November 7, 2008, 7:49 pm
By Claire Cain Miller
One of the many ways that the election of Barack Obama as president has echoed that of John F. Kennedy is his use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet.
“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.
She spoke Friday about how politics and Web 2.0 intersect on a panel with Joe Trippi, a political consultant, and Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. (Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich had been invited to balance out the left-leaning panel, but declined, according to John Battelle, a chair of the conference.)
Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign -– which was run by Mr. Trippi –- was groundbreaking in its use of the Internet to raise small amounts of money from hundreds of thousands of people. But by using interactive Web 2.0 tools, Mr. Obama’s campaign changed the way politicians organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents.
Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground, Mr. Trippi said.
“The tools changed between 2004 and 2008. Barack Obama won every single caucus state that matters, and he did it because of those tools, because he was able to move thousands of people to organize.”
Mr. Obama’s campaign took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. Mr. Trippi argued that those videos were more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted.
“The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours,” Mr. Trippi said. “To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million.”
There has also been a sea change in fact-checking, with citizens using the Internet to find past speeches that prove a politician wrong and then using the Web to alert their fellow citizens.
The John McCain campaign, for example, originally said that Governor Sarah Palin opposed the so-called bridge to nowhere in Alaska, Ms. Huffington said. “Online there was an absolutely obsessive campaign to prove that wrong,” she said, and eventually the campaign stopped repeating it.
“In 2004, trust me, they would have gone on repeating it, because the echo chamber would not have been as facile,” Ms. Huffington said.
The Internet also let people repeatedly listen to the candidates’ own words in the face of attacks, Mr. Huffington said. As Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary words kept surfacing, people could re-watch Mr. Obama’s speech on race. To date, 6.7 million people have watched the 37-minute speech on YouTube.
The Internet also changes the way politicians govern. Mr. Newsom learned that last year when he ran for re-election. He showed up at a rally and didn’t see the usual crowd. His aides told him the audience was made up of his Facebook friends. “I said, ‘What’s Facebook?’” Mr. Newsom recalled.
These days, Mr. Newsom is “obsessed with Facebook.” It strengthens his connection with his constituents and their connection with the causes they care about, he said.
The constant exposure can, of course, turn against politicians.
Ms. Huffington’s “off the bus” team of 10,000 citizen journalists caught candidates saying things that embarrassed them later, such as Mr. Obama’s “guns and religion” remark. Now, she said, “there is no off-the-record fundraiser.”
Mr. Newsom said he is fearful of the constant need to watch his tongue. “I have to watch myself singing, ‘I left my heart in San Francisco’ on YouTube and it can’t go away. I am desperate to get it to go away,” he said dryly.
“There will be a lot of collateral damage coming to grips with the fact that we’re in a reality TV series, ‘Politics 24/7,’” Mr. Newsom said.
That’s a good thing, Mr. Trippi said. “This medium demands authenticity, and television for the most part demanded fake. Authenticity is something politicians haven’t been used to.”
He predicted that this real-time Internet contact with constituents will also change the way the president of the United States governs. He recently proposed that Mr. Obama start a Web site called MyWhiteHouse.gov to talk with citizens. (Mr. Obama just started a different site, Change.gov, on Thursday to keep in touch with people during the transition.)
“When Congress refuses to go with his agenda, it’s not going to be just the president they oppose," Mr. Trippi said. It will be the president and his huge virtual network of citizens.
“Just like Kennedy brought in the television presidency, I think we’re about to see the first wired, connected, networked presidency,” Mr. Trippi said.
2008年11月29日 星期六
2008年11月19日 星期三
Question for the news article
What is the best strategy used by China with Taiwan, your opinions? (no less than 100 words)
2008年11月15日 星期六
Beijing's best strategy to use with Taiwan
Beijing's best strategy to use with Taiwan
Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), left Taiwan on Nov. 7 with mixed results. Chen made history by being the highest ranking Chinese Communist official ever to formally visit Taiwan, technically still an enemy of Beijing. Four important agreements were signed.
The general perception is that Taipei and Beijing were treated on an equal footing in all activities during his visit. Official media in mainland China for the first time called Taiwan officials by their official titles. In Taipei, Chen even addressed Wang Jin-pyng, president of the Legislative Yuan, as “President Wang.” The only disappointment was that during his meeting with President Ma on the final day of his tour, he did not clearly call Ma “president.” Instead, he used “nin,” which was a deferential form of “you” in Chinese.
On the part of Ma, he made no mistake in reminding Chen that he is the president. In fact, calling people by their official titles should not be a significant issue at all, as long as the two sides are treated with parity during the cross-strait exchanges. It became an increasingly hot question, only because of the manipulation by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which kept saying that if Ma is not addressed as “president,” the dignity of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan as a sovereign state will be seriously impaired.
As a result, all Taiwanese are focusing their attention on this point, which became the main theme of the violent and bloody anti-government and anti-Chen protests sponsored by the DPP. Everyone knows that what a person is called is merely a formality, with little substantial meaning. Recent developments have indicated that Beijing has become more and more flexible and pragmatic in handling Taiwan affairs, by not denying Taipei as an independent political entity.
Against this background, Chen should have faced reality by calling President Ma as such to satisfy the persistent demand of dissidents here, without causing Beijing to sacrifice anything substantial.
While visiting Taiwan, Chen was, by and large, perceived as an intelligent, calm and professional diplomat. His emotional remarks upon arrival and his composure displayed in front of the violent protests that dogged him wherever he went, won widespread acclaim. But, if Chen had addressed Ma as president, his trip would have been much more successful.
How China deals with this question of calling Taipei’s government officials by their titles is directly related to its grand strategy toward Taiwan. An elaborate display of goodwill gestures by Beijing, we believe, would be the best and most effective method.
In this regard, it should be in the larger interest of China to consider removal of some, if not all, of its missiles aimed at Taiwan. Next, it should agree to a diplomatic truce with Taipei. Finally, it should help Taiwan participate in international activities as much as possible. That Lien Chan, as a former ROC vice president, will be the highest ranking representative from Taiwan to attend the forthcoming APEC meeting with the tacit approval of Beijing should be considered a wide move on the part of the Chinese Communists. Furthermore, China should consider giving active assistance to Taipei to enable it to participate in the World Health Organization (WHO) as an observer. Lien reportedly will mention this when meeting Hu Jintao, chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), at the APEC meeting. Of course, there are hardliners in China, just as there are in Taiwan, who oppose any concessions to the island, considered a “renegade province” of China, on the question of sovereignty. But, it should not be difficult to convince these people of the need and advantage of using this kind of “soft strategy.”
Now that China has been universally recognized as a giant world power, and as such it can afford to be magnanimous in dealing with a state as small as the ROC on Taiwan.
Even today, Taiwan is already, to a great extent, dependent on mainland China for its export surplus. Many Taiwanese, including DPP followers, have toured and invested in mainland China. In fact, most of the protesters against Chen’s visit were partisan-motivated, many of whom, deep in their hearts, supported increasing cross-strait exchanges because such a development is in their best interest.
There is a well-known saying that all humans are made of flesh, meaning people are easily moved by tender acts. And this will particularly apply to the psychology of down-to-earth Taiwanese people, who are scrupulously taught by Chinese culture to be grateful to whomever is nice to them. It was reported that several residents in southern Taiwan, considered a stronghold of the Taiwan independence movement, expressed deep regret that they could not see Chen Yunlin to say “thank-you” for the hospitality he extended to them while sightseeing in mainland China.
Chen Yunlin, chairman of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), left Taiwan on Nov. 7 with mixed results. Chen made history by being the highest ranking Chinese Communist official ever to formally visit Taiwan, technically still an enemy of Beijing. Four important agreements were signed.
The general perception is that Taipei and Beijing were treated on an equal footing in all activities during his visit. Official media in mainland China for the first time called Taiwan officials by their official titles. In Taipei, Chen even addressed Wang Jin-pyng, president of the Legislative Yuan, as “President Wang.” The only disappointment was that during his meeting with President Ma on the final day of his tour, he did not clearly call Ma “president.” Instead, he used “nin,” which was a deferential form of “you” in Chinese.
On the part of Ma, he made no mistake in reminding Chen that he is the president. In fact, calling people by their official titles should not be a significant issue at all, as long as the two sides are treated with parity during the cross-strait exchanges. It became an increasingly hot question, only because of the manipulation by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which kept saying that if Ma is not addressed as “president,” the dignity of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan as a sovereign state will be seriously impaired.
As a result, all Taiwanese are focusing their attention on this point, which became the main theme of the violent and bloody anti-government and anti-Chen protests sponsored by the DPP. Everyone knows that what a person is called is merely a formality, with little substantial meaning. Recent developments have indicated that Beijing has become more and more flexible and pragmatic in handling Taiwan affairs, by not denying Taipei as an independent political entity.
Against this background, Chen should have faced reality by calling President Ma as such to satisfy the persistent demand of dissidents here, without causing Beijing to sacrifice anything substantial.
While visiting Taiwan, Chen was, by and large, perceived as an intelligent, calm and professional diplomat. His emotional remarks upon arrival and his composure displayed in front of the violent protests that dogged him wherever he went, won widespread acclaim. But, if Chen had addressed Ma as president, his trip would have been much more successful.
How China deals with this question of calling Taipei’s government officials by their titles is directly related to its grand strategy toward Taiwan. An elaborate display of goodwill gestures by Beijing, we believe, would be the best and most effective method.
In this regard, it should be in the larger interest of China to consider removal of some, if not all, of its missiles aimed at Taiwan. Next, it should agree to a diplomatic truce with Taipei. Finally, it should help Taiwan participate in international activities as much as possible. That Lien Chan, as a former ROC vice president, will be the highest ranking representative from Taiwan to attend the forthcoming APEC meeting with the tacit approval of Beijing should be considered a wide move on the part of the Chinese Communists. Furthermore, China should consider giving active assistance to Taipei to enable it to participate in the World Health Organization (WHO) as an observer. Lien reportedly will mention this when meeting Hu Jintao, chairman of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), at the APEC meeting. Of course, there are hardliners in China, just as there are in Taiwan, who oppose any concessions to the island, considered a “renegade province” of China, on the question of sovereignty. But, it should not be difficult to convince these people of the need and advantage of using this kind of “soft strategy.”
Now that China has been universally recognized as a giant world power, and as such it can afford to be magnanimous in dealing with a state as small as the ROC on Taiwan.
Even today, Taiwan is already, to a great extent, dependent on mainland China for its export surplus. Many Taiwanese, including DPP followers, have toured and invested in mainland China. In fact, most of the protesters against Chen’s visit were partisan-motivated, many of whom, deep in their hearts, supported increasing cross-strait exchanges because such a development is in their best interest.
There is a well-known saying that all humans are made of flesh, meaning people are easily moved by tender acts. And this will particularly apply to the psychology of down-to-earth Taiwanese people, who are scrupulously taught by Chinese culture to be grateful to whomever is nice to them. It was reported that several residents in southern Taiwan, considered a stronghold of the Taiwan independence movement, expressed deep regret that they could not see Chen Yunlin to say “thank-you” for the hospitality he extended to them while sightseeing in mainland China.
2008年11月5日 星期三
Questions for the "smart pill" news article
1.Why does the so-called “smart pills” get so popular among students today?
2.What are the two most popular brand-name drugs used by the students as “smart pills”?
3.What are the original functions indicated by “Adderall”?
4.what are the major side effects of those popular “smar pills”?
5.What do you think if we should use these kinds of medicine to enhance our performance either on academics or career?
2.What are the two most popular brand-name drugs used by the students as “smart pills”?
3.What are the original functions indicated by “Adderall”?
4.what are the major side effects of those popular “smar pills”?
5.What do you think if we should use these kinds of medicine to enhance our performance either on academics or career?
2008年11月2日 星期日
A Dose Of Genius - Smart Pills
A Dose Of Genius
'Smart Pills' Are on The Rise. But Is Taking Them Wise?
By Joel Garreau
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Studying with diligent friends is fine, says Heidi Lessing, a University of Delaware sophomore.
But after a couple of hours, it's time for a break, a little gossip: "I want to talk about somebody walking by in the library."
One of those friends, however, is working too hard for dish -- way too hard.
Instead of joining in the gossip, "She says, 'Be quiet,' " Lessing says, astonishment still registering in her voice.
Her friend's attention is laserlike, totally focused on her texts, even after an evening of study. "We were so bored," Lessing says. But the friend was still "really into it. It's annoying."
The reason for the difference: Her pal is fueled with "smart pills" that increase her concentration, focus, wakefulness and short-term memory.
As university students all over the country emerge from final exam hell this month, the number of healthy people using bootleg 私酒 pharmaceuticals of this sort seems to be soaring.
Such brand-name prescription drugs "were around in high school, but they really exploded in my third and fourth years" of college, says Katie Garrett, a 2005 University of Virginia graduate.
The bootleg use even in her high school years was erupting, according to a study published in February in an international biomedical and psychosocial journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Mining 2002 data, it noted that even then, more than 7 million Americans used bootleg prescription stimulants, and 1.6 million of those users were of student age. By the time students reach college nowadays, they're already apt to know about these drugs, obtained with or without a prescription.
Seen by some ambitious students as the winner's edge -- the difference between a 3.8 average and a 4.0, maybe their ticket to Harvard Law -- these "brain steroids" can be purchased on many campuses for as little as $3 to $5 per pill, though they are often obtained free from friends with legitimate prescriptions, students report.
These drugs represent only the first primitive, halting generation of cognitive enhancers. Memory drugs will soon make it to market if human clinical trials continue successfully.
There are lots of the first-generation drugs around. Total sales have increased by more than 300 percent in only four years, topping $3.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information company. They include Adderall, which was originally aimed at people with attention-deficit disorder, and Provigil, which was aimed at narcoleptics 嗜眠症, who fall asleep uncontrollably. In the healthy, this class of drugs variously aids concentration, alertness, focus, short-term memory and wakefulness -- useful qualities in students working on complex term papers and pulling all-nighters before exams. Adderall sales are up 3,135.6 percent over the same period. Provigil is up 359.7 percent.
Compared with the kind of drug users who get police attention, "This is an entirely different population of people -- from the unmotivated to the super-motivated," Restak says. These "drug users may be at the top of the class, instead of the ones hanging around the corners."
Smart-pill use generally doesn't show up in campus health center reports, he says, because "This is not the kind of stuff that you would overdose on" easily. Amphetamines are associated with addiction and bodily damage, but in use by ambitious students, "if you go a little over you get wired up but it wears off in a couple of hours. And Provigil has a pretty good safety record." Finally, smart-pill use is a relatively recent development that has not yet achieved widespread attention, much less study, although Restak expects that to change.
"We're going to see it not only in schools, but in businesses, especially where mental endurance matters." Restak can easily imagine a boss saying, " 'You've been here 14 hours; could you do another six?' It's a very competitive world out there, and this gives people an edge."
"With rising competition for admissions and classes becoming harder and harder by the day, a hypothesis was made that at least half of students at the university have at one point used/experienced such 'smart drugs,' " Salantrie writes in his report. He found his hunch easy to confirm.
"What was a surprise, though, was the alarming rate of senior business majors who have used" the drugs, he writes. Almost 90 percent reported at least occasional use of "smart pills" at crunch times such as final exams, including Adderall, Ritalin, Strattera and others. Of those, three-quarters did not have a legitimate prescription, obtaining the pills from friends. "We were shocked," Salantrie writes. He says that in his report, he was "attempting to bring to light the secondary market for Adderall" specifically because "most of the university is not aware" of its extent, he says.
When you start asking questions about smart pills, the answers you get divide sharply into two groups.
When you ask the grown-ups -- deans, crisis counselors, health counselors -- they tell you they don't know too much about the subject, but they don't think it is much of a problem at their institutions.
When you ask the students, they look at you like you're from the planet Zircon. They ask why you weren't on this story three years ago. Even if some of these drugs are amphetamines, it's medicine parents give to 8-year-olds, they say. It's brand-name stuff, in precise dosages. How bad can it be? Sure, there are problems with weight loss, sleep loss, jitters and throwing up, they say. But other unintended consequences are not what you might expect. Universities now sport some of the cleanest apartments in the history of undergraduate education. Says one student who asked for anonymity because she has been an off-prescription user of these drugs: "You've done all your work, but you're still focused. So you start with the bathroom, and then move on to the kitchen . . . ."
Warning: Side Effects
In the name of altering mood, energy and thinking patterns, we have been marinating our brains in chemicals for a very long time.
Caffeine is as old as coffee in Arabia, tea in China, and chocolate in the New World. Alcohol, coca leaves, tobacco and peyote 仙人掌go way back.
Even psychopharmaceuticals have been around for generations. Amphetamines -- which are the active ingredient in Adderall and Ritalin -- were first synthesized in Germany in 1887. Students have been using them for generations, in the form of Benzedrine and Dexedrine.
Beta blockers have been the dirty little secret of classical musicians since the 1970s. Originally prescribed to treat high blood pressure, they became the "steroids of the symphony" when it became clear Inderal controlled stage fright. As long ago as 1987, a study of the 51 largest orchestras in the United States found one in four musicians using them to improve their live performances, with 70 percent of those getting their pills illicitly.
What's new is the range, scope, quantity and quality of substances, old and new, aimed at boosting our brains -- as well as the increase in what's in the pipeline. Current psychopharmaceuticals represent only the beginning of cognitive enhancers aimed at improving attention, reasoning, planning and even social skills.
The memory compounds being raced to market by four U.S. companies are initially aimed at the severely impaired, such as early-stage Alzheimer's patients. But researchers expect the market for memory drugs to rapidly extend into the aging population we think of as normal, such as the more than 70 million baby boomers who are tired of forgetting what they meant to buy at the shopping mall and then realizing they've forgotten where they parked their cars, too. Or students who think such drugs could gain them hundreds of points on their SATs.
In research now underway, one such substance, ampakines, boosts the activity of glutamate, a key neurotransmitter that makes it easier to learn and encode memory. How useful they might be in a French or law exam.
But there are side effects with every drug. Strattera -- the ADHD medicine that is not a stimulant and may be taken for weeks before it shows an effect -- comes with a warning that it can result in fatal liver failure. The FDA warns it also may increase thoughts of suicide in young people. For a while last year, Canada pulled a form of Adderall from its markets as a result of sudden unexplained deaths in children with cardiac abnormalities. Provigil can decrease the effectiveness of birth control. All of these drugs come with a raft of side-effect warnings.
Nonetheless, pharmaceutical companies are racing to bring to market new drugs aimed at fundamentally altering our attitudes toward having a healthy brain. The idea is less to treat a specific disease than it is to, in the words of the old Army recruiting commercial, "Be all that you can be."
'Smart Pills' Are on The Rise. But Is Taking Them Wise?
By Joel Garreau
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Studying with diligent friends is fine, says Heidi Lessing, a University of Delaware sophomore.
But after a couple of hours, it's time for a break, a little gossip: "I want to talk about somebody walking by in the library."
One of those friends, however, is working too hard for dish -- way too hard.
Instead of joining in the gossip, "She says, 'Be quiet,' " Lessing says, astonishment still registering in her voice.
Her friend's attention is laserlike, totally focused on her texts, even after an evening of study. "We were so bored," Lessing says. But the friend was still "really into it. It's annoying."
The reason for the difference: Her pal is fueled with "smart pills" that increase her concentration, focus, wakefulness and short-term memory.
As university students all over the country emerge from final exam hell this month, the number of healthy people using bootleg 私酒 pharmaceuticals of this sort seems to be soaring.
Such brand-name prescription drugs "were around in high school, but they really exploded in my third and fourth years" of college, says Katie Garrett, a 2005 University of Virginia graduate.
The bootleg use even in her high school years was erupting, according to a study published in February in an international biomedical and psychosocial journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Mining 2002 data, it noted that even then, more than 7 million Americans used bootleg prescription stimulants, and 1.6 million of those users were of student age. By the time students reach college nowadays, they're already apt to know about these drugs, obtained with or without a prescription.
Seen by some ambitious students as the winner's edge -- the difference between a 3.8 average and a 4.0, maybe their ticket to Harvard Law -- these "brain steroids" can be purchased on many campuses for as little as $3 to $5 per pill, though they are often obtained free from friends with legitimate prescriptions, students report.
These drugs represent only the first primitive, halting generation of cognitive enhancers. Memory drugs will soon make it to market if human clinical trials continue successfully.
There are lots of the first-generation drugs around. Total sales have increased by more than 300 percent in only four years, topping $3.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information company. They include Adderall, which was originally aimed at people with attention-deficit disorder, and Provigil, which was aimed at narcoleptics 嗜眠症, who fall asleep uncontrollably. In the healthy, this class of drugs variously aids concentration, alertness, focus, short-term memory and wakefulness -- useful qualities in students working on complex term papers and pulling all-nighters before exams. Adderall sales are up 3,135.6 percent over the same period. Provigil is up 359.7 percent.
Compared with the kind of drug users who get police attention, "This is an entirely different population of people -- from the unmotivated to the super-motivated," Restak says. These "drug users may be at the top of the class, instead of the ones hanging around the corners."
Smart-pill use generally doesn't show up in campus health center reports, he says, because "This is not the kind of stuff that you would overdose on" easily. Amphetamines are associated with addiction and bodily damage, but in use by ambitious students, "if you go a little over you get wired up but it wears off in a couple of hours. And Provigil has a pretty good safety record." Finally, smart-pill use is a relatively recent development that has not yet achieved widespread attention, much less study, although Restak expects that to change.
"We're going to see it not only in schools, but in businesses, especially where mental endurance matters." Restak can easily imagine a boss saying, " 'You've been here 14 hours; could you do another six?' It's a very competitive world out there, and this gives people an edge."
"With rising competition for admissions and classes becoming harder and harder by the day, a hypothesis was made that at least half of students at the university have at one point used/experienced such 'smart drugs,' " Salantrie writes in his report. He found his hunch easy to confirm.
"What was a surprise, though, was the alarming rate of senior business majors who have used" the drugs, he writes. Almost 90 percent reported at least occasional use of "smart pills" at crunch times such as final exams, including Adderall, Ritalin, Strattera and others. Of those, three-quarters did not have a legitimate prescription, obtaining the pills from friends. "We were shocked," Salantrie writes. He says that in his report, he was "attempting to bring to light the secondary market for Adderall" specifically because "most of the university is not aware" of its extent, he says.
When you start asking questions about smart pills, the answers you get divide sharply into two groups.
When you ask the grown-ups -- deans, crisis counselors, health counselors -- they tell you they don't know too much about the subject, but they don't think it is much of a problem at their institutions.
When you ask the students, they look at you like you're from the planet Zircon. They ask why you weren't on this story three years ago. Even if some of these drugs are amphetamines, it's medicine parents give to 8-year-olds, they say. It's brand-name stuff, in precise dosages. How bad can it be? Sure, there are problems with weight loss, sleep loss, jitters and throwing up, they say. But other unintended consequences are not what you might expect. Universities now sport some of the cleanest apartments in the history of undergraduate education. Says one student who asked for anonymity because she has been an off-prescription user of these drugs: "You've done all your work, but you're still focused. So you start with the bathroom, and then move on to the kitchen . . . ."
Warning: Side Effects
In the name of altering mood, energy and thinking patterns, we have been marinating our brains in chemicals for a very long time.
Caffeine is as old as coffee in Arabia, tea in China, and chocolate in the New World. Alcohol, coca leaves, tobacco and peyote 仙人掌go way back.
Even psychopharmaceuticals have been around for generations. Amphetamines -- which are the active ingredient in Adderall and Ritalin -- were first synthesized in Germany in 1887. Students have been using them for generations, in the form of Benzedrine and Dexedrine.
Beta blockers have been the dirty little secret of classical musicians since the 1970s. Originally prescribed to treat high blood pressure, they became the "steroids of the symphony" when it became clear Inderal controlled stage fright. As long ago as 1987, a study of the 51 largest orchestras in the United States found one in four musicians using them to improve their live performances, with 70 percent of those getting their pills illicitly.
What's new is the range, scope, quantity and quality of substances, old and new, aimed at boosting our brains -- as well as the increase in what's in the pipeline. Current psychopharmaceuticals represent only the beginning of cognitive enhancers aimed at improving attention, reasoning, planning and even social skills.
The memory compounds being raced to market by four U.S. companies are initially aimed at the severely impaired, such as early-stage Alzheimer's patients. But researchers expect the market for memory drugs to rapidly extend into the aging population we think of as normal, such as the more than 70 million baby boomers who are tired of forgetting what they meant to buy at the shopping mall and then realizing they've forgotten where they parked their cars, too. Or students who think such drugs could gain them hundreds of points on their SATs.
In research now underway, one such substance, ampakines, boosts the activity of glutamate, a key neurotransmitter that makes it easier to learn and encode memory. How useful they might be in a French or law exam.
But there are side effects with every drug. Strattera -- the ADHD medicine that is not a stimulant and may be taken for weeks before it shows an effect -- comes with a warning that it can result in fatal liver failure. The FDA warns it also may increase thoughts of suicide in young people. For a while last year, Canada pulled a form of Adderall from its markets as a result of sudden unexplained deaths in children with cardiac abnormalities. Provigil can decrease the effectiveness of birth control. All of these drugs come with a raft of side-effect warnings.
Nonetheless, pharmaceutical companies are racing to bring to market new drugs aimed at fundamentally altering our attitudes toward having a healthy brain. The idea is less to treat a specific disease than it is to, in the words of the old Army recruiting commercial, "Be all that you can be."
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