[PinnBrain]

Neat. I take Modafinil or its enantiomer Nuvigil sometimes to be smarter or compensate for lack of sleep. Officially, it's for sleep apnea, which I had to take a sleep test to show. I don't see zero risk for cosmetic surgery (note the issues with any surgery), so perhaps that can serve as an analogue as we look more into enhancing "normal" people.

[xaa]

Sure. I get great results from Adderall and have heard good things about Modafinil. Tried it once with little effect, but it was from an Indian pharmacy and who knows how pure it was. I can't draw any conclusions whatsoever from this. Similarly, some people swear by racetams but I have adverse reactions to them (tired, eye strain, bad moods).

The internet is chock full of anecdotes about various nootropics, but very little empirical data. Gwern (linked above) tries to blind himself in some of his experiments, which is good, but still N=1.

What needs to happen is, IMO, people interested in nootropics sign up for a "trial", pay for the drug and any minor equipment needed to test efficacy, the trial administrator gets a pure sample of the drug and sends it out blinded to the participants. Then the results could be collected and possibly even published (in a journal that doesn't have an IRB requirement).

It could go even further if people could cough up the cash for a cheap genetic variation test like 23andme, and then the efficacy could be correlated with genetic variants.

But as it is, we are in the absolute dark ages about our knowledge about nootropic efficacy in normals. It is complicated by the fact that the most likely candidates are often controlled substances.

[Synaesthesia]

I would maybe classify Modafanil as a nootropic, but Adderall is a stimulant - Amphetamine.

[xaa]

Almighty Wikipedia: nootropics are "drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods that improve one or more aspects of mental function, such as working memory, motivation, and attention"

Potentially a very broad category, which absolutely includes, but is not limited to, stimulants (within a therapeutic dose range). Also, as you can see on the same Wikipedia page, there is an entire category of nootropic stimulants, including the widely used caffeine and nicotine.

[PinnBrain]

Ah, thanks. Only had Adderall once, and it didn't feel the same. Modafinil had a much more subtle effect, with few downsides (just don't overdo caffeine while on it).