It continues to amaze me how seriously people take Twitter comments--good or ill, and that we can have entire posts citing 140 character insults from assholes.
The jerks were in the wrong, but I think the wrong approach is to engage them in their own medium. They are vocalizing their beliefs because they know it will provoke a reaction. You'll never convince them, so the best thing is to ignore them and get on with your life. In the case of reddit, the problematic set is best left to fester and dealt with at higher levels (bans, filtering) or discussed out of band (as in the linked post). "Arguing with a fool only proves that there are two," as they say.
Having money or connections does not transform one from being a jerk/troll/bigot. It's not surprising that there were such people at SXSW. It is somewhat surprising the panel did not have better moderation.
Yeah, I do these things on my "vacation" days. It helps, but it's hard for me to do it for a long time. Usually I end up walking around after a few minutes.
If there is a euphoric boost it sounds like the dose is much higher than would be indicated for ADHD. Slight modulation of mood maybe, but euphoria speaks of abuse.
This is how I'd put it. I've been diagnosed with adult ADHD and take a moderate to low dose of Adderall under the direction of my doctor. I can easily forgo taking it for weeks, and do so. These "vacations" without it were advised by my doctor to prevent tolerance buildup, and I suspect to diminish the potential for addiction. My dosage has remained constant and I don't feel a "need" for it, so I guess they work. For many of those with ADHD the drug makes a world of difference, and pushes focus and tendency to move around into the "normal" range. For certain activities the (benefits - costs) equation works out, while for others it does not (which is to say certain activities don't appreciably benefit from the quiet mind--the costs are long term and are more difficult to discern). It's about planning to take it for days where it does help, and being mindful of the health ramifications (staying hydrated, eating normal and healthy meals, monitoring cardiac health with support from a doctor, continuing to consult the doctor, etc.).
My biggest fear beyond addiction is that it will be detrimental to my memory and learning in the long term. It's difficult to know if that is true.
The author clearly abused it. Taking it "to socialize" seems weird to me. I suspect the author did not need it in the first place, and was already in the "normal" range. My mentally disorganized self is much more outgoing that the focused version of me. If it is impacting sleep, the dosage is probably too high or too extended (though many MDs prescribe the XR version since ostensibly it has less potential for abuse).
Some of the alternative pharmaceuticals may work about as well, but Adderall has been around for so long that its risks are fairly well understood--though less so with long term use.
Vyvanse is a means to extract more money from patients via patent protection. It's essentially dexedrine with a lysine attached (new side group=new patent). The lysine gets cleaved in vivo, and it becomes dextroamphetamine. Adderall is a mixture of dextro- and levo- handed salts, so it's a bit more nuanced.
Taking it without doctor supervision is a major risk, and taking more than is prescribed or mixing it with other drugs as the author did compounds the risk. The potential for abuse is real.
It also looks like many are associated with the "Singularity Institute." My exposure to that group left me feeling like it was some sort of cult of charlatans and wide-eyed dreamers. The presentations I've seen from them featured graphs without units and a lot of hand waving without hard data or independent validation. Almost like a sort of Scientology for Silicon Valley.