>>Do they work or not? A simple
>>question, easy to answer, with methods known for centuries. The fact
>>that no one even tries to answer it is very suspicious. I'm happy
>>that you feel better or think you concentrate more with them, but if
>>I see no reason to believe that those aren't just placebo effects,
>>then I'm not going to blindly pop pills on some random testimonial.
>
>Yes, it is suspicious, but I there is a lot of taboo around the idea of
>promoting a drug as a nootropic, or anti-aging drug, even if it does work.
>Most companies are very comfortable with the idea of producing drugs for
>"the sick". That is why most of the currently available "nootrpics" were
>developed to treat diseases of cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's
>disease. If there are any side effects, those side effects are not so
>acceptable when they occur in someone who doesn't *need* the drug.
>Maybe the information you are looking for is contained in the data for the
>control populations that are usually tested along with the "diseased"
>populations in most sudies. In order to get this data you would have to
>look at the original research articles, which shouldn't be too diffcult.
>
I think you're onto something here Tony, it's the same with everything
Extropian, everything to do with consciously improving oneself: it sends
shivers down peoples' spines, it is 'taboo'. What a sick society! (I
exaggerate of course, and the bottle is, on the whole, half full.)
That's why the full might of the scientific community hasn't been
focussed on 'smart drugs', or even the 'placebo' effect, come to think
of it (e.g. how could we learn to control these obvious psychosomatic
powers better?)
Guru George