Wave of the Future, Dude

I found this article really interesting. Drugs that can improve the faculties of normal people are already becoming prevalent (Adderol (sp???) for one) but future, more legal drugs will probably be available in the near future. There are many ethical issues surrounding this, but I think my biggest concern is that as much as we could feasibly improve ourselves, should self-improvement be so emphasized in our society. In effect, we will simply be raising the base-line levels of memory, intelligence or whatever else. Our society could be more efficient, but I don't think our happiness will improve at all, and all we would do is become less content with our basic selves.

The other major problem I have with this is that if new super-pills become available, only richer people will be able to get them, leading to an increase in the already large gap between rich and poor. What really scares me about this is, say, prestigious schools that have a combination of priviledged kids and poorer but talented kids. At school, the richer kids can get the smart drugs and will have a huge advantage over the poorer kids. In the end, this issue ties back in with my previous one, as in the end the kids just want to be smarter and perform better, but it is unlikely, and perhaps less likely, that they will be more content.

There are a ton of other interesting points in the article not about the drugs per se, but rather about memory. The thing about the girl who can remember basically every day of her life in great detail is nuts and makes me realize the brain is absolutely f-ing crazy.