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: "Steroids for Poker" – The First Performance Enhancing Drug for Mental Competition?
I am a person of science. It takes a lot of convincing evidence for me to believe in something, particularly when it comes to topics involving enhancing mental facilities. I have read plenty of books and articles on the current state of developing ‘smart drugs’, and the mechanisms by which they work and the path the future holds for this kind of research. For thoroughness and amusement, I also studied a lot of the grayer areas in mental enhancement, from the mystical to the all-natural techniques. Since I am also a steadfast believer in experiencing things to augment and validate knowledge gained from books (as is necessary, just like in poker), I have tried some very strange concoctions or techniques that profess to enhance mental abilities, all with negligible effects.
Caffeine is already well documented as a very short-term memory/alertness booster, which the body quickly builds a tolerance for and requires greater amounts to produce this small effect. It can quickly become a mental enhancing negative, as one might need great amounts just to feel normal – not a good situation for long mental activity. Harder drugs, such as the amphetamine class, can no doubt increase energy and alertness, but to a hyper state, where the newfound charge is not useful to playing “quiet” mental games like poker. They usually leave a person so jittery and disjointed that it too quickly becomes a very negative “dishancement”.
( Read more... )
I am a person of science. It takes a lot of convincing evidence for me to believe in something, particularly when it comes to topics involving enhancing mental facilities. I have read plenty of books and articles on the current state of developing ‘smart drugs’, and the mechanisms by which they work and the path the future holds for this kind of research. For thoroughness and amusement, I also studied a lot of the grayer areas in mental enhancement, from the mystical to the all-natural techniques. Since I am also a steadfast believer in experiencing things to augment and validate knowledge gained from books (as is necessary, just like in poker), I have tried some very strange concoctions or techniques that profess to enhance mental abilities, all with negligible effects.
Caffeine is already well documented as a very short-term memory/alertness booster, which the body quickly builds a tolerance for and requires greater amounts to produce this small effect. It can quickly become a mental enhancing negative, as one might need great amounts just to feel normal – not a good situation for long mental activity. Harder drugs, such as the amphetamine class, can no doubt increase energy and alertness, but to a hyper state, where the newfound charge is not useful to playing “quiet” mental games like poker. They usually leave a person so jittery and disjointed that it too quickly becomes a very negative “dishancement”.
( Read more... )