What If Einstein Had Taken Ritalin?

Vashti wrote:

So what if Einstein had taken Ritalin?

Damn! We could have had FTL travel by now!



LOL!

"Bob Kaplow" wrote in message
news
In article , "Justin"
writes:
Einstein had ADHD? Hmmm... I spose this follows the same logic that
cause people to think that Mozart and about every other genius had
it as
well.
Does writting over 600 compositions by the age of 35 sound like
something that someone with a chronic ability to procrastinate and
be
distracted would do?

Yup. Hyperfocus in narrow areas of interest is common.

Perhaps we all need to remember what ADHD stands for? And remember
that
it is a disorder, not a gift? Perhaps some of the traits that are
common
with ADHD can be considered gifts. But the key part of the disorder
is
hardly a gift to most of the people with it. It's a dead weight.

Properly applied, it is a gift, not a disorder. Something that fell
out of a
recent conversation on the subject is that ADDers don't have ADD, but
the
rest of the population has "Boredom Tolerance Disorder"...

You can say that properly applied, it is a gift. But then you are only
using the good traits that appear in ADHD. The bad traits, and the main
trait can hardly be called gifts, and therefore are still a disorder if
it affects the persons life enough.
Put it this way: If you find a way to properly apply it, then you don't
really have an ADHD anymore, right?



Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD"
To reply, remove the TRABoD!
Kaplow Klips & Baffle:
http://nira-rocketry.org/LeadingEdge/Phantom4000.pdf
www.encompasserve.org/~kaplow_r/ www.nira-rocketry.org
www.nar.org

We must have faith in our democratic system and our
Constitution,
and in our ability to protect at the same time both the
freedom and
the security of all Americans.

In article , "Justin" writes:
You can say that properly applied, it is a gift. But then you are only
using the good traits that appear in ADHD. The bad traits, and the main
trait can hardly be called gifts, and therefore are still a disorder if
it affects the persons life enough.
Put it this way: If you find a way to properly apply it, then you don't
really have an ADHD anymore, right?

A large percentage of the upper end of our society are ADD / ADHD. It's
common among trial lawyers, several medical specialties, inventors,
entrepreneurs, politicians, outside sales, entertainers, and many other
areas. Not among CPAs.

The downside is that it's also common among the chronically unemployed or
underemployed, drug abusers (self medication?), and in prisons. People with
ADD drift to the edge of society: either rising to the top if they learn to
cope and deal with it, or sinking to the bottom.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD"
To reply, remove the TRABoD!
Kaplow Klips & Baffle: http://nira-rocketry.org/LeadingEdge/Phantom4000.pdf
www.encompasserve.org/~kaplow_r/ www.nira-rocketry.org www.nar.org

I support drug testing. I believe every public official should be given a
shot of sodium pentathol and ask "Which laws have you broken this week?".

"What if the universe is infinite in size,
time,
and amount of objects?
[Bite. Bite. Bite.]
What if my mind created the objects?"
~ Bert

"Then we would say,
'Hallowed be thy name.'"
~ Double-A

Or...
BOO!
Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat?

O, mais oui ~ Dr.
Edward Hallowell, come on down! Dr.
Ratey's already invited...Just please ~ Drive Us to Further Dis-
Traction, with plenty of traction!

On 4 Feb 2005 17:43:04 GMT, Chris Malcolm
wrote:

In alt.support.attn-deficit Mark Probert Mark wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...
Actually, Einstein got into the university teaching based on his first
paper on his theory of relativity. He was a patent clerk when he wrote
it.

One could do that sort of thing today, I believe, but I cannot think
of an example.

You cannot think of an example because one cannot do that sort of thing
today. The academic system is designed to prevent it.

Correct.

In the UK it certainly isn't. I'm led to believe that in the US
they're much fiercer about having exactly the right kind of CV and
much less willing to make exceptions based on merit such as having
published excellent research even though you didn't have the usual
qualifications.

Brilliant post docs have trouble finding academic jobs. I knew a few
professors with master's degrees but they are retired or dead now.
How many people with no higher education get significant papers
published? The 10 year old girl got published for political reasons,
not the quality of her paper IMO. There's a lot of junk in medical
journals and much medical research (WHI) is poorly designed IMO.

_george

On 4 Feb 2005 07:17:22 -0800, wrote:

Don't know about Einstein, but we do have some
relavant data on the mathematician Paul Erdos:

from the book The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman.

Paul Erdšs "put in nineteen-hour days, keeping himself fortified with
10 to 20 milligrams of Benzedrine or Ritalin, strong espresso and
caffeine tablets. 'A mathematician,' Erdšs was fond on saying,
'is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.'" Once, a friend
bet Erdšs $500 that he could not quit amphetamines for a month. Erdšs
took the bet and won, but, during his time of abstinence, he found
himself incapable of doing any serious work. "You've set mathematics
back a month," he told his friend when he collected, and immediately
returned to his pills.

And if he had done better without the amphetamines he could have
stayed off of them and been more productive. The WSJ should stick to
the stock market.

_george

On 4 Feb 2005 22:34:13 -0600, oD (Bob
Kaplow) wrote:

In article , "Justin" writes:
You can say that properly applied, it is a gift. But then you are only
using the good traits that appear in ADHD. The bad traits, and the main
trait can hardly be called gifts, and therefore are still a disorder if
it affects the persons life enough.
Put it this way: If you find a way to properly apply it, then you don't
really have an ADHD anymore, right?

A large percentage of the upper end of our society are ADD / ADHD.

Do you have a reference?

It's
common among trial lawyers, several medical specialties, inventors,
entrepreneurs, politicians, outside sales, entertainers, and many other
areas. Not among CPAs.

The downside is that it's also common among the chronically unemployed or
underemployed, drug abusers (self medication?), and in prisons.

I have seen some reference material on this but can't provide refs.
here. Can you?

People with
ADD drift to the edge of society: either rising to the top if they learn to
cope and deal with it, or sinking to the bottom.

This point seems sensible but I would like to see documented evidence.

_george

God, what a breath of fresh air !!!!

You da man, Justin.
The "ADHD is a wonderful gift" merchants have no idea how INCREDIBLY
annoying they are.

"Justin" wrote in message
...

"MrPepper11" wrote in message
ups.com...
Wall Street Journal
February 3, 2005

What If Einstein Had Taken Ritalin?
ADHD's Impact on Creativity
By JEFF ZASLOW

[snip]

Einstein had ADHD? Hmmm... I spose this follows the same logic that
cause people to think that Mozart and about every other genius had it as
well.
Does writting over 600 compositions by the age of 35 sound like
something that someone with a chronic ability to procrastinate and be
distracted would do?

For every ADHD "genius", there is an ADHD "bum" sitting in the slammer.
There are also plenty of people that have many of the personaity traits
that people with ADHD oftern have. This, however, does not make them
ADHD.

Perhaps we all need to remember what ADHD stands for? And remember that
it is a disorder, not a gift? Perhaps some of the traits that are common
with ADHD can be considered gifts. But the key part of the disorder is
hardly a gift to most of the people with it. It's a dead weight.


Cheers, Justin.

"Bob Kaplow" wrote in message
news
In article , "Justin"
writes:
Einstein had ADHD? Hmmm... I spose this follows the same logic that
cause people to think that Mozart and about every other genius had it as
well.
Does writting over 600 compositions by the age of 35 sound like
something that someone with a chronic ability to procrastinate and be
distracted would do?

Yup. Hyperfocus in narrow areas of interest is common.

Perhaps we all need to remember what ADHD stands for? And remember that
it is a disorder, not a gift? Perhaps some of the traits that are common
with ADHD can be considered gifts. But the key part of the disorder is
hardly a gift to most of the people with it. It's a dead weight.

Properly applied, it is a gift, not a disorder.

What like Leprosy properly enjoyed, isn't a disorder ?


Something that fell out of a
recent conversation on the subject is that ADDers don't have ADD, but the
rest of the population has "Boredom Tolerance Disorder"...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD"
To reply, remove the TRABoD!
Kaplow Klips & Baffle:
http://nira-rocketry.org/LeadingEdge/Phantom4000.pdf
www.encompasserve.org/~kaplow_r/ www.nira-rocketry.org
www.nar.org

We must have faith in our democratic system and our Constitution,
and in our ability to protect at the same time both the freedom and
the security of all Americans.

"Bob Kaplow" wrote in message
...
In article , "Justin"
writes:
You can say that properly applied, it is a gift. But then you are only
using the good traits that appear in ADHD. The bad traits, and the main
trait can hardly be called gifts, and therefore are still a disorder if
it affects the persons life enough.
Put it this way: If you find a way to properly apply it, then you don't
really have an ADHD anymore, right?

A large percentage of the upper end of our society are ADD / ADHD.

And a massively disproportionate percentage of jail inmates are ADDers
because ..... ?
You appear to have forgotten the lower end of our society.
And where's you evidence of the upper end being peopled by ADDers ?
You know, like formal diagnoses ?
Can you site ?
Stop deluding yourself.
Acknowledging ADD as a disability won't make it any worse, you know.
Indeed, accepting it for what it IS will help you towards philosophical
equilibrium.


It's
common among trial lawyers, several medical specialties, inventors,
entrepreneurs, politicians, outside sales, entertainers, and many other
areas.

You obviously believe everything you read.


Not among CPAs.

The downside is that it's also common among the chronically unemployed or
underemployed, drug abusers (self medication?), and in prisons. People
with
ADD drift to the edge of society: either rising to the top if they learn
to
cope and deal with it, or sinking to the bottom.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD"
To reply, remove the TRABoD!
Kaplow Klips & Baffle:
http://nira-rocketry.org/LeadingEdge/Phantom4000.pdf
www.encompasserve.org/~kaplow_r/ www.nira-rocketry.org
www.nar.org

I support drug testing. I believe every public official should be given a
shot of sodium pentathol and ask "Which laws have you broken this week?".