What if you could take a pill that made you better, smarter, and richer? This is the basis of the new movie Limitless starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, and Robert De Niro.
Basically, Cooper’s character, Eddie Morra, is a deadbeat writer who is recently dumped by his girlfriend and is about to lose his apartment. He discovers NZT-48, a drug that supposedly “accesses 100% of the brain”. The movie claims we can only access 20% of our brain. One pill allows him to finish writing his book, learn Italian, and become rich through investment in 4 days. He becomes a wealthy businessman when he starts experiencing adverse side effects of the drug: black outs, memory lapses, and physically drained. And …
So would you take this pill if you were guaranteed to see vast improvement? Regardless, NZT does not exist in real life. What about other guaranteed pills that are FDA approved? That makes it better, right? Adderall and other similar medication prescribed for ADD are the closest to a “magical” pill in the sense that it helps most users focus and thus, motivate.
The issue is people that are not diagnosed with ADD abuse this drug. I admit I took it once for ironically, to study for a Neurobiology test. I was all of a sudden in the zone within 20 minutes. Reading about Synaptic Plasticity seemed enjoyable. I was up for 13 hours straight reading powerpoints and drinking an ungodly amount of water. Adderall is a diuretic and will dehydrate you. I did well on the test, but coming off this drug was horrible. My heart seemed like it was beating twice as fast. My appetite was suppressed for half a day so my stomach was hurting. I was so tired, but could not fall asleep. I just sat on my bed miserable with my right eye twitching. Needless to say, I decided then I would never take it again. The side effects were not worth it.
The effects of over consuming medication are dangerous. In Limitless, Morra is urged to stop taking the pill when he finds out others who were abusing have died or are hospitalized. When your body becomes addicted to a substance like NZT, your body begins to rely on it. A 2008 Harvard study showed addictive drugs stimulate a reward circuit in the brain. Rewarding experiences like getting an A on a test or making millions in a four-day time period triggers the release of dopamine. This signals the brain to "do it again". Therefore, it is difficult to quit right away when drug induced change alters memories linking the drug as a pleasurable incentive. Morra has to taper off the drug by reducing the dosage by a little each time he takes it.
It is important to note how this movie belittles actual brain power. In the middle of the 20th century, scientists had limited knowledge on how the brain functioned. This somehow translated to the public and mass media that we only use 20% of our brain. New technologies like MRIs or PET scans show this to be incorrect. That is like saying we only use 20% of our muscles when muscular contraction happens all that time. If these statistics were true, you would be dead.
The world is not ready for a pill as extreme as NZT to be released for the public. It would be expensive to buy and regulate in the pharmaceutical market. Many scietists would try to make a generic for a fraction of the cost. The world would become an instant Darwinian society. Anyone who had access to the pill would be infinitely times better than their peers competing for the same job or entrance to a professional school. Others without the funds for this drug will become jealous and mentally hungry. When people are desperate; they do not think rationally. They may even kill others to get the drug. Morra is so desperate he drinks the blood of someone who just injected MZT in his bloodstream in hopes to get the high he needs. If one is on this pill long enough, the line between the actual person and the drug becomes thin. Am I talking to my friend or am I talking to the effects of the drug on my friend?
It does not take a pill to succeed, just inner motivation. And when you find that inner motivation, you become limitless .
— Saha is a junior in neurobiology from Overland Park.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment