Participants in the Singularity Summit 2011 workshops held on October 17-18 brainstormed a list of cognitive enhancement methods they would like to see tested — some of them for the first time, many of them more thoroughly than has been done so far. Here is that list:
rationality instruction
potassium and nutrients/micronutrients in general
modafinil and its class
racetam class, adderall, riatlin
paleo and other popular diets
multigenerational embryo selection
particular TMS interventions
doing math or logic problems every day
amount of sleep
neurofeedback; EEG, etc.
physical health, specific types of exercise, yoga
more red blood cells
certain types of electrical stimulation
spaced repetition
practicing visualization
practicing chess and Go
dual n-back training
prolonged sensory deprivation
experience manipulating physical objects (craftsmanship and engineering)
listening to music actively (and engaging with other art forms actively)
using specific visual languages for specific tasks
happiness in general (gratitude, etc.)
changing the oxygen content of what you're breathing
gene expression levels
operant conditioning
irradiation or administration of other toxins
lucid dreaming
GHB
intermittent fasting
creatine
nicotine, caffeine
arterial glucose drip to get more sugar to the brain
I suspect there is a bidirectional relationship regarding quality relationships and cognition.
Even without direct evidence, there is indirect evidence that supports the lack of confidants affects cognition. Socializing is an experiment with measurable effects on cognition that I already mentioned. Animal models, which historically have been a pretty good proxy for human models, certainly support isolation affecting cognition. Prisoners put in solitary confinement show signs of deteriorating mental functioning. Close knit communities, not to be confused with rural communities, have much lower rates of mental illness (almost all of which deteriorate cognition after onset, some to devastating magnitudes) despite lower educational achievement. These lend support that the correlational data is not a simple matter of poor cogniton affecting social skills, and warrants actual experimentation.
Participants in the Singularity Summit 2011 workshops held on October 17-18 brainstormed a list of cognitive enhancement methods they would like to see tested — some of them for the first time, many of them more thoroughly than has been done so far. Here is that list: