[ExI] effects of stimulants (was Bodies)

[Lee Corbin]

Stathis writes

>> Well, were I placed in a cell for a year with nothing
>> to read except manuals on these subjects, and nothing
>> to do except little experiments having to do with them,
>> then SURELY you will agree that caffeine and---as you
>> assert, amphetamines---would make *all the difference
>> in the world* in how enjoyable that year was. Right?
> 
> I wouldn't say "all the difference in the world". Maybe a slight
> difference, but it might even make you more irritable, anxious or
> dysphoric. I don't think there is evidence that any drug improves
> productivity in any activity in a sustained way, although maybe small
> doses of caffeine or amphetamines comes close.

Evidently there is great variation. Suppose I were
trapped in the aforesaid cell for a year, with *nothing*
to do except study automotive repair manuals, and,
not to make it too extreme, given an hour or two
every few days getting to fix a car.

Now I have *never* had any interest whatsoever in
car repair, yet with the help of caffeine, I would
arise every day and hit those manuals with gusto.
I would immediately find automotive repair to be
rather interesting, and after a few months, *very*
interesting.

Without caffeine, this simply would not happen. The
tedium would rarely subside.

Remember that the Spanish greatly encouraged the chewing
of the coca leaves by the South American indigenies they'd
enslaved. Clearly given the Spanish methods, this didn't
really increase the *possible* work that could be extracted
each day every day from the workers---what it did instead
was to make getting the slaves' compliance easier. Also,
clearly, the natives preferred working with coca.

I have no data on the longevity of the workers, but I doubt
that they lived any shorter lives than workers who were
not supplied coca.

Lee