111–120 of 157 posts
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Piracetam and choline have been studied in an extensive number of clinical experiments. Their effects aren't poorly understood.
If you've got the time, any references would be appreciated.
You might want to filter by time to get more recent studies, but there's a vast body of knowledge built over decades.
The article begins with "It’s a lengthy read, but don’t let the wall of text dissuade you." That's scary right there. Anyone who is scared off by this short, popular fluff piece needs a lot of help in reading (or is not a native speaker of English). To learn to read a piece like this thoughtfully and critically mostly takes practice in reading, not the latest "smart drug." I've been hearing people tout smart drugs fo…
Paul Erdős famously claimed that amphetamines helped him in mathematics:
> After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month.[34] Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine use. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s
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> Everything I've read about Modafinil suggests that it's not addictive - for everything being Wikipedia along with some other sites which I don't recall off the top of my head (it was about six months ago when I did any research about it). It's probably not addictive, but what if you become addicted to the lifestyle it makes possible?
Well, there's a difference between things you don't want to give up, and things you can't give up because you'll get sick as a dog, and/or require hospitalization and maybe die.
I think that the /r/nootropics FAQ has a lot of good related information, including links to scientific papers. http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/nootropics
The article begins with "It’s a lengthy read, but don’t let the wall of text dissuade you." That's scary right there. Anyone who is scared off by this short, popular fluff piece needs a lot of help in reading (or is not a native speaker of English). To learn to read a piece like this thoughtfully and critically mostly takes practice in reading, not the latest "smart drug." I've been hearing people tout smart drugs fo…
> I have never seen any evidence of regular users of smart drugs doing anything smart. Paul Erdős famously claimed that amphetamines helped him in mathematics: > After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month.[34] Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence mathematics had been set back…
Erdos was also apparently more prolific after starting amphetamines, perhaps because he started sleeping significantly less.[1]
[1]: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Paul Hoffman, http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Loved-Only-Numbers/dp/07868840...
The article begins with "It’s a lengthy read, but don’t let the wall of text dissuade you." That's scary right there. Anyone who is scared off by this short, popular fluff piece needs a lot of help in reading (or is not a native speaker of English). To learn to read a piece like this thoughtfully and critically mostly takes practice in reading, not the latest "smart drug." I've been hearing people tout smart drugs fo…
Have you looked at gwern's nootropic page? I've seen articles from it posted on HN on occasion. He seems to be doing a pretty solid job of testing the potential effects of various nootropics on himself. His efforts to double-blind himself and using Dual N-Back for testing effectiveness indicate he takes this topic seriously, and is trying to be very scientific about it. (I say "trying to" because I'm absolutely cluel…
I personally view n-back as any other repetitive task, only it is mostly in the mind; the more you whittle, the better you will be at whittling.
If you look at the wikipedia page [1] you will see that there have been papers both for and against n-back improving cognitive ability.
The way I propose to test effectiveness would be to have a bunch of subjects all try to learn a difficult task that is unfamiliar to them. Those with the placebo supposedly would not be able to learn it as quickly or understand it as well. The large sample size would account for statistical inaccuracies and differences among people's abilities.
I personally took nootropics this last winter for three months. My theory is that people who claim improvement are looking for improvement, and notice more just how good they are at tasks... I took piracetam, choline, aniracetam, and oxiracetam (and a tiny sample of pramiracetam, the supposed best, for free), and noticed nothing the entire time. Originally I thought I noticed improvement, but only realized I was looking for improvement in every task I did, which made me notice everything I did. After this realization I didn't notice anything at all, for the rest of my supplies. I learned more than just their ineffectiveness during this self experiment...
EDIT: I will revise my statement to add that I do not think that *racetams are completely ineffective. I do believe that they are relatively useless on healthy individuals without any disorders, though. Most of the studies in the wikipedia page are on people with disorders, and I do remember reading before that their benefits on people without problems is disputed.
Unlike in athletics, academics isn’t necessarily a zero sum game. While in a race there is necessarily a winner and a loser, nobody in academics is held back if another student is better able to retain their information. No, but the doped student's advantage could cause her to be selected over another (undoped) student in college entrance exams, program entrance exams, and other educational competitions. Does this me…
There are already many students who are prescribed Ritalin, Concerta, Adderal etc, and these drugs give those students an unfair edge. How are normal students supposed to compete with their peers who are on amphetamines?
The article begins with "It’s a lengthy read, but don’t let the wall of text dissuade you." That's scary right there. Anyone who is scared off by this short, popular fluff piece needs a lot of help in reading (or is not a native speaker of English). To learn to read a piece like this thoughtfully and critically mostly takes practice in reading, not the latest "smart drug." I've been hearing people tout smart drugs fo…
What the hell would that prove?
The article begins with "It’s a lengthy read, but don’t let the wall of text dissuade you." That's scary right there. Anyone who is scared off by this short, popular fluff piece needs a lot of help in reading (or is not a native speaker of English). To learn to read a piece like this thoughtfully and critically mostly takes practice in reading, not the latest "smart drug." I've been hearing people tout smart drugs fo…
Obviously, we immediately cull anything that is available from a normal diet, and ask the questions of the others. As such, your entire argument is ignorant, as it fails to ask the simple question: in what cases do these drugs work?
They're designed for a purpose. They must be efficacious for that purpose. They might have other beneficial side effects. They might have negative side effects.
Your comment is ignorant as hell, and it's depressing that you're the top comment.
Hint: drugs such as modafinil, caffeine, nicotine are part of daily life because they have a demonstrable effect.
This is a white-wash, and a pathetic piece of propaganda. Major pharma companies, and entire caffeine / nicotine based economies of industrialised developing world countries and the multi-billion $ profits involved state you're full of shit.
/HN, what a crock.
HINT: Military forces have been STUFFING a whole slew of drugs into their people since they were discovered. Where do you think heroin came from? Where do you think amphetamines came from? Where do you think most of the research (hello LSD) was focused towards in the last 40 years? Where do you think the newest batch of stuff came from?
Here's a "duel" for you: find a serving member of combat (esp. Airforce) and then ask them if they can fly without taking their pills. They. Are. Not. Allowed. To.
Enhancing drugs work ~ go investigate the fucking Tour-de-France, you idiot. And if you need data on the mental realm, then nicotine & caffeine have full documented papers on their effects. This isn't even the prescription / FDA / illegal stuff out there.
You really are a shill.
Gaaahh... Muppets.
p.s. "On Muppets". Why the hell doesn't standard HTML tags work around here? Retro-chique? Kinda... odd for this type of forum.
A word of caution about vasodilators: I've seen them touted more and more frequently by nootropics enthusiasts, as though they're completely harmless. This is not necessarily true. Blood pressure is a very meticulously regulated process in the body, with countless chemicals, hormones, and other endogenous signals in the mix. It's entirely possible, if uncommon, to overdose when self-administering vasodilating drugs.…
Is this how Death By Chocolate works?