[astrange]

I think you might have overdosed on the fancy personal optimization literature and skipped the basics. Having a bigger brain metaphorically doesn't necessarily lead to productivity so much as increased ability to delude yourself.

The basics for being productive are 1. be in good shape (sleep and exercise) 2. not having to do less important stuff (someone cooks for you) 3. not having any more important stuff to do (no side business, spouse and kids don't demand more of your time).

Similarly, the best way to get moderately wealthy isn't to make a lot of complicated investments, it's to marry someone else who works and buy a house together.

[sinenomine]

Please don't pattern match me lazily onto typical silicon valley archetypes. I know and follow basic healthy living advice, yet it is still perfectly obvious where I'm lacking regardless. There shouldn't be this abyss between tiers of people and this burning need for verbal copes should not exist either.

Platitudes are a mind killer.

[astrange]

Following it is good, but if that’s not enough the answer is still going be something else basic. It’s probably never nootropics in practice until you get past several more kinds of boring stuff.

For instance, the best society wide interventions for kids still aren’t going to be fancy chemicals, it’s going to be better air quality esp. near highways and in schools, and that’s assuming we took care of maternal nutrition.

[sinenomine]

> but if that’s not enough the answer is still going be something else basic.

Why should it be this way, is there a Law of the Universe mandating every human shortcoming being some regrettable lifestyle flaw?

> For instance, the best society wide interventions for kids

... it's better to avoid this beaten topic, this is not a hill I'm willing to die on today.

[astrange]

> Why should it be this way, is there a Law of the Universe mandating every human shortcoming being some regrettable lifestyle flaw?

Oh, I don't mean only basic things are helpful, I mean if it works it'll become "basic". Like if a nootropic really worked that well we'd call it either a vitamin or a medication. (NAC and modafinil are here, and half the other effective ones like Semax are medications in Russia.)

> ... it's better to avoid this beaten topic, this is not a hill I'm willing to die on today.

That's funny since I don't think anything I said there is common wisdom yet, it's my personal hot take.