>> What we may find, however, are drugs that improve
>> cognition in some subjects and worsens it in others. Testing on a large
>> group of people, we would not find any effect.
>
>And also, drugs that are beneficial under certain circumstances or in
>certain combinations. I think this is a likely situation.
>
>> Such drugs could still be very useful, but they would require some
>> individual experimentation. You have to try many things to see what works
>> for you. A proper clinical trial for a proposed smartdrug could thus have
>> two stages: the first stage identifies the people who seem to react most
>> favorably, and the second stage tests the overall effect on this special
>> population. My impression is that this is not usually done today, with the
>> possible consequence that many smartdrugs have gone unnoticed.
>
...and what sort of testing would the do-it-yourself researcher
employ? Barrages of Freecell? Rounds of Go against Nemesis or
IgoWin? What other aspects of "intelligence" beyond pattern
manipulation have convenient and reproducible testing tools?
Could be the start of a whole new hobby, once one runs out of body parts to pierce.