligence is so complex even the actual definition is a controversial topic. So far we can show that intelligent enhancement can be predicated on exercise, outside of that there are temporary drugs (e.g. coffee) that "boost" intelligence but in actuality boost attention.

It'll move away from the IQ 'brand' and move to job performance or some other easier-to-measure metric. I'm actually okay with this, I'd much rather they be honest that a particular enhancement is only good for particular things.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#33

Post by EGreg » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:35 PM UTC

curo wrote: post #5

I have a tangential question around brain hacking. The Flynn effect says we're gaining an avg of 3 IQ pts every decade since the early 20th century. Meaning our great grandparents, on average, would be considered mentally handicapped compared to today's intellect. Now certain biochemical explanations for the Flynn effect explain raw neurophysiological gains (e.g., iodine fortification in the early 20th century added…

The Flynn effect seems to have peaked and has been reversing

Re: Hacking the Brain

#34

Post by carapace » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:49 PM UTC

The word "hypnosis" does not appear anywhere in this document, that's a pretty glaring omission, IMO.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#35

Post by PeCaN » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:53 PM UTC

manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

this is the most hacker news post i have ever seen that doesnt involve Rust

Re: Hacking the Brain

#36

Post by Tenoke » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:56 PM UTC

manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

Can't tell if satire but if not can you provide us with some links as to why you decided to try it and how you decided on the specific setup?

Re: Hacking the Brain

#37

Post by Tenoke » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:58 PM UTC

le3dh4x0r wrote: post #23

Has anyone here tried Dual N-Back for more than a couple of weeks? Does it really improve working memory and indirectly your IQ?

Short answer - it probably doesn't do too much outside of making you better at tasks similar to n back.

Long answer - https://www.gwern.net/DNB-FAQ

Re: Hacking the Brain

#38

Post by kgarten » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:58 PM UTC

le3dh4x0r wrote: post #23

Has anyone here tried Dual N-Back for more than a couple of weeks? Does it really improve working memory and indirectly your IQ?

It improves your skill of doing Dual N-Back. Most new studies show that brain games (like dual N-Back) are not transitive (unfortunately).

Re: Hacking the Brain

#39

Post by whereareyo » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 8:04 PM UTC

carapace wrote: post #34

The word "hypnosis" does not appear anywhere in this document, that's a pretty glaring omission, IMO.

This is interesting, more?

Re: Hacking the Brain

#40

Post by dredmorbius » Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 8:06 PM UTC

germanier wrote: post #30

Donald wrote: post #2

> This work was supported by the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany. What an odd area of research for Volkswagen to fund.

The Volkswagen Foundation is completely independent of the company named Volkswagen. It was found with the proceeds from the sale of the company to private investors by the state of Lower Saxony and the Federal Republic in the 60s and receives the dividends of the still publicly held shares. It's not a company foundation and Volkswagen has no say in any form. It's just a large public science foundation.

Compare the Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, Pew, and MacArthur foundations, for the US. These don't represent the interests of Standard Oil, US Steel, Ford Motor, Sun Oil, or Bankers Life & Casualty.