[ExI] 27 psychedelics??

Sat Mar 26 19:52:02 UTC 2022

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Will Steinberg via extropy-chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] 27 psychedelics??

On Sat, Mar 26, 2022 at 1:36 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> > wrote:

There is exactly one chemical known to enhance chess ability, freely and nearly universally used: caffeine.

>…I assume this is hyperbolic since amphetamines are widely known to boost problem-solving abilities and reaction time.  Caffeine sucks ass as a focus drug compared to amphetamines, since caffeine is a much more general stimulant instead of honing in on the motivation/action loci of the brain.  (Source: studied neuroscience, did a lot of drugs).  And there are plenty of other nootropics ('smart drugs') known to enhance cognitive ability …

Good, then there should be plenty of opportunities to do a chess test.

There’s some historical context to why the chess world knows all about caffeine.  In 1984 when the cold war was as hot as it could get and still be defined as cold, the commie Karpov was challenged by the also-Russian but communist-opposing young Kasparov, who was then age 21.  The match was to go to the first player to make it to 6 wins, draws didn’t count.

It was a most interesting outcome.  The commie Karpov started out winning four of the first nine games, followed by a string of 16 draws, Karpov won another making it 5 to 0.  All he needed was one more win.  But… everyone who was following those games could see that Karpov’s play was declining.  We later found out that Karpov was taking megadoses of caffeine before each game, which the body can take for a while.  But this match was grinding on, week after week, for months.  After a game, Karpov couldn’t sleep and was losing a lot of weight (he was already skinny.)  He looked like a scarecrow.  The most reliable talk on the street was the dosage Karpov was using was equivalent to about 10 cups of strong coffee (owwww, damn.)

Of course we yanks were cheering for Kasparov, and when Garry won game 32 we were elated.  OK now it was 5 to 1, and Kasparov, being the paragon of competition, correctly realized that if he was sufficiently patient, the commie’s health would  eventually collapse, which it did.  Kasparov ground his ass down.  After the match had continued for five months of draws (!) Karpov’s play went off a cliff.  Kasparov won games 47 and 48, bringing the score to 5 to 2, but after we saw game 47 in particular, we all realized Karpov was cooked (many non-Karpovy moves in that one) and that Kasparove would likely win game 48 (he did) then probably 49 thru 51, but those last three games were never played.  The authorities stepped in and stopped the match, declaring the competitors world co-champions.  Officially that was the position, but we all knew the communist domination of chess was over.  Kasparov really won that match.  Caffeine was the drug of choice then (that’s all the commies admitted to) and it helped, for a while.

The 80s were a most exciting time to be alive.

spike

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