> There seem to be many other chemicals that enhance various personality
> traits. Steroids make one more aggressive; psychedelics give appreciation
> of sensory perception and artistic skills;
I thik most of these effects can be attributed to set and setting,
plus indirect psychological effects. Psychedelics induce
hallucinations and odd ways of thinking; this makes you more aware of
the aspects of perception you normally take for granted. Steroids
might increase aggression simply because they cause autonomous nervous
system arousal that normally becomes associated with anger. And so on.
So while I certainly believe the drugs may have these beneficial
effects, they are not inherent in the drug itself.
What I want is drugs that really affect just a single cell-field. Then
we could mix the right cocktails, including pleasure without strong
addiction (stimulating the "liking" but not "wanting" systems). Not to
mention the boon to us neuroscientists... :-)
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y