What ever happened to good, old amphetamines?
Nothing beats a straight 36-hour coding session, and the one week of solid sleep that follows.
Nothing beats a straight 36-hour coding session, and the one week of solid sleep that follows.
After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month.[12] Erdős won the bet, but complained that during his abstinence mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine use.
[UPDATE]
I find it interesting coffee was his 'gateway' drug and self-dosed amphetamine usage allowed him to perform at a higher level. In that sense, amphetamine usage is much better than caffeine.
He was not addicted to amphetamines. Most coffee drinkers are addicted to caffeine. How many caffeine addicts would go a month without caffeine for $500?
I'm just saying, the fact that someone won't give up a drug they perceive to enhance productivity for a small amount of money is not evidence that it is addictive; it could also be a rational decision (e.g. I believe I am giving up more than $500 worth of additional productivity if I don't use caffeine)
I would be really interested in the results of (and even willing to participate in) a properly controlled study that measured the effects of caffeine on productivity. But measuring actual productivity is /very hard/ which is why I've gotta keep using words like 'perceived productivity'