Invented and tested: A pill to temporarily increase your IQ.

[Silverhair]

http://nootropics.com/ampakines/cx717.html

also:

http://www.cortexpharm.com/html/news/05/05-02-05.html

Google CX717 and you will get a pile of hits. I came across it while reading the new (October Vol 26, #10) issue of Discover magazine. That one isn't on their web site yet, so I found a different link for it.

Basically, if you take the pill, you get a good bit smarter for a few hours. Larger doses last longer, with the 1000mg dose lasting even past a night's sleep and into the next day. At this point, studies have not shown any side effects but it is too soon to have reliable information on that.

The articles don't say how big the difference is, but it seems to be a profound difference if someone who has been up for 24 hours and takes the pill, can do better than they could when well rested but without the pill.

Can you imagine the social effects of this. Next election, if, a few hours before the debates, one POTUS candidate takes the pill and the other doesn't?

It may become as normal as the morning cup of coffee.

What would the effects on society be?

[Canuckistanian]

1. The Charlie Effect?

What about long term effects of taking this pill?

[Silverhair]

12. Unknown.

This could get interesting if the effect somehow had a cumulative aspect, so that eventually it didn't wear off.

Or maybe the brain might become more sensative to it, so that the same dose provides a larger effect.

Or the exact opposite.

No real knowledge the long term effects yet.

[beam me up scottie]

2. I see a different, less evil use for this.

Put it in the water supply before elections.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

18. Thanks for the laugh!

[beam me up scottie]

20. No problem,

if only it was that easy...

bluedawg12 in post #13 figured out what would really happen!

[LiberalEsto]

32. Can it cure electile dysfunction?

Start shipping it to red states now!

[genieroze]

3. They will need a urine test to test for it when you need to take a test.

hehehe :silly:

[MercutioATC]

4. Intelligence Quotient is measured by testing known facts, so I doubt

a pill could actually raise anybody's IQ. It might be able to decrease reaction time, but that isn't a true measure of intelligence (Or IQ).

Aside from that, it does sound like an interesting drug.

[Silverhair]

14. IQ tests also test reasoning ability,

and other aspects.

[Autumn Colors]

15. Known facts?

Well, the IQ exam I sat for to qualify for Mensa and the ones I remember taking in school were more perception based, logic based, memorization, and problem-solving ability. I'm not sure what known facts you're referring to, but I know from talking to people involved in the testing process that much of it is based on how FAST you can do the problems and how well you can memorize something.

At the start of the test, the proctor read a story and said we needed to concentrate on all of the details and that we would be questioned about that story at the end of the exam ... 3 hours later.

So, I think it's feasible that a drug could enhance those abilities that are measured on an IQ test but it isn't going to make a person know something they didn't already know. And what happens when this drug wears off? If they're taught something under the influence of this drug, does the knowledge fade from memory after it wears off. Are the facts there so they can repeat them by rote but not really understand the meaning? I'm kind of confused as to what this drug would accomplish unless it were taken on a permanent basis.

So, it might not help the presidential candidate in the debate, but that other little idea (not really serious) about putting it in the water supply before an election ... yeah, if you could do that and then give everyone all the facts about all of the candidates, it might give them a better ability to understand it all and to weigh the issues. ;)

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Sounds very scary....

I think I read a book about how workers were fed drugs like that one time.

It wasn't very pleasant.


Sign me up!

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Flowers For Algernon--Charly

[WiseButAngrySara]

19. I saw the movie and read the book...years ago. And I still feel like

crying everytime I hear about it. That movie (especially, usually its the reverse) was profoundly moving.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

27. My very first thought. Wonderful book and movie. nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

31. The Algernon-Gordon Effect

pS. pleez tell dr. rove not to be to upset becaus i cannt function as presint anymor.

[Redstone]

7. In the 70s, we took Black Beauties, and they did the same thing,

but the next morning was a copper-plated bitch.

Redstone

[Mr_Spock]

9. Um, I remember that term

"black beauties" - brings back memories (lol @ double entendre)

[Redstone]

11. And I had both kinds.

Redstone

[Mr_Spock]

8. If Bush took 100 pills, do you think he could remember that he is Preznit?

Instead of falling asleep while the biggest natural disaster in American history is happening?

[melody]

10. Even if you teach the monkey long division...

He's still a monkey. Junior is limited by his infinite chimpness.

[bluedawg12]

13. I took it 23 and 1/2 hours ago, it lasts 24 hours

it's a sulfonated hydcarbon chain with parabenzene and hydoxylata..t..e..d..uh...uh...yawn....hey ya'all I's sleepy an' need a beer and to watch Nascar...urp....gewddamn I ain't descended from no ape...pill wore off ah guess. Vote Shrub. zzz...zzz.zz.zzzz

[beam me up scottie]

16. ROFLMAO !!!

:rofl:

[Cats Against Frist]

26. LOL -- thanks for the morning laugh! n/t

[Graf Orlok]

17. Erectile Dysfunction?

:shrug:

What are the moral implications of using this drug? Would everyone be intelligent? If so, would that be a good thing? Or do we want some people to be completely stupid? Even if everyone does use it, isn't that sort of cheating (like when it comes to tests, etc)??

Maybe all the pill does is increase reaction times?

[Silverhair]

21. Dune and the Mentats?

Remember the guys in the book that took a drug to help them think through certain types of problems?

Science fiction becoming reality?

[jmm]

22. This won't have any effect on society

A person's IQ is relative to others of approximately the same age. So if everybody started to take this daily the bar might raise but the curve wouldn't change. Realistically everyone would not take an IQ pill daily. If these were as cheap as aspirin there would still be an economic disparity amongst those who do and don't use it. At best there might be a niche market for people who think it will help them do something like pass an exam or do better on the SATs. These are the same people who would already have advantages like exam prep courses or already are looking for other quick fix solutions like Cliff notes and term papers online. Even then it wouldn't actually help people learn. At best it would help them to focus. A placebo or a cup of coffee can do the same damn thing.

[Silverhair]

24. Not according to the tests.

They test subjects were also given placeboes. There was a marked difference.

[jmm]

30. They only tested it on 16 men and they didn't publish the results

I would be interested in seeing this study redone thoroughly with a bigger sample and in seeing them actually publish the difference. Even if it does make a significant difference I don't see this changing society for reasons I explained in my previous post.

[Silverhair]

33. Loooong way to go for FDA approval.

We have little idea of long term side effects. Lots of studies need to be done before this is known to be safe and effective. Still, the monkey studies showed results and the first human studies were interesting. It is a story that I will try to follow on the web.

If it works, I do see it has having major social effect.

[lildreamer316]

23. Would this help ADD?

and I DON"T mean ADHD. I mean ADD. Anyone?

[Cats Against Frist]

28. That's what I was going to ask

Does it do the same thing, as like, Adderall? If it does, and they box that shit up, legally, I'm so there. I'm a poet, and find my work impeded A LOT because of an adult ADD, or something -- I could take the pill, flip the scrip', and get the damn thing published. It would make my leisure time much more enjoyable.

[sendero]

25. Finally...

.... steroids for the brain.

[Misunderestimator]

29. It will be like steroids. And there will be doping.

:rofl: