Running with the Dopes: Cheating to be a Better Human | h+ Magazine

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Modern humans are put in many moral conundrums, but the most pernicious may be the conflict between performance and ethics. In the modern world we are expected to be productive for at least eight hours a day, and that means being awake, functional, in a good mood, and ready to perform without complaints. We have drugs and supplements to make us more productive and efficient, and the industries that supply those drugs are among the largest in the world. But while these industries thrive, we are told that using drugs is unethical and amounts to cheating. What is the modern performance-minded human to do?

No matter what you want to achieve in a lifetime, there is a drug to help you do it better and faster. Without coffee, the modern eight-hour workday would be impossible. When we get stressed and depressed from overwork and lack of sleep we turn to alcohol or anti-depressants to wind down. When we feel pain we knock it back with anti-inflammatory pills and keep going. We dope ourselves to be more productive. We are told it’s okay. We do it without even thinking.

There’s a pernicious aspect to all this — the lines between enhanced performance and cheating have become blurred. The adverse effects of chemical optimization are either grossly exaggerated by politicians or quietly understated by industry flacks, both using clever PR manipulation in order to pull bigger numbers. We are allowed to use coffee and alcohol and prescription meds to cheat our way through the modern day, but when we use steroids or marijuana this is suddenly a scandal. The doping rules are rigged and enforcement is arbitrary. The take-away message is, “Be more productive, but don’t get caught doing it with the most efficient drugs: that’s cheating.” Welcome to the 21st ...

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http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/neuro/running-dopes-cheating-be-better-human

http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/neuro/running-dopes-cheating-be-better-human