Neurotics

Over the years and decades mind-altering drugs have been employed by the intellectuals to enhance what depths of thought they find most straining. For example, Freud was a known user of LSD to couch himself well and truly in the abyss he attempted to notate; Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was no stranger to cocaine, his only vice, as a means of formulating his intricate crime explanations; and, most recently, Hugh Laurie's eternal Gregory House MD is addicted to neurotic pain-killers. Indeed, without his meds, he is merely half the doctor he can be. And so it comes as no surprise to read about widespread use in the US of mind-enhancing drugs, often legally prescribed for diagnosable conditions such as narcolepsy or hypertension. However, in over 50% of cases, those who take these meds do so with regard to improving their memory, concentration, or alertness. This, surely, is a very worrying statistic. What state of human confidence has developed if half of the American population take these pills, not to get an edge, but simply to keep up? In related news, the Japanese have taken it one step further.