From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Mon Sep 23 2002 - 23:06:31 MDT
Emlyn reports on the new anti-sleep drug, modafinol, sold under the
trade name Provigil from Cephalon. I found a great article about it at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A61282-2002Jun16¬Found=true
The reporter used Provigil (I think just 1/2 pill) to stay awake and
produce the entire article in a day, a night and the following day.
Some excerpts:
> As with an increasing number of the so-called superhuman, posthuman
> or trans-human drugs or genetic manipulations rapidly entering our lives,
> modafinil thus calls into question some fundamental underpinnings of
> hundreds of thousands of years of thought regarding what are normal
> human capabilities.
It's amazing to see this phrase, "superhuman, posthuman or trans-human
drugs." Fixing the need for sleep is a true killer app for human
enhancement. Even Francis Fukuyama doesn't object:
> Francis Fukuyama of Johns Hopkins University recently published "Our
> Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution," a book
> that is scathingly critical of what he sees as runaway biotech that
> could rob us of our very human nature. When asked about modafinil and its
> effects on Washington, he responded with a 2:50 a.m. e-mail from Europe,
> where he was finishing a grueling three-week trip. "I haven't heard of
> this but I'm not surprised," he wrote.
>
> "I better get some," he half-joked.
How can the new Luddites hold their line between "enhancement" and
"therapy" when even the likes of Fukuyama can't consistently oppose an
anti-sleep drug? And a researcher predicts better to come:
> "The next generation of wake-performing therapeutics will be more
> effective. You'll be able to stay awake for X amount of time and not add
> sleep debt. Ideally, it means being able to be up all day, all night,
> and all the next day and not have incremental increase in sleepiness or in
> sleep debt. It would be medication that gives you an interest-free loan.
>
> "It could change the world. A complete paradigm shift. I'm not trying
> to plug my company. But we are in the forefront. We could see this being
> a reality, starting to become available, in about five years."
and another researcher agrees:
> "The more far-out question is: What if we eventually had something that
> was absolutely safe that could substitute for sleep?" asks Dinges. "Is
> that the direction we want to go? Many would say yes. I don't know what
> the implications are for our species. Probably not bad. This is pure
> speculation. Should humans try to live without sleep? I don't know. We're
> already trying to do that."
The article concludes:
> We will be asking ourselves these questions about human nature with
> increased frequency as biotechnology advances and drugs originally
> designed for the sick begin to augment the healthy. We have already seen
> this happen with Viagra. It now sponsors network evening news shows,
> a development that would have boggled scenario planners just five years
> ago. More drugs are in the works that attack shyness, forgetfulness
> and the mental decline of aging. Others add muscle mass and boost the
> ability to learn, at least in mice.
and from the reporter's ongoing "diary":
> Saturday morning, 10 a.m., Hour 51, after eight hours of sleep. Would
> need to have an awfully compelling reason to want to do this again. But
> can imagine how others might differ. Sure was a lot of living packed into
> the last two days. Got so much done that there is a whole unencumbered
> weekend in sight. What a concept.
This is amazing reporting. It sounds like there is a real chance that in
10-15 years we, our whole society, may be able to effectively eliminate
our need for sleep. That would be a tremendous boost for the acceptance
of extropian philosophy. Once people take this step beyond their human
limitations, all the following steps will be that much easier.
Hal
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