By now you may have seen Limitless, or you’ll at least have heard about the basic premise: Bradley Cooper takes a special little pill that amps up his brain, lets him see clearly, think better, and just plain be all around smarter. It lets him write a brilliant novel in four days; he makes a killing day trading not only because he grasps the math required but also because he’s suddenly sees the underlying patterns in human behavior that drive the market. The problems that arise from his use of the pill are driven more by the shady drug underworld through which he acquired his stash (though he didn’t realize it at first) than they are by the negative side effects the drug has on his body.
It’s all very much action-thriller-suspense movie oriented, and of course it must be. (Even the novel-writing subplot is dismissed pretty quickly.) But there are lots of other possibilities for a drug that maxmizes human potential, things that wouldn’t make for an exciting movie but might make for a thoughtful, truly science-fictional movie… not to mention a far better real world, were such a drug actually in widespread use. Would someone find a way to peacefully resolve ethnic disputes (as in sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East) in a way that would satisfy everyone involved? Would someone figure out how to fix global warming? Would someone invent an entirely new kind of artwork that we cannot even conceive of yet?
What would you do with a Limitless pill? Are there things that you would like to do but feel that they’re beyond your capabilities now? What would the positive and negative side effects of your endeavors be, for yourself and for the world at large?
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me. Responses to this QOTD sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.)
Well first I would secure my consistent supply and ensure that I was one of only very few who has access to the pill.
Firstly I would take advantage of my unlocked mind to turn all my small time book and screenplay ideas into reality and publish them and try to get my screenplays to the most funded popular producers in the world.
Secondly I would start a few months of massive self improvement, I would take up various sports and languages and I would read loads of science and history books and architecture books and basically learn everything I have ever wanted to but did not have the ability to do so.
Next I would do as he did in the film and make massive amounts of money on the stock exchange until I had a few hundred million in my bank account and I would divide my earnings between my a UK bank account, a Swiss bank account and an account in the Bahamas, I would also have properties in different countries where I would hide suitcases with large amounts of money, just in case I should run into trouble.
Next I would buy the labs that manufacture the pill and I would find a way to eliminate the bugs that come with the pill and I would keep the supply for myself by paying the scientists high amounts and offering them their own supply (a scientist would jump at the chance)
Next I would set up a housing development company and use my new skills in architecture to design environmentally friendly, attractive buildings and I would systematically get rid of council estates and ugly buildings and replace them with my decent housing, I would branch out into designing factories and other places of work that have no negative effect on the environment, I would then go on to become the supplier of British power and replacing coal and fossil fuels with geothermal, hydro electric and wind power, I would branch this company out all over the world, to make it a bit greener and a bit prettier, I would find a way to turn baron land into large forests that people can enjoy.
At this point I would also start designing environmentally friendly cars at cheap prices and selling them and I would buy the public transport systems and do the same (this includes air travel)
Then I would set up my own publishing company and I would publish all of my own brilliant books and also publish and edit other decent books for people, I would then increase my own popularity by producing films, most of which would be written by me but I would make other good ones as well.
I would use my popularity to work my way up in politics and once I was in control I would find ways to make peace around the world and set up a universal treaty that would not go to war and follow my plans to fix the world, overtime then I would systematically enslave the terrible people in the world and carry out plans for complete environmental efficiency, historical beauty, elimination of poverty and many diseases, elimination of the overpopulation crises, the space program, the replacement of baron or desert land with forests.
Hopefully by the time I am sixty the world would be perfect, because I would have a team of people working with me that would have access to the pill and would aid me, I would also design the pill to be far more powerful, so by this point I would be the owner of the world’s public transport, the biggest supplier of private transport, the owner of the most successful stock exchanging business, the owner of the universal architecture and environmental clean up company, the founder of the space program and I would also be the author of many best selling books and the producer of many of the most popular films around.
I would find the ideal person to take over from me when I die, give him a less powerful supply of the pill and teach him and train him to take over from me and give him chances in my job while I enjoyed semi-retirement, eventually when he was ready I would retire full time and enjoy my brilliance and my money myself.
Well this description was a good way to kill 20 minutes of my time.