MOVE OVER, EINSTEIN AND MOZART. If we believe ads appearing on websites or in print, we are but one pill, Power Bar, drink, or dietary supplement away from having a greater attention span or powers of concentration—perhaps even a greater memory, capacity to learn, ability to solve complex problems, and reasoning prowess. These “miraculous” products are variously called smart drugs, cognitive enhancers, and nootropics (from the Greek, “toward the mind”).
Some purported smart drugs are nutrients and herbals available at health food stores. Others have been approved for use for Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease but have never been shown to enhance memory. Currently, the most widely used smart drugs are stimulants, such as Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Adderall (amphetamine salts), which treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or Provigil (modafinal), prescribed to counteract narcolepsy.
As many students and rising executives will attest, stimulants do promote alertness, decrease drowsiness, and increase concentration. However, evidence that such drugs enhance the user’s ability to solve complex problems, write great books, compose symphonies, or make more rational long-term decisions is now absent.
In theory, how might the smart drugs of the future help the user achieve such wonders? Perhaps by increasing the supply of or efficiency in utilizing nutrients and oxygen in the brain. Increasing the synthesis, creating mimics, or improving the effectiveness of neurotransmitters, hormones, or other essential brain chemicals required for memory might work. Still others might facilitate the flow of information between nerves or enhance the utilization of memory stores. Some of these drugs may be of benefit in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and perhaps some anti-Alzheimer’s drugs will enhance normal memory.
Assuming such drugs were safe, effective, and available, who could get them, and would their selective availability be good or bad for society at large? Would using smart drugs in school or on the job provide an unfair advantage, or would they be more like tutors that maximize mental abilities? As we learn more about brain function and its chemistry, such drugs appear to be on the not-so-distant horizon.
SEE ALSO Neurotransmitters (1920), Amphetamine (1932), Ritalin (1955), Dietary Supplements (1994).
This spherical fused gyroscope comes close to achieving perfection, differing from a perfect sphere by no more than 40 atoms. Used in NASA’s Gravity Probe B experiment in 2004, it tested and confirmed two key predictions from Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity. Einstein, synonymous with genius, is refracted in the background image.