Lately we have been bombarded by advertisements to buy pills to make us smarter. Synagen IQ, a spectacular drug was endorsed by Stephen Hawking and the CNN network. The Harvard scientist who created the pill believes it can “help everyone on the planet, and take us to the next stage of evolution.” Then there is Prevagen, another brain stimulator, derived from jelly fish found along coastal waters. Ironically jellyfish have no brains! All these claims are totally false and those who fall for these snake-oil pitches using credit cards for purchases may be unwittingly signing on for recurring payments or significant overcharges. “However, the real scam here is the marketing techniques that are used,” says Richard Cleland of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
How many of our friends fall for sales tactics as these – and never admit it? Astoundingly, 61% of US adults trust these ads according to Gallup polls. In just four years, Anthony and Staci Dill, owners of now-defunct marketing firms Direct Alternatives and Original Organics LLC, sold $16 million-worth of two supposed weight-loss aids by marketing a “blizzard of lies.”
I’m daydreaming at the moment of being able to pop a pill that makes me smarter? It sounds like a Hollywood movie plot or a Whitewater Township caper, but a decades-long search for a safe and effective “smart drug” might have notched its first success. Researchers have found that Modafinil boosts higher-order cognitive function without causing serious side effects.
Students use to take drugs to get high, now they take them to get high grades. The use of smart drugs bought on the internet to boost mental performance is endemic in some universities. Students claim they can study for longer without losing concentration. So, can we all benefit from having an edge or is it just a form of cheating that should be banned? Derek Murphy’s book called “The Creative Brain on Drugs” was inspired by the outsourcing of blue-collar work in an unstable job market. No jobs for life. Creativity was needed to preserve one’s worth so smart drugs became an alternative. Robin Williams once said, “Reality is just a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.”
Realistically, don’t run to the pharmacy just yet. Instead, look a few years into the future, a perfected smart pill will likely be available. For certain, I will be at the front of the line to get my hands on those babies. Any supplement to assure me a memory of good standing would be worth anything. I would be able to not only recall conversations I had over the years but recall the people I had them with. Being smarter, I would be better at personal health management and certainly better at managing personal finances. No more whims of buying cars and clothes. “Getting smart.” means being able to process more information, and improvements in memory and attention-span. However, there are some experts in the pharmacology field who claim that smart drugs don’t make you smarter unless you are already smart. What a bummer!
“Getting smarter” could mean simply reasoning better. Studies predict that with smart pills, students could go through high school and university systems much quicker than they did. The cost of the educational system would be reduced and, in addition, provide an injection of youth into the workforce that could counterbalance the ever-increasing number of senior citizens in the population. The rate of technological innovation would increase, benefiting everything from medicine to transportation and communication. There would also be improvements in daily living. Why wasn’t I born years later!
Although many doctors likely prescribe the drug to help people concentrate, a survey by the journal Nature found that one in five had taken brain-boosting drugs, and half those people had used modafinil. No one yet knows whether it is safe for long-term use in Seniors. Some studies suggest that older adults may not derive much benefit from cognition-enhancing drugs probably because they have lost much of what they known!
I don’t worry about smart pills altering genetics. That change is far too slow and subjective to be of concern. I do worry about a world in which the social improvements that create higher intelligence might be available only to the more affluent members of society and/or the smarter ones.
