Live data from Hacker News

Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

mca-marines.org

81–90 of 151 posts

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#81
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea of performance enhancing drugs making their way into the workplace arena scares me a lot. You say that as if it hasn't already happened, Adderall has been ubiquitous for years. At my last office job we had an intern from out of state miss work abruptly because she couldn't get her Adderall prescription filled, and, I shit you not, skipped work to fly to Nevada to fill her out of state 'script because CA ph…

Yeah, meth will do that to you. I was diagnosed with inattentive-type ADHD, and while I definitely felt the “high” from Adderall (and was convinced I was more productive) it was hard to say I actually was. I did find it easier to stay up later than I should; but that loan always comes with interest, the drugs just give you a bigger line of credit. Ditto other stimulants. The only stimulant I still use is caffeine, an…

I use stimulants to cope with my ADHD. The problem is that without it my mind - a bright one - goes absolutely blank. It actively refuses to cooperate unless what I want to do is extremely interesting. Without the stimulants I feel like a train cart being taken to a different direction by the rail tracks, pushed or pulled against its will by the train. I was unable to go clean my teeth, eat, or clean my flat; and I didn't do anything fun too (except for porn and weed). I was a mindless drone for most of my life. Stimulants have put myself in the foreground, and made me actually me.

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share some of these strategies?

This might be the third or fourth time I've been asked so I'm going to write about it on my website tomorrow and share it here once I'm done. Apologies.

I'd be interested to read this

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#83
post #36

A few years later, those US marines will be quite surprised to learn that they are barred for life from possessing firearms.

The question on the 4473 says "are you an unlawful user of.."

That requires both currency (are you...) and breaking a law (unlawful).

Please don't spread misinformation.

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#84
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, meth will do that to you. I was diagnosed with inattentive-type ADHD, and while I definitely felt the “high” from Adderall (and was convinced I was more productive) it was hard to say I actually was. I did find it easier to stay up later than I should; but that loan always comes with interest, the drugs just give you a bigger line of credit. Ditto other stimulants. The only stimulant I still use is caffeine, an…

I use stimulants to cope with my ADHD. The problem is that without it my mind - a bright one - goes absolutely blank. It actively refuses to cooperate unless what I want to do is extremely interesting. Without the stimulants I feel like a train cart being taken to a different direction by the rail tracks, pushed or pulled against its will by the train. I was unable to go clean my teeth, eat, or clean my flat; and I d…

Most of your post resonates with me. Can you clarify what you mean by “actually me”?

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#85
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use stimulants to cope with my ADHD. The problem is that without it my mind - a bright one - goes absolutely blank. It actively refuses to cooperate unless what I want to do is extremely interesting. Without the stimulants I feel like a train cart being taken to a different direction by the rail tracks, pushed or pulled against its will by the train. I was unable to go clean my teeth, eat, or clean my flat; and I d…

Most of your post resonates with me. Can you clarify what you mean by “actually me”?

A long time ago while high on weed I noticed that my mind is actually two very disparate parts: My "autopilot" and myself. I can control the autopilot, but it can also control me, especially by promoting desires for porn, weed, sugar, videogames etc; this quickly becomes impossible to ignore, and then the autopilot takes over completely. Since then I noticed that this wasn't a creation of the drug, it's there all the time, I just never thought about it, and thought it's always just myself (mostly because I really did hate school, that wasn't just an urge). My whole life was a fight between myself who wanted to make cool software, do my school work and be physically active, and the urges of my autopilot - and the autopilot mostly won, except for a few extremely stimulating cases. Now I can control myself, and the person other people see and interact with is me, not my autopilot; and it's me enabling the autopilot when I need it, not the autopilot enabling intelligence when it needs it.

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#86
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea of performance enhancing drugs making their way into the workplace arena scares me a lot. You say that as if it hasn't already happened, Adderall has been ubiquitous for years. At my last office job we had an intern from out of state miss work abruptly because she couldn't get her Adderall prescription filled, and, I shit you not, skipped work to fly to Nevada to fill her out of state 'script because CA ph…

Yeah, meth will do that to you. I was diagnosed with inattentive-type ADHD, and while I definitely felt the “high” from Adderall (and was convinced I was more productive) it was hard to say I actually was. I did find it easier to stay up later than I should; but that loan always comes with interest, the drugs just give you a bigger line of credit. Ditto other stimulants. The only stimulant I still use is caffeine, an…

How do you deal with the dozen thoughts present in your head every waking second?

How do you recover when you get distracted in the middle of work and can't get right back to it?

How do you even do the planning itself when that task is just one of the ten or so that your brain thinks should be done right now?

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#87
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea of performance enhancing drugs making their way into the workplace arena scares me a lot. You say that as if it hasn't already happened, Adderall has been ubiquitous for years. At my last office job we had an intern from out of state miss work abruptly because she couldn't get her Adderall prescription filled, and, I shit you not, skipped work to fly to Nevada to fill her out of state 'script because CA ph…

I've been on adderall since I was 17. I'm 32 now. Almost more of my life has been spent on it than off it. I've been productive in a variety of ways. Some examples are listed on my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shawwn but I feel silly bragging about comparatively minor accomplishments in ML. But I know for a fact that without adderall, I wouldn't have done a damn thing. I've tried for a few months. Shrugged and we…

This sums up perfectly the issue with mental health problems. Burn-out. Depression. ADHD. Being 'old'.

You cut slack for someone with a broken leg or a blind cane. But unless you've been there yourself, you don't understand what's going on in the head of someone else. So the natural thing to do is to decide "they're slacking".

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#88
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use stimulants to cope with my ADHD. The problem is that without it my mind - a bright one - goes absolutely blank. It actively refuses to cooperate unless what I want to do is extremely interesting. Without the stimulants I feel like a train cart being taken to a different direction by the rail tracks, pushed or pulled against its will by the train. I was unable to go clean my teeth, eat, or clean my flat; and I d…

Most of your post resonates with me. Can you clarify what you mean by “actually me”?

I've come to realize that "I" am just a small part of the brain. A virtual machine running on top of the primitive host.

Every single second is a struggle over the who gets control of the hardware, and most of the time the host wins.

What "I" want and what the primitive host brain/OS wants are 2 completely different things. Food, shelter, reproduction. That's all it needs. Needless to say, "I" want so much more.

Of course, what everyone else sees as "me" is the body/machine. We are one in the eyes of other people, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#89
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, meth will do that to you. I was diagnosed with inattentive-type ADHD, and while I definitely felt the “high” from Adderall (and was convinced I was more productive) it was hard to say I actually was. I did find it easier to stay up later than I should; but that loan always comes with interest, the drugs just give you a bigger line of credit. Ditto other stimulants. The only stimulant I still use is caffeine, an…

I use stimulants to cope with my ADHD. The problem is that without it my mind - a bright one - goes absolutely blank. It actively refuses to cooperate unless what I want to do is extremely interesting. Without the stimulants I feel like a train cart being taken to a different direction by the rail tracks, pushed or pulled against its will by the train. I was unable to go clean my teeth, eat, or clean my flat; and I d…

Yeah, at the core we're still just animals. Our consciousness just runs inside the brain and tries its best to control the hardware/wetware. Some are more successful at it than others. Personally, I want a refund heh

Re: Microdosing: Improving performance enhancement in intelligence analysis (2019) [pdf]

#90
post #46
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're all on caffeine already and no one is clutching pearls over it. How is taking harder drugs any different other than in effectiveness?

Whenever threads mention caffeine I am compelled to share that caffeine has no effect whatsoever on me. To my sadness, it feels like I'm excluded from a common universal community and performance advantage

As a counterpoint whenever I have caffeine I am maniacal focused on something and turn into an asshole for at least 12 hours. It warps me as a human.
Post reply on HN