Sometimes people ask me, “Which enhancers do you use?”
Despite having defended doping in sport, I have never taken drugs to improve my physical performance. I have refused to have cosmetic whitening of my teeth and plastic surgery to correct damage to my leg from a skiing accident.
I have taken a variety of cognitive enhancers. I regularly use caffeine, sometimes having five cups of coffee/tea a day. I infrequently use nicotine, usually when I am driving long distances, tired or for jet lag. I have used modafenil a couple of times when I have had to give important lectures with jet lag. But there is one cognitive enhancer which, in my experience, is vastly better than caffeine, nicotine or modafenil. I will call it E.
I started taking E’s when I was student to help to stay awake more and longer. I discovered them myself by accident, when I was about 16 or 17. I used to take them regularly. I would have about 3 Es per day, but sometimes up to 5 when I was working 13 or 14 hour days. I would take one at about 10am, one after lunch, at about 430pm, after dinner and around 930pm.
My performance was significantly improved on Es. I won nearly every prize in medicine and I attribute a lot of that to my Es. I have never told anyone that.
But it is time to come clean.
I haven’t taken Es much in the last 15 years, for various reasons, but have started taking the occasional one again. I plan to take more. I hope I can get a lot more.
In my experience, Es are perfectly safe. Not only do they have serious cognitive enhancing effects, but they also seem to be good for your mental health. Unlike caffeine, they make you calm and relaxed. Modafenil is better than caffeine. But Es are, in my experience, much better than Modafenil.
Although most people don’t realise it, Es are ubiquitously available. You can even get them in the developing world. And they are cheap. Ridiculously cheap. Paradoxically and almost uniquely, they often cost more for rich people than poor people. But the rich can well afford them.
To my mind, Es are the perfect cognitive enhancer. They are also immune to the standard objections to cognitive enhancement.
Cognitive Enhancers are unsafe and we won’t know the long term side effects or subtle adverse effects on other domains of human cognition.
Millions of people have had plenty of experience using Es, though not specifically for cognitive enhancement purposes. There is not a single adverse effect reported or experienced from this use. While caffeine and some other cognitive enhancers may disturb normal sleep patterns, in my experience Es have precisely the opposite effect. You sleep better when you take Es regularly. It is true that Es have not been systematically studied like caffeine, but based on human use, they appear much, much safer. Indeed, as far as we know, they are perfectly safe.
Cognitive Enhancers will increase inequality, disadvantaging poorer, developing nations.
Es are, as I said, incredibly cheap and affordable to most human beings on the planet. And if someone could not afford an E, then they should as a matter of human rights be provided with the opportunity to take one.
Cognitive Enhancers will achieve nothing as everyone will use them and no one will be any better off.
Es not only give you a competitive advantage, as my performance in medical exams showed, but a personal advantage – your life goes better. You remember more, you think more clearly and precisely, you are more imaginative and creative. And, they also seem to make the rest of your life go better. I’ve not only experienced other mental health benefits, but they seem to be conducive to better physical performance. However, I have used them mainly as cognitive enhancers.
If everyone were on Es, society would be more productive, happier and better. Es paradigmatically have not only positional benefits but significant nonpositional benefits. We’d all be better off on Es, in my view.
Cognitive Enhancers rob the user of real achievement. Their achievements are the products of their enhancers, not their strivings, pains and struggles.
It is true that Es make it easier to perform more effectively, but you still have to put in the work to reap the benefits. I don’t believe my own achievements were the product of my Es but they did enable me to work much more effectively. I still did the work.
Cognitive Enhancers reduce diversity in ways of thinking and creativity. We will all think the same.
Not true. Es do not in anyway constrain modes of thinking. They allow you to better think in your own way. In my experience, they significantly increase creativity, originality and penetrative thinking.
Cognitive Enhancers are playing God or against Nature.
Es are as natural as drinking water or having sex.
Cognitive Enhancers will reduce humility, solidarity and responsibility for others.
Es have made me believe we can all lead better lives and it is our choice to lead these. People should take responsibility for how they lead their lives, and whether they take Es. Yes, Es have made me feel less responsible for others, in a little way. But once they know the value of an E, it’s their responsibility if they reject them. Why should I take responsibility for other people’s wilful stupidity?
Cognitive Enhancers change people, but we should be changing society to enable people.
Not true. Es are safe, cost-effective and enhancing in many domains. No change in society could match and, moreover, these are not mutually exclusive. However, we should create a culture where taking Es is not only permissible but encouraged, because they are safe and effective. Societies should not look down o them, as they are in some cultures. We should change society to embrace such enhancers.
Cognitive Enhancers will compromise the mystery or meaning of life, making everything written into choice or predictable. We will live a sterile world where the ending is written into the beginning of the story and what we choose will be achieved.
Not true. Es still require great effort to succeed and mystery will be increased as our true creativity is unleashed. Es are a part of the meaning of a human life.
An E is the perfect cognitive enhancer. And despite them being available to all of us, we are blind to their value as cognitive enhancers.
An E is, I am sure you guessed, a 15 to 20 minute siesta or more fashionably called a “power nap”. In my experience, once learnt, the short siesta is the perfect cognitive enhancer. The problem is that many cultures, such as English culture, are not set up to facilitate the siesta. And we do not teach or encourage people to siesta. This is hugely disabling.
If there were a drug which rivalled the siesta in terms of safety and efficacy, I would take it. And it should be encouraged, just as siesta should be encouraged. But at present, no drugs come close to siesta.
It is so strange that such effective enhancers are all around us but we don’t see them. And our lives go much worse as a result.
Despite having defended doping in sport, I have never taken drugs to improve my physical performance. I have refused to have cosmetic whitening of my teeth and plastic surgery to correct damage to my leg from a skiing accident.
I have taken a variety of cognitive enhancers. I regularly use caffeine, sometimes having five cups of coffee/tea a day. I infrequently use nicotine, usually when I am driving long distances, tired or for jet lag. I have used modafenil a couple of times when I have had to give important lectures with jet lag. But there is one cognitive enhancer which, in my experience, is vastly better than caffeine, nicotine or modafenil. I will call it E.
I started taking E’s when I was student to help to stay awake more and longer. I discovered them myself by accident, when I was about 16 or 17. I used to take them regularly. I would have about 3 Es per day, but sometimes up to 5 when I was working 13 or 14 hour days. I would take one at about 10am, one after lunch, at about 430pm, after dinner and around 930pm.
My performance was significantly improved on Es. I won nearly every prize in medicine and I attribute a lot of that to my Es. I have never told anyone that.
But it is time to come clean.
I haven’t taken Es much in the last 15 years, for various reasons, but have started taking the occasional one again. I plan to take more. I hope I can get a lot more.
In my experience, Es are perfectly safe. Not only do they have serious cognitive enhancing effects, but they also seem to be good for your mental health. Unlike caffeine, they make you calm and relaxed. Modafenil is better than caffeine. But Es are, in my experience, much better than Modafenil.
Although most people don’t realise it, Es are ubiquitously available. You can even get them in the developing world. And they are cheap. Ridiculously cheap. Paradoxically and almost uniquely, they often cost more for rich people than poor people. But the rich can well afford them.
To my mind, Es are the perfect cognitive enhancer. They are also immune to the standard objections to cognitive enhancement.
Cognitive Enhancers are unsafe and we won’t know the long term side effects or subtle adverse effects on other domains of human cognition.
Millions of people have had plenty of experience using Es, though not specifically for cognitive enhancement purposes. There is not a single adverse effect reported or experienced from this use. While caffeine and some other cognitive enhancers may disturb normal sleep patterns, in my experience Es have precisely the opposite effect. You sleep better when you take Es regularly. It is true that Es have not been systematically studied like caffeine, but based on human use, they appear much, much safer. Indeed, as far as we know, they are perfectly safe.
Cognitive Enhancers will increase inequality, disadvantaging poorer, developing nations.
Es are, as I said, incredibly cheap and affordable to most human beings on the planet. And if someone could not afford an E, then they should as a matter of human rights be provided with the opportunity to take one.
Cognitive Enhancers will achieve nothing as everyone will use them and no one will be any better off.
Es not only give you a competitive advantage, as my performance in medical exams showed, but a personal advantage – your life goes better. You remember more, you think more clearly and precisely, you are more imaginative and creative. And, they also seem to make the rest of your life go better. I’ve not only experienced other mental health benefits, but they seem to be conducive to better physical performance. However, I have used them mainly as cognitive enhancers.
If everyone were on Es, society would be more productive, happier and better. Es paradigmatically have not only positional benefits but significant nonpositional benefits. We’d all be better off on Es, in my view.
Cognitive Enhancers rob the user of real achievement. Their achievements are the products of their enhancers, not their strivings, pains and struggles.
It is true that Es make it easier to perform more effectively, but you still have to put in the work to reap the benefits. I don’t believe my own achievements were the product of my Es but they did enable me to work much more effectively. I still did the work.
Cognitive Enhancers reduce diversity in ways of thinking and creativity. We will all think the same.
Not true. Es do not in anyway constrain modes of thinking. They allow you to better think in your own way. In my experience, they significantly increase creativity, originality and penetrative thinking.
Cognitive Enhancers are playing God or against Nature.
Es are as natural as drinking water or having sex.
Cognitive Enhancers will reduce humility, solidarity and responsibility for others.
Es have made me believe we can all lead better lives and it is our choice to lead these. People should take responsibility for how they lead their lives, and whether they take Es. Yes, Es have made me feel less responsible for others, in a little way. But once they know the value of an E, it’s their responsibility if they reject them. Why should I take responsibility for other people’s wilful stupidity?
Cognitive Enhancers change people, but we should be changing society to enable people.
Not true. Es are safe, cost-effective and enhancing in many domains. No change in society could match and, moreover, these are not mutually exclusive. However, we should create a culture where taking Es is not only permissible but encouraged, because they are safe and effective. Societies should not look down o them, as they are in some cultures. We should change society to embrace such enhancers.
Cognitive Enhancers will compromise the mystery or meaning of life, making everything written into choice or predictable. We will live a sterile world where the ending is written into the beginning of the story and what we choose will be achieved.
Not true. Es still require great effort to succeed and mystery will be increased as our true creativity is unleashed. Es are a part of the meaning of a human life.
An E is the perfect cognitive enhancer. And despite them being available to all of us, we are blind to their value as cognitive enhancers.
An E is, I am sure you guessed, a 15 to 20 minute siesta or more fashionably called a “power nap”. In my experience, once learnt, the short siesta is the perfect cognitive enhancer. The problem is that many cultures, such as English culture, are not set up to facilitate the siesta. And we do not teach or encourage people to siesta. This is hugely disabling.
If there were a drug which rivalled the siesta in terms of safety and efficacy, I would take it. And it should be encouraged, just as siesta should be encouraged. But at present, no drugs come close to siesta.
It is so strange that such effective enhancers are all around us but we don’t see them. And our lives go much worse as a result.
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