I used to be far more productive when I was on drugs. The only reason I quit is because of the police harassing me. Now I’m just a shell being addicted to online media. I’m currently waiting until I can get my drivers license back which was taken. Not because I was driving under the influence, but because they simply found some stuff in my saliva. They really want to make the world safe of drugs so now I’m depressed at home trying to pay off my debt to the government because they want to keep me safe? Well it doesn’t make sense but if me being punished and repeatedly being kicked to the ground is the correct way of making the world safe I will do that! Instead of being a happy guy, driving safe on the road and doing some drugs at parties sometimes, I will embrace the nights of insomnia the government forces upon me. At least I can’t drink all of the problems they caused me away, as the only money I have is now considered theirs. What a great society to live in.
Reading about the guy, I’m convinced he was autistic too. “Diagnosing” historical people is always a bit sus, but I believe this because I know so many autistic nerds in academia who are so much like Erdős. More than that though, I see the ableism in how his narrative is framed. Take for example the following passage from Wikipedia
“He would typically show up at a colleague’s doorstep and announce “my brain is open”, staying long enough to collaborate on a few papers before moving on a few days later. In many cases, he would ask the current collaborator about whom to visit next.”
That quote isn’t one of the bad ones, but other stories about the same thing often frame him turning up at his colleagues’ homes almost like charity, and they emphasised how he had basically never lived independently and struggled with many essential daily living tasks. Except the charitable vibes are diminished by how this is often framed like a trade — housing the genius man-child is an inconvenience and a stress, but ultimately worth it for the ability to bask in his genius and collaborate. It can reduce Erdős down to a 2D character, and adds a weirdly transactional vibe to what is better understood as a community, separated by geography but united by love of maths, supporting each other.
Maybe it’s because I’ve known people like Erdős — weird people who you remember forever because if anyone deserves the label “genius”, they do — but also, they’re just people who have some things they struggle with, and plenty of stuff that they can do, but prefer not to. Hell, I even have one of them crashing on my floor right now, while he’s between homes.
They don’t enhance creativity but when you take them, instead of sitting there thinking/stressing about how you are gonna do your creative endeavor, you just do it. It allows you to act on you creative urges and allows you to formulate them into full concepts rather than jumping from one idea to the next.
Imagine you want to write a paper, you have this idea you desperately need to write down, not just to share it with others but also to help yourself fully understand the idea you have but instead of writing this personally important paper you instead sit there and stress about the action of writing for so long that you lose energy and motivation despite never writing a single word. For so long that you lose sight of that original glorious idea and if you eventually write that paper it feels like an utter dissapointment. It took so much damn energy just to think about and when its finally done its shit. Its not even close to what you had in your head and now you don’t even want to improve it bc the whole process was exhausting.
ADHD meds get reduce the severity of that original issue, that executive dysfunction. So no it won’t make you more creative but it will stop you from stressing so much about the process that you forget the creative part.
I’m reminded of this story
(All credit to SK for actually quitting his habits.)
I used to be far more productive when I was on drugs. The only reason I quit is because of the police harassing me. Now I’m just a shell being addicted to online media. I’m currently waiting until I can get my drivers license back which was taken. Not because I was driving under the influence, but because they simply found some stuff in my saliva. They really want to make the world safe of drugs so now I’m depressed at home trying to pay off my debt to the government because they want to keep me safe? Well it doesn’t make sense but if me being punished and repeatedly being kicked to the ground is the correct way of making the world safe I will do that! Instead of being a happy guy, driving safe on the road and doing some drugs at parties sometimes, I will embrace the nights of insomnia the government forces upon me. At least I can’t drink all of the problems they caused me away, as the only money I have is now considered theirs. What a great society to live in.
Stephen King has also become a shell being addicted to online media, so don’t worry too much.
Fucking police. This guy could have been the next Stephen King!
Sorry to hear, that sucks. I hope you can get back on drugs safely someday.
Thanks. You get it.
So is there a reasonable chance Erdos had ADHD?
It is without a doubt imo
Reading about the guy, I’m convinced he was autistic too. “Diagnosing” historical people is always a bit sus, but I believe this because I know so many autistic nerds in academia who are so much like Erdős. More than that though, I see the ableism in how his narrative is framed. Take for example the following passage from Wikipedia
That quote isn’t one of the bad ones, but other stories about the same thing often frame him turning up at his colleagues’ homes almost like charity, and they emphasised how he had basically never lived independently and struggled with many essential daily living tasks. Except the charitable vibes are diminished by how this is often framed like a trade — housing the genius man-child is an inconvenience and a stress, but ultimately worth it for the ability to bask in his genius and collaborate. It can reduce Erdős down to a 2D character, and adds a weirdly transactional vibe to what is better understood as a community, separated by geography but united by love of maths, supporting each other.
Maybe it’s because I’ve known people like Erdős — weird people who you remember forever because if anyone deserves the label “genius”, they do — but also, they’re just people who have some things they struggle with, and plenty of stuff that they can do, but prefer not to. Hell, I even have one of them crashing on my floor right now, while he’s between homes.
Do ADHD meds enhance creativity too? I thought it was just focus.
They don’t enhance creativity but when you take them, instead of sitting there thinking/stressing about how you are gonna do your creative endeavor, you just do it. It allows you to act on you creative urges and allows you to formulate them into full concepts rather than jumping from one idea to the next.
Imagine you want to write a paper, you have this idea you desperately need to write down, not just to share it with others but also to help yourself fully understand the idea you have but instead of writing this personally important paper you instead sit there and stress about the action of writing for so long that you lose energy and motivation despite never writing a single word. For so long that you lose sight of that original glorious idea and if you eventually write that paper it feels like an utter dissapointment. It took so much damn energy just to think about and when its finally done its shit. Its not even close to what you had in your head and now you don’t even want to improve it bc the whole process was exhausting.
ADHD meds get reduce the severity of that original issue, that executive dysfunction. So no it won’t make you more creative but it will stop you from stressing so much about the process that you forget the creative part.
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is a great book