Limitless

What if, you found out one day you had the possibility to be smarter? What if, you found out one day you had the possibility to live a successful life? What if, you found out you could be better, faster, and closer to perfection than ever before? If I told you that you can have access to all of that simply by taking one innocent little pill a day, everyday for the rest of your life, would you seize the chance?

I recently watched the movie Limitless, a story about a young writer discovering a pill called NZT-48, allowing him to have full access to his brain. Now, there is this myth about us humans using only 10% of our brains. Lets say that it has been scientifically proven to be correct. And lets say that the magical pill does exist. Wouldn’t life be so much simpler? Easier? Better? When you first think about it, the answer is an obvious yes.

But the more I do think about it, all these questions pop up in my head. If we were meant to have access to all of our brain, then why is it not the case? I was born with whatever intelligence, skills, and talents I have. Should it not stay that way? If I were to become perfect, would I not start feeling left out, bored even by all of the “normal people” around me?

I can relate this to the issue of real versus fake that is present in George Saunders’ short story “Jon”. Jon is already pre-programmed with all these memories and talents. In fact, he has a chip -or “gargadisk”- inserted into his neck, containing all sorts of information and facts about life – things he never actually experienced like breathing fresh air in a summer night. Anyways, as I said earlier, I was born with innate skills and talents, which we can consider them to be “natural” or “real”. After taking such a pill as the NZT-48, all that increased intelligence would not be coming from me (nature), but from a fabricated pill (fake). 

Another point I would like to make is relating the whole concept of changing something in your body to improve yourself so far as to becoming a totally different person with Bill McKibben’s essay, “Enough”. In his essay, McKibben speaks of germline modification - genetic manipulation of human germ cells – and attempts to foresee the consequences of a future filled with genetically altered humans. A world filled with equally beautiful, equally smart people. Keeping up with the latest updates: “Smartz Version 4.2: Smarter than ever before” and the such… What kind of world would that be? When are we going to accept the fact that who and what we are is perfectly enough, and that so many people have already done amazing things without resorting to any gene modifications? Will our thirst for perfection ever be quenched?