Imagine a world where personal productivity is no longer achieved by hard work, patience and determination, but rather the result of daily use of cognitive enhancers.
No longer would one have to struggle to brainstorm with colleagues for innovative solutions to society’s dilemmas; the powerful effects of super drugs would ignite crucial neurons in the brain for refined thought processes. Virtually everyone has access, and blissfully participates in an attempt to build a utopia.
The concept of a drug-fueled society is not neoteric by any means.
Aldous Huxley, far beyond his time, explored the concept of such a scenario in his 1932 novel “Brave New World.”
With his classic knack for storytelling, he paints a picture of a dismal world that is completely reliant on the usage of drugs, which free people from feelings of inconvenience, such as pain and stress.
As merely embryos, humans are administered medication, depending on their predetermined placement in the social caste, so that they are forced to function accordingly. Although the society is efficient in every conceivable manner, the very fundamental emotions that make us human are altered.
Then the idea is translated into modern terms.
And yet, this story does not seem too far off of where our youth is headed.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, as much as 6.4 percent of college students aged 18- to 24-years old are illegally using Adderall, legal speed, to help stay focused during tests.
May of this year, MSNBC’s TODAY Health covered the topic of Adderall abuse, calling it the “steroids for school”. Several students admitted to taking the “study buddies” sans prescription, saying that it helped to focus during study sessions that required diligent work.
While these drugs have clinically been proven to help people that suffer from ADD or ADHD, the increase in abuse by non-prescribed users is serious. This nonchalant social acceptance of the abuse imposes dangerous downfalls to its users.
The 2011 move “Limitless” captures this as well. Feature actor Bradley Cooper poses as an average-intelligence man who suffers from a seemingly chronic case of procrastination.
One day he serendipitously gains access to a miracle drug that immediately delivers remarkable cognitive abilities: enlightenment just occurs. His life makes a rapid improvement, due to his newfound skill to monitor, calculate and predict crucial changes in the stock market.
The most powerful men on Wall Street are intrigued by his power. Cooper is intoxicated not only by the wealth, but the recognition he receives. To his dismay, however, the effects of the drug are short-term, and must be sustained by continued use, or else rapid mental deterioration occurs.
This picture isn’t too far off from real life. As one student described to NBC’s anchorwoman Amy Robach, she quickly became addicted to the pills, and watched as her life turned to shambles. “You’ll use it one night to study for a test like I did and the next thing you know, you’re using it every night to study for a test.”
Within six months of consistent use, the student went from academic scholarships to forced withdrawal from her university.
And it’s getting easier for young people to access Adderall, even legally. One student tells Robach, “I went to a doctor and told them I couldn’t focus... by the end, I walked out with a prescription. It was incredibly easy.”
Thus being the case, when did mainstream society decide that pills are the most practical solution to mediocrity? When will pharmaceutical companies make the paramount decision to produce such medication, and that regulation not be necessary?
A paradigm shift is occurring, and it appears that superiority is taking precedence of ethics.
Reach the columnist at britni.adams@asu.edu
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