Cognition enhancing drugs
Given my concerns yesterday about drug dependency for an increasingly large number of people I find that reports of a new family of drugs that may boost your brain power is a worrying trend. The drugs were originally designed for people with sleep disorders but when tested on healthy volunteers were found to enhance mentally performance.
One volunteer said:
I had no problems memorising rows of numbers. I felt pretty much that I was on top of my game.
The world is becoming so competitive there are real dangers with this quick fix approach to cognitive development. It will either become necessary to take them to stay in touch with colleagues or even worse compulsory. I see it in my own office: fewer people, tighter deadlines and a structure designed to promote the mythical A player worker.
All of this seems to be summed up by one parent:
If, in the future, there are cognition tablets for exams and I wasn’t happy for my children to take them, would I be disadvantaging them against those children that actually take them?
Does better cognition just mean a quicker burn out? From a Shiatsu viewpoint what would be the effect on the bodymind of this enhanced cognition?
A person making more decisions and more quickly would be a drain on the Gall Bladder as well as the Kidney Ki that supports our whole system. What about the poor stomach digesting a faster flow of information and the small intestine trying to make sense of it all?
This wonder drug just appears to be a recipe to produce more illness and even more drug dependence. Memory systems and self-improvement are just too slow. Society needs that quick fix. A quick fix to illness though.
Earlier this year I thought I needed to improve my brain power but found that learning a memory system and working on my mental arithmetic skills worked a treat. I can memorise 20 digit numbers and complete sums in my head and I am still drug independent!
Tony Brown @ April 18, 2007