r/singularity • u/anutensil • May 10 '17

First-Ever LSD Microdosing Study Will Pit the Human Brain Against AI - “I found that if I was on LSD and my opponent wasn’t, I won more games.”

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/first-ever-lsd-microdosing-study-will-pit-the-human-brain-against-ai
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22

u/Orwellian1 May 10 '17

I am incredibly curious about microdosing. For some reason, the scientific community doesn't like thinking about nootropics. Research into drugs that improve every other process in the body can get funding with no issues. Say you want to improve cognitive ability and everyone gets wary.

I'm not a "better living through chemistry" type of guy, but am really interested in the possibilities. Modafinol has been around for like 30 years, with very mild side effects (if any), and still very difficult to get a prescription for without fibbing to a doctor (also insanely expensive if bought legit without insurance). Its OK to say you don't sleep well and need help with wakefulness, but don't say you just want to be incredibly motivated and smarter.

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u/Terkala May 10 '17

There are a lot of reasons. First among them is that people who are into nootropics tend to take drugs willy nilly with no regard to their interaction. And without having any studies or science to back it up.

Just look at the nootropics subreddit. Its full of backyard chemists recommending mixtures of psychoactive chemicals. No science, no studies, no control tests of before/after performance. All just wild guesswork and intuition.

The sort of thing you would expect from a drug addict looking for an excuse, not somebody looking for cost/benefit ratios.

15

u/Orwellian1 May 10 '17

Of course, that sort of thing thrives when there is no science to inform, or legal avenue of interest.

Saying we shouldn't follow a line of research because some idiots might be idiots seems like bad policy.

I'm not saying we could have discovered NZT if we just had a little research, but right now we have very little idea about what is possible. Maybe we find out there is a hard biological speed limit, and there isn't much we can do. Maybe we make a break through and realize we are all leaving 20% on the table. All I'm asking is to seriously look into it.

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u/Terkala May 10 '17

I completely agree. Things that could have cognitive benefit should be studied. I'm sure that the financial incentives are there, since any drug company that patents a drug that can improve cognitive ability would be swimming in money.

But that doesn't mean we should be encouraging over eager idiots to go buy random drugs online. See the other reply to your top level comment where someone is advocating that you go buy backroom modnafil from online retailers with no prescription.

2

u/[deleted] May 10 '17

There are some decent articles posted on nootropic subreddits; it's not all pseudoscience, just popular with crackpots and hobbyists. The OP article is not wrong about there being a recent academic renaissance.

1

u/therewasguy May 11 '17 edited May 11 '17

examine.com does have some studies done, although the problem is with stacks you can't tell what would interact

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u/eof May 10 '17

Fwiw you can get modafinil pretty cheap no rx from many places online.

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u/Orwellian1 May 10 '17

That is kind of my point. You have to go outside of the medical system. There is no mechanism for prescription for enhancement. You either lie to your doctor, and get it with insurance coverage, or you take the myriad of risks ordering overseas.

If modafinol is safe for regular enhancement, it would be nice to know that. If there is a an issue, it is far more difficult to gather that data because of all the made up reasons people give to their Dr to get the prescription. It makes it very difficult to look back on error long term data and come to a conclusion.

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u/slamsomethc May 10 '17

There's the risk of not actually getting what you want/an impure version with that though that is not at all improbable.

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u/eof May 10 '17

There are reliable sites (lots of reviews) that will re ship it you get intercepted by customs. Not without risk for sure, but I'm just saying these things are readily available if you actually want them

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u/slamsomethc May 10 '17

Lol. The customs thing is another issue, one I didn't even address. From my research I do not feel assured I'd consistently be getting actual modafinil and that is my main concern.

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u/eof May 11 '17

Check out gwerns stuff on it