Can’t remember phone numbers? Worried about an upcoming exam or desperately want to
give up smoking? In future, the answer will be simple : just pop a pill. The idea that an array of
easily available, addiction-free drugs could be used to improve memory or increase intelligence is
the stuff of science fiction dystopia--in “Brave New World”, Aldous Huxley created a whole
planet under the spell of a pleasure drug called Soma.
But a new report by leading scientists in the fields of psychology and neuroscience argues
that, very soon, there really will be a pill for every ill.
“It is possible that advances could usher in a new era of drug use without addiction,” says
the report by Foresight, Britain’s science-based think-tank.
“In a world that is increasingly non-stop and competitive, the individual’s use of such
substances may move from the fringe to the norm.”
Drugs that work on the brain are already common--many people can hardly begin their
days without the mind-sharpening effects of caffeine or nicotine.
The British government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, says that brain enhancing
drugs developed to treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s are likely to find increased use among
healthy people looking to improve their perception, memory, planning or judgment.
Ritalin, prescribed to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is sometimes
used by healthy people to enhance their mental performance. Modafinil, a drug developed to
treat narcolepsy, has been shown to reduce impulsiveness and help people focus on problems.
“It improves working memory--your ability to remember telephone numbers--it gives you
an extra digit or two,” says Prof Trevor Robbins, an experimental psychologist at Britain’s
Cambridge University and an author of the Foresight report.