A society that runs on stimulants is badly broken

Barrin92•2 minutes ago

I do find the economics / work narrative relatively unconvincing. For one workload in the developed world has fallen by about 40-50% over the last 100 years. Consuming stimulants is as popular among call it the 'lazy bum class' (no offense, I grew up in a deadbeat town) as it is among strivers. Coffee goes back five thousand years, Nicotine as far as recorded history, that is 10k+ years.

They've always had recreational or even ritual use, and the health fads against stimulants and cleansing crazes usually come from the work-obsessed than anyone else. So I don't think that we run on stimulants, I'm pretty sure we'd do them regardless.

jollyllama•about 2 hours ago

Hasn't it been that way for at least a few hundred years? I'm surprised the article didn't mention the OG stimulant, tobacco.

homer456•about 1 hour ago

Sometimes I wonder if coffee is responsible for modernity.

theokrueger•about 1 hour ago

coffee houses (previously a threat to the monarchy) would buckle at their knees in front of the dose in caffiene pills or energy drinks

even tobacco has turned to vaping to deliver more nicotine quicker

deepc4life•about 2 hours ago

I don't know how we do it. I am much more clearheaded without coffee or anything of the sorts.

throwitaway222•about 2 hours ago

I was on a prescribed stimulant for 6 months. It was nice for work, but it ended up with too many side effects that kind of mess with ones head. It tends to "simplify" complex decision making processes and not just for code but for life decisions.

copperx•about 2 hours ago

Simplifying decisions can be a positive outcome, just to add balance to your comment.

throwitaway222•about 1 hour ago

And I don't disagree!

suburban_strike•about 1 hour ago

> It tends to "simplify" complex decision making processes and not just for code but for life decisions.

Improving executive function is literally the point of prescription stimulants.

Rather than endless spirals about whether you should do ___, it just makes everything sound like a great idea to you...for better or for worse.

Cocaine has the same effect, only amplified.

A society that runs on stimulants is badly broken

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