[extropy-chat] Singularity Drugs

[Russell Wallace]

On 4/14/06, A B <austriaaugust at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Are there any prospects that before implants, BCIs (brain-computer
> interfaces), uploading, or AGI (and Molecular Nanotechnology) come around
> that any really kick-ass 'smart-drugs' are created and used? My impression
> is that today's 'smart-drugs' confer only modest benefits, if any, to normal
> healthy people. But maybe a really effective one will enter the pipeline
> within the near future, that can objectively increase intelligence (by
> safely increasing firing rates?).
>

My guess is that no simple chemical tweak will confer large benefits to most
people without corresponding disadvantages, simply because if such were
easily had, evolution would probably have already found it. (Eliezer called
this "Algernon's Law", IIRC.)

There are loopholes, of course, e.g. it might be that 90% of people could
see a free benefit from some tweak, while any given tweak would only benefit
10% - so just make sure to pick the appropriate one for your brain
chemistry.

Or you might be able to boost performance in some areas while degrading it
in others. I'm not sure this idea is cause for optimism, though... wouldn't
the big market be students? For that market, wouldn't the winner be
something that boosts rote memorization while e.g. damping creative thought?
Good for zero sum status seeking via exam results, but not obviously
conducive to progress.
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