Comments | kmo: Products that Make Me Smart and Strong

kmo

Products that Make Me Smart and Strong

Mar 15, 2017 21:50

I've noticed that some of my social media acquaintances have started to give public endorsements for a new generation of so-called "smart drugs." That's what we called them in the late 80s and early 90s. I don't know if anyone describes products like Qualia or Alfa BRAIN as "smart drugs," but I have seen them described as "nootropics," another word ( Read more... )

enhancement, aging, drugs, medicine, exercise

Comments 4

Don't Forget the Opportunity Cost! ext_4021213 March 16 2017, 16:16:59 UTC

One of the human behaviours that I've noticed over the years is a tendency by the overwhelming majority of people to forget to check what economists call "the opportunity cost" of any decision. That is, for most things we do, there is something else that we give up in order to pursue that particular action ( ... )

Re: Don't Forget the Opportunity Cost! kmo March 16 2017, 16:34:16 UTC

Again, this isn't something I was thinking about until I noticed people I know on Facebook endorsing these products. I have done almost no research into them, though Google has noticed the tiny bit of research I have done and now populates the websites I visit with ads for these sorts of products.

Re: Don't Forget the Opportunity Cost! ext_4021213 March 16 2017, 16:55:34 UTC

Well, in that case take what I wrote as a general statement.

I wonder if I am having a problem with processing social media. Marshal McLuhan said that "the medium is the message". Perhaps there is something about social media and LiveJournal in particular that I read as being "confessional" in nature. They fool idiots like me into thinking that what is happening is some sort of conversation that I have with my close friends over a beer.

In my public life I am a very formal person that generally opts for the "fuddy duddly" way of doing things---formal essays format instead of chatting conversation. The social media tends to bread down that hard division between the public and the personal, and I seem to have a hard time navigating this division.

I apologize for over-stepping my bounds.

peristaltor March 17 2017, 01:25:48 UTC

I've thought about this smart pill possibility ever since I accidentally wandered into the local book shop and sat in on a talk by author Martin Lee concerning his book Smoke Signals. He told that the Reagan-era ban on studying marijuana in any way was eventually softened in the Clinton administration by researchers who insisted that, if it was to be listed as Schedule 1 and therefore of no medical benefit, then at least research on that should happen ( ... )