Better thinking through chemistry

ARTICLE: "All on the mind: Prepare for drugs that will improve memory, concentration and learning," The Economist, 24 May 2008, p. 103.

EDITORIAL: "Smart drugs: Drugs to make you cleverer are in the test-tube. Good." The Economist, 24 May 2008, p. 22.

Humans have sought chemical enhancement from the dawn of time, and with the 21st century shaping up as THE century of biology, expect the practice to skyrocket and cause major social schisms between the all-natural crowd and the enhanced cohort.

We're just scratching these surfaces for now with athletes, but when long-term use of brain-performance drugs starts to elevate some while leaving others behind in a knowledge economy . . . well, that could get tricky.

But I'm with the Economist: you cannot deny people the opportunity to improve, especially as we age. If there's no limit to the disposable income tossed at failure to erect or keep a head of hair or to sport big enough breasts or a thin-enough waistline, then it'll be no-limits on the pursuit of intellectual happiness.

Expect Big Pharma to have learned from the past: no profitable brain-enhancement drug will be allowed to go "black" anymore. Simply too big a market to let slip into the netherworld of criminality.

As we get closer to Kurzweil's Singularity, this is going to get contentious . . . challenging and thus changing the face of the world's major religions.

Comments

[Lexington Green]

Use of these products will become instantly mandatory in academic and business settings. Access to them will be the determinant of personal success or failure in a competitive economy.

This is going to cause social conflicts on a scale never seen before.

[AD]

Nice post Tom!

I'm genuinely impressed that you're factoring in Kurzweil's thoughts to your strategic thinking. This is why I tune into you blog and books.

In addition to smart drugs, wait till modern medicine can regenerate virtually any part of the body in need of repair; extending lifespans indefinitely. This technology is in its infancy today. The future is bright indeed...if we don't screw it up that is.

[Brian H]

The difficulty with any such boosters (coffee included) is habituation. The brain dials back any boosted function to try to get back to its "set point". When the external drug stops or runs low, you're left with a deficit in that activity. So ... the let-down and withdrawal from "smart" drug use would logically be "stupidity". I'm what's termed a mega-coffee user (>20 cups/day) and I can attest to the effect.

[David Sutton]

I watched Sir David Attenborough interviewed by Andrew Denton (Australia’ best interviewer) last night, he was discussing hox genes used to grow that ear on the mouse and how this century will see more and more of this, and that the debate regarding whether this is right or wrong will be swept aside by the practically of being able to do it.

This is the same thing. This century will see the use of chemical enhancements for business, the use of chemicals to aid in intellectual pursuits.

What makes me smile wryly is that somewhere in a lab, manned by scientist who pull a military pay packet the applications will be in use, and will not be restricted to boosting intellectual properties.

Stay awake for a week, see I net dark unaided, leap tall buildings…..this is just the beginning.

But I agree with AD, the future does look bright…if only we don’t screw it up.

[Elmer Humes]

Tom, I too am very pleased with your including Kurzweil in your strategic thinking. In addition to his latest book on Singularity I also recommend "The Age of Spiritual Machines" & "Fantastic Voyage". He goes well beyond just drugs into nanotechnologies with neural implants which will vastly improve our brains greatest weakness-memory. I fully agree with his 21st century biology invention explosion predictions enabling the greatest changes in human history. I further agree this scares many and excites others; but the genie is out of the bottle. Is one's glass half empty or half full. I'm totally optimistic for our progeny!

[Tom Barnett]

I followed Kurzweil at TED. Not the friendliest guy, but it was before a talk and I'm not friendly then either, so I didn't take anything from it.

I go very Kurzweillian at the end of Great Powers. It's fun stuff and the ultimate optimism on humanity.

What is the one great Kurzweil to read?

[Louis Heberlein]

I'm ready for the pill that lets you have: "Happy thoughts. Happy Thoughts. Keep thinking Happy Thoughts!"

[Stephen Fox]

Kurzweil's 'The Singularity is Near' makes some excellent points. But, then, so does Judge's 'Idiocracy'. The primary social schisms are not likely to be between those who choose to enhance their abilities (the enhanced cohort) and those that choose to not do so (the all-all natural crowd), but between those with the means to access and those without. As with many progressive technological advances that alter the relationships to ourselves and our world, there will be a fringe who reject the movement. In this case, the fringe is likely to be composed primarily of social/religious conservatives whose churches prescribe against imprinting god's blueprint with earthly designs. Then, there are, as always, the Luddites. But, the vast majority of the 'all natural crowd' will count themselves as unwilling members, and the conflict will arise as they seek to cancel those memberships. The value in the drugs is that they will confer advantage, and those with access will seek to limit that access. Eventually government or market forces will step in to equalize, but not before the real damage has been done. What, you thought Pfizer was going to rain down pallet-loads of free smart pills on the world's poor from low flying cargo planes with loudspeakers strapped to their underbellies, blaring out Kumbaya and Imagine? Perhaps the drugs will make us more rational, less prone to succumb to fear, and we can avoid this pain.