Technologically Enhanced Thiinking

Jamais Cascio has an article in the current Atlantic magazine suggesting that while the problems facing man are complex and getting more so, technological enhancement of our thinking ability may help us to think our way out of danger. I was especially impressed by his discussion of the pharmacological tools becoming available to enhance thinking. For example, he writes:

One of the most prominent examples is a drug called modafinil. Developed in the 1970s, modafinil—sold in the U.S. under the brand name Provigil—appeared on the cultural radar in the late 1990s, when the American military began to test it for long-haul pilots. Extended use of modafinil can keep a person awake and alert for well over 32 hours on end, with only a full night’s sleep required to get back to a normal schedule.

While it is FDA-approved only for a few sleep disorders, like narcolepsy and sleep apnea, doctors increasingly prescribe it to those suffering from depression, to “shift workers” fighting fatigue, and to frequent business travelers dealing with time-zone shifts. I’m part of the latter group: like more and more professionals, I have a prescription for modafinil in order to help me overcome jet lag when I travel internationally. When I started taking the drug, I expected it to keep me awake; I didn’t expect it to make me feel smarter, but that’s exactly what happened. The change was subtle but clear, once I recognized it: within an hour of taking a standard 200-mg tablet, I was much more alert, and thinking with considerably more clarity and focus than usual. This isn’t just a subjective conclusion. A University of Cambridge study, published in 2003, concluded that modafinil confers a measurable cognitive-enhancement effect across a variety of mental tasks, including pattern recognition and spatial planning, and sharpens focus and alertness.

Comment: I would note that there are also important social inventions which are still diffusing through global society and other social inventions will no doubt come about. Think of the importance of modern science, the modern university and the think tank as social inventions that are helping us to think better.

Homo sapiens is a social species, and there is a growing body of data which shows we make better decisions in group processes than alone -- a phenomenon that was known to the creators of the jury system and parliamentary democracy. But the group decision process can be improved by further study and invention. JAD