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Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

economist.com

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Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#51

Post by pcthrowaway »

lacker wrote: post #2

I want to preface this by saying that I am not a supporter of study drugs, except for caffeine. I don't find these studies to be convincing. You give people a pill, they don't know what it is. These people don't know what to expect, they've never taken study drugs before. They're solving some random logic puzzle they've never seen before. "Participants had to work out which items to put into a bag." Compare to how th…

Also, 15mg of adderall XR is enough to get someone pretty high if they haven't developed a tolerance for it. 15 mg of Adderall IR is probably going to feel like doing meth for someone who's never done it

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#52

Post by pcthrowaway »

galenko wrote: post #14
wellthisisgreat wrote: post #4

I'd bet a 1000-piece mono-color puzzle that close to 50% of currently written software is done on those drugs.

We all project/assume based on the bubble we live in. In my 18 years of in-house software dev experience (several countries, companies of different sizes), not once have I even heard (in the real world, not online) of people using any sort of drugs like the ones mentioned in the article. I'm not saying that you're wrong. But based on my personal experience, I also could bet the opposite of what you're saying and feel…

I assume, like myself, most people taking them don't talk to their coworkers about it.

Doubly so if they're taking them illegally

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#53

Post by spoonfeeder006 »

somerandomqaguy wrote: post #18
lacker wrote: post #2

I want to preface this by saying that I am not a supporter of study drugs, except for caffeine. I don't find these studies to be convincing. You give people a pill, they don't know what it is. These people don't know what to expect, they've never taken study drugs before. They're solving some random logic puzzle they've never seen before. "Participants had to work out which items to put into a bag." Compare to how th…

>I don't find these studies to be convincing. You give people a pill, they don't know what it is. These people don't know what to expect, they've never taken study drugs before. They're solving some random logic puzzle they've never seen before. "Participants had to work out which items to put into a bag." How do you propose then to isolate what may be the effect of the drug then vs the participant subconsciously try…

Its best to look at overall scientific consensus across multiple studies instead of a single study. Maybe there could be some causal factors that we didn't think of when looking at a specific study?

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#54

Post by ryan-c »

lacker wrote: post #2

I want to preface this by saying that I am not a supporter of study drugs, except for caffeine. I don't find these studies to be convincing. You give people a pill, they don't know what it is. These people don't know what to expect, they've never taken study drugs before. They're solving some random logic puzzle they've never seen before. "Participants had to work out which items to put into a bag." Compare to how th…

> I am not a supporter of study drugs, except for caffeine

> problems with these drugs are addiction, side effects, and the phenomenon where you have to take higher doses over time to get the same effect

Caffeine is terrible on all these points. I built up such a tolerance in my late teens that I was consuming something like 1000mg/day. The withdrawals were awful when I quit.

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#55

Post by bambax »

> Popping stimulants is commonplace in industries like software and finance. One survey of 6,500 American college students reported that 14% had used the drugs for non-medical reasons.

I have never met anyone taking such drugs (I'm French, not American) and would put my kids through hell if I ever found out they took anything. I'd rather they drop out of school than do any of this.

That said... does 14% qualify as "commonplace"?

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#57

Post by chrisco255 »

nibbleshifter wrote: post #17
mordae wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tak Modafinil as an example: > The real problems with these drugs are addiction, Not addictive. > side effects, Same as caffeine while active. Irritating comedown after. > and the phenomenon where you have to take higher doses over time to get the same effect. Abstaining during weekends helps. The real problem is lack of sleep it can somewhat mask. > Maybe one day we will get a drug that enhances mental function, tha…

Never had any comedown off moda, even at high doses (400mg). What comedown feelings did you experience?

I've had 4 or 5 different brands and some of them produce irregular side effects. Some of them work as you say with no comedown or issues whatsoever.

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#58

Post by chrisco255 »

nvarsj wrote: post #48
adastra22 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe one day we will get a drug that enhances mental function, that works effectively and has no real downsides. I think that could be a great boon to society. I don't think it exists yet though, or that we are even really making any progress. Adderall (correctly dosed) is precisely this.

Come on, you can’t honestly say Adderall has no side effects.

What are its side effects?

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#59

Post by karmakurtisaani »

atemerev wrote: post #43
karmakurtisaani wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My story is fairly similar to yours. I felt that I always had limited energy to really focus on the "important" things that turned somewhat boring after a while, and my peers who were able to keep going went further in academia. I got easily distracted by more "fun" problem solving and looking around rather than going really really deep in a given topic. If only I had had that energy to go the extra mile, I could now…

I returned to the academia after 15 years in the industry. Copying protobufs for an ad company (or worse) will not get you any meaning of life.

How was going back? I'm assuming the field must be somewhat applied? I did theory, and once you leave there's just no going back. I still try to keep up with the more fun stuff occasionally, because it is indeed much more interesting.

Re: Study drugs make people worse at problem solving, not better

#60

Post by _zoltan_ »

atemerev wrote: post #43
karmakurtisaani wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My story is fairly similar to yours. I felt that I always had limited energy to really focus on the "important" things that turned somewhat boring after a while, and my peers who were able to keep going went further in academia. I got easily distracted by more "fun" problem solving and looking around rather than going really really deep in a given topic. If only I had had that energy to go the extra mile, I could now…

I returned to the academia after 15 years in the industry. Copying protobufs for an ad company (or worse) will not get you any meaning of life.

your work is not you? find meaning outside of work. my kids fill all my non work hours with extreme joy.
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