Here are some questions for you to think about IF and WHEN smart drugs are developed:
- What would happen if people got smarter? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
- What are the possible advantages and disadvantages of short-term and long-term "smartness"?
- If such drugs existed, should they be manufactured, distributed and used?
- If they can be used, who should get them?
- Should they be banned like some drugs in athletics (e.g., stimulants, steroids)?
- Is going to a special school or class or getting a tutor different from taking a "smart drug"? What about learning a trick to solve a math problem? Isn't this like taking a special drug? What about getting a computer to help with homework? Isn't this like using technology to help you get smarter and learn more?
- Should it be illegal to pop a smart pill before a spelling test or before you take the SAT? Would this be like taking a stimulant before a track meet or swimming race? Would this be cheating?
- As people got smarter, would their personality change?
What would happen to people's emotional and social behavior? - We have drugs to improve our mood (antidepressants) and to look better (weight loss drugs). We even have a drug to increase the height of children (growth factor).
- What is wrong with a drug that makes us smarter?
- What about the benefits of such drugs? Couldn't these substances make people better drivers, workers and teachers?
- Could important new discoveries and cures for diseases be made faster if we were smarter? ?