Smart Drugs: Modafinil

It is late at night and I was reading random stuff on the internet when I stumbled across some news that is now letting me ramble instead of just getting in bed like I really should.

In some ways it seems like science fiction to take a drug that will improve brain function.  I think of the move, The Matrix:

You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." The term redpill refers to a human that is aware of the true nature of the Matrix.

Cognitive enhancement means increased creativity, better memory, better decision making, increased focus, etc.  The truth is that we already have a cheap drug that most of us use everyday that some would claim have limited cognitive inducing properties.  I know I consume way too much of through coffee and sodas.  Caffeine has become a staple drug for many of us to get through the morning.  It may also be a very weak cognitive enhancer, but your body becomes very tolerant of it in as little as 3 weeks.   then you are just maintaining or going through some simple withdraw that many of us have felt in headaches or drowsiness.

But there are other smart drugs that enhance cognitive functions to a larger degree than caffeine.  Conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson;'s, and ADHD affect cognitive ability in a negative way and we have developed drugs like Adderall and Ridelin to improve cognitive function of the brain that are hampered due to these conditions.  While these drugs are on the market and prescribed for very specific conditions, many healthy people want to the take the "blue pill" and in essence make their brain work more efficiently.

A quick Wipedia search on the topic quotes may sources including this one:  One survey found that 7% of students had used stimulants for a cognitive edge, and on some campuses use in the past year is as high as 25%.^{[dated info][7][10]} The use of prescription stimulants is especially prevalent among students attending academically competitive colleges.^[10] Surveys suggest that 3–11% of American students and 0.7–4.5% of German students have used cognitive enhancers in their lifetime

Students especially want an edge, but the problem is these drugs have some bad side effects.   That brings us to the recent news found in this article:  http://io9.com/sleep-drug-modafinil-affirmed-by-scientists-as-a-safe-a-1725355210

The drug the article talks about is Modafinil, a drug prescribed for people having trouble adjusting to shift work, or with sleep apnea among others condtions.  However it also appears to be a very good cognitive enhancer with very little side effects.

Only time will tell if this drug or any drug will ever be as common and accepted in society as caffeine, but with a much bigger cognitive enhancing impact.  You can think of all kinds of questions drugs like this raise.   Will only the rich have access to drugs like this and have even more of an edge in school just due to financial status?  Is is OK to take these drugs before sitting down for an SAT or GRE test?  How about in academic competitions?  Is it doping to make your brain work more efficiently?  Caffeine is accepted in society as a way to potentially be more alert during a test, but on the flip side its impacts are not as big as these other smart drugs may be.

As always it will be interesting to watch things that that seemed like science fiction just a few decades ago, have the potential to come true.  Will we all have the ability to take a drug and recall long buried memories in just an instance or pop a pill to quickly come up with the next new invention?  Or will the next Jeopardy champions have an asterisk beside their name because they were doping like baseball players but with mind stimulants instead of steroids.  It is an interesting world we live in and only time will tell if drugs like Modafinil are truly side effect free with cognitive enhancing properties and if so will society even accept them as ethical?