Since I have my e-mail address visible on many sites throughout the giant series of tubes that is the Internet, I receive a lot of spam. The headers of the message are generally randomly generated to bypass spam filters and range from the confusing ""As in the days of yore"" to the nonsensical ""of my arm around you Don't you Dare gO"". And then, of course, there's the direct: ""BUY V1@GRA!"" Recently, however, I got an unsolicited advertisement for a new kind of pill designed to boost your intellect, powers of comprehension, concentration, and if you're really lucky, it'll increase your penis/bust size as well.
Normally, one key press and that ad would have been deep-sixed post haste. However, owing to an unfortunate grade I had just received on an exam, I decided to do a little investigating. As it turns out, these kinds of drugs, dubbed ""cognitive enhancers"" by doctors, are becoming more and more common.
Some of these cognitive enhancers like Adderall—an amphetamine—and Ritalin—which is mostly methylphenidate—are widely and legitimately used for treatment of mental disorders such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. However, according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse, these drugs are increasingly being used by students as a study aid. The usage of Adderall as a study aid varies from campus to campus. Rates among highly-competitive campuses—such as Harvard or Princeton—approach six percent while less competitive campuses—such as, say, UW-Stout—have usage rates hovering around one percent.
Other enhancer drugs have also began to hit the market. Modafinil, a drug used to treat narcolepsy and other sleep disorders, was recently found to improve powers of memorization in healthy individuals. Authorities in the United Kingdom immediately moved to place restrictions on the drug to prevent abuse.
Of course, cognitive enhancers aren't the only drugs modern medicine offers us to modify our abilities. Viagra and Cialis, popular among men, have been around for almost a decade. Anti-depressants have long been criticized for changing the behavior and personality of their patients (just as an aside, isn't that the point?).
So are we headed to a society of pill-poppers? Foresight, a think-tank based in the UK believes that cognitive enhancers and other performance modifying drugs could become ""as common as coffee"" over the next few decades.
Obviously, widespread usage would raise many ethical questions (random drug tests before exams?) and could possibly widen the gap between citizens of different socioeconomic classes per ""Brave New World.""
But think of the possibilities: Want to be funnier before your friends force you onstage during open mic night? We'll have a pill for that. How about bulking up a bit before your spring break mayhem? We already have a pill for that. Perhaps you're looking to finally woo that girl of your dreams without THB—a pill for that is probably already in the works.
What with plastic surgery, performance enhancing drugs and other technologies just around the corner—color changing clothes and electronic brain implants to name a couple—I agree and in some ways look forward to a society with a new motto. Instead of Microsoft's ""Where do you want to go today?"" we'll have ""Who do you want to BE today?""
And then, just maybe, once we've explored the outer realms of what defines humanity, we'll be satisfied with just being ourselves.
