nootropics

Obligatory disclaimer: there will never be a drug to turn you into Einstein. Most of effective high-level thinking lies in 'software': having good habits of thought, habits of intellectual conversation, the right conceptual scaffolding for the topics you're thinking about, and putting in sustained work to help develop these things. Raw intelligence at the hardware level is neither necessary nor sufficient, but it can be helpful.

That said, here are some drugs that seem interesting. As always, do your own research before taking a new substance.

Drugs I use regularly:

• Caffeine
• creatine: noticeably higher physical energy (one or two extra reps on weightlifting sets) with essentially no drawbacks.
• phenibut: calming, disinhibiting, pro-social, like alcohol but longer-lasting and without the fuzziness, toxicity, or calories. (never more than once per week, to avoid dependence).
• melatonin: hormone that tells your biological clock it's time to sleep. I use it at home to help enforce a bedtime (taken a couple hours beforehand, I'll naturally become tired and want to sleep), and to help with jet lag while traveling. No apparent drawbacks. Most melatonin pills have absurdly high dosages: research shows no benefit for doses beyond 0.3mg . I use the 1mg chewables made for children because they're easy to find and to take.

Drugs I've had positive experiences with:

• psychedelics: these are not nootropic in a general-purpose sense; they probably make it harder to focus and think logically. But they can help remove preconceptions, allow you to see a topic with new eyes, and stimulate creative thought.
• Nicotine: Gwern's analysis of the evidence is that nicotine is relatively safe; almost all of the harm associated with tobacco come from other sources. It does generally help you form habits, but the habit doesn't have to be tobacco smoking; it can be something positive like exercise. Some articles indicate that one cigarette is roughly equivalent to a 1mg dose of nicotine. I've tried nicotine pills, and not had any issues with dependence or withdrawal, but no clear advantage over caffeine as a general-purpose stimulant so I don't use them regularly.
• bupropion: prescription antidepressant, acts as a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor.
• SSRIs: a general feeling of wellbeing. My experience has been that this made it much easier to get into a groove and stay there. I had fewer feelings of "there's no point to this".

Drugs I've not tried but seem interesting:

• Zembrin: semi-recommended by ASC.
• Modafinil: stimulant, counteracts sleepiness. Supposedly stronger than caffeine with fewer jitters. Highly effective according to ASC surveys. Has a longish half-life (12-15 hours). Gwern recommends for all-nighters.
• Amphetamine and cousins (Adderall, Ritalin, etc.)
• 9-Me-BC : lots of glowing reports from reddit. Not well researched; safety is unclear.