Modafinil and Startups
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Modafinil and Startups
1–10 of 134 posts
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#2I've commented on Modafinil before ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=647333 ). Please see caveats there.
I would say that Modafinil does not make a boring task interesting. It does not supply any drive to work.
I characterise the effects as blowing away that fog you sometimes feel is within your head.
Even better, I have found that it is quite possible to sleep on Modafinil. It will be light sleep because if you're indulging then you probably have a lot on your mind anyway and this will dictate how well you sleep.
You'll find that you wake up with some residual effect ( clarity ). This is a good thing, unlike a hangover/comedown.
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#3Is it just me, or does using mind-altering substances to get through one's daily schedule seem like it crosses the line?
I'm always a little baffled when people sacrifice their health for work - it's a very bad decision in the long term. You can always find another job, but once you damage your health, you may never get it back.
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#4Is it just me, or does using mind-altering substances to get through one's daily schedule seem like it crosses the line? I'm always a little baffled when people sacrifice their health for work - it's a very bad decision in the long term. You can always find another job, but once you damage your health, you may never get it back.
Do you drink coffee or caffeinated soda? Also Modafinil by itself doesn't seem to cause any health problems, so I'm not sure what you're getting at there. The impure Adrafinil can cause liver problems though. I'd agree that a drug that gave work benefits but resulted in brain damage 2 years later isn't worth it, but let's be specific when talking about what health risks are around for particular chemicals, diets, and chairs/no chairs.
My own experience with Modafinil is that it lets me focus intently on one or a handful of things for longer periods of time, but doesn't give me much if any boost in willpower to pick, so I rely on putting myself in the right environment where there's only a few options to pick from.
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#5Is it just me, or does using mind-altering substances to get through one's daily schedule seem like it crosses the line? I'm always a little baffled when people sacrifice their health for work - it's a very bad decision in the long term. You can always find another job, but once you damage your health, you may never get it back.
Do you drink coffee or caffeinated soda? Also Modafinil by itself doesn't seem to cause any health problems, so I'm not sure what you're getting at there. The impure Adrafinil can cause liver problems though. I'd agree that a drug that gave work benefits but resulted in brain damage 2 years later isn't worth it, but let's be specific when talking about what health risks are around for particular chemicals, diets, and…
> Do you drink coffee or caffeinated soda?
In fact, I don't, and precisely for this reason. Caffeine addictions seem to be just as bad to me.
Instead, I sleep more (enough so I don't have to use an alarm) and strive to cut unnecessary things from my life to save time. For example, I know it's a little cliche, but people survived without TV until 50 or 60 years ago. I got rid of my TV, and it saved me a lot of time.
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#6Is it just me, or does using mind-altering substances to get through one's daily schedule seem like it crosses the line? I'm always a little baffled when people sacrifice their health for work - it's a very bad decision in the long term. You can always find another job, but once you damage your health, you may never get it back.
Err, nope, coffee is pretty popular.
The differences between coffee and modafinil are: coffee tastes better, modafinil does the same job for longer with less side effects.
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#7 What I found with more experimentation of days both with
and without Modafinil was that actually, I was just as
productive if I was well rested, healthy, well fed with
healthy foods and working on something I cared about.
On the good side, those tasks which I did line up got
done, and with great energy, velocity, etc. A good day
on Modafinil could easily concentrate several days'
worth of work into one, by getting rid of all the empty
distracted bits of the day."
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#8Is it just me, or does using mind-altering substances to get through one's daily schedule seem like it crosses the line? I'm always a little baffled when people sacrifice their health for work - it's a very bad decision in the long term. You can always find another job, but once you damage your health, you may never get it back.
Err, nope, coffee is pretty popular. The differences between coffee and modafinil are: coffee tastes better, modafinil does the same job for longer with less side effects.
Popularity is a poor way to judge whether or not something is good for you. If you went back in time 60 years and asked someone whether inhaling large quantities of carcinogenic gases was a bad idea, they'd say "Err, nope, cigarettes are pretty popular" too.
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#9Is it just me, or does using mind-altering substances to get through one's daily schedule seem like it crosses the line? I'm always a little baffled when people sacrifice their health for work - it's a very bad decision in the long term. You can always find another job, but once you damage your health, you may never get it back.
Do you drink coffee or caffeinated soda? Also Modafinil by itself doesn't seem to cause any health problems, so I'm not sure what you're getting at there. The impure Adrafinil can cause liver problems though. I'd agree that a drug that gave work benefits but resulted in brain damage 2 years later isn't worth it, but let's be specific when talking about what health risks are around for particular chemicals, diets, and…
[deleted]
Re: Modafinil and Startups
#10Trying to hack the body like this is the equivalent of fiddling around with some extremely complex code that you have no idea what does (in production, on an infinitely complex system with zero unit test coverage).