The Truth in Words and Not in Numbers

Blog 10

10-3-14

Maria Kozdroy

Response to Carl Hart’s Presentation, Counterintuitive Thinking: Letting Data—not opinion—

Dictate Belief

The Truth in Words and Not in Numbers

            “This guy is telling me to do drugs because they’re not bad,” was the thought of several students once Carl Hart, PhD in neuroscience, finished his lecture.  At no point during his lecture did I feel this way, and to this day I ask myself, “Why do people take drugs in the first place?”  For clarification, the term drugs in this paper will signify those that are not prescribed to the user, nor used for medical reasons, rather than “leisure” and personal reasons.  In Carl Hart’s presentation, the main point he is trying to instill upon the students and adults there, is to examine scientific, factual data before doing any drugs, as known as counterintuitive thinking.  This claim is only somewhat believable in my eyes; therefore, I disagree with him because some scientific data presented to the public tends to be misunderstood.  Personal experiences, rather, should be explored more because they share the real impact drugs have on people and are more relatable, making it much clearer the possible harms that may belie for a potential user.

            Drugs are highly dangerous to your mind and body, which is very obvious upon hearing stories or simply exploring the life changes of a drug addict.  I know absolutely that no drugs are ever really needed, yet many times are only used to make the user “feel better and different”.  Yes, there are many scholarly articles on research of many drugs, one of which in Hart’s presentation was what would drug addict participants of the survey spend money on if they were given $5.  Many said they would purchase drugs while some said they would keep the money; upon hearing that in the presentation I was confused as to what “keep the money” entails, perhaps purchasing drugs at a later time.  The data presented in this graph seems believable but with much doubt attached to it.  As the famous proverb goes, “you can’t always believe everything you hear.” 

            Going along with that proverb, sometimes eyewitness of actual effects of drugs on abusers is the best way of evidence of why drugs are harmful to you.  There is an over bombardment of surveys and data online of factual statistics, but this tends to be only a collection of numbers.  It is much simpler for a potential user to observe drug addicts and their behaviors, and then make their own decision whether they will like to pursue in taking the drug or not.  There is no need for science and more individuals to become involved in helping the possible user decide whether to take the drug or not, rather just the one and only individual should make the decision. 

Additionally, many guest speakers reach out to share their stories with others, such as Carl Hart has.  He even expressed how he was a drug dealer at one point in his life.  Instantly I questioned his presentation, yet I realized he came to speak to us with the main goal of teaching us to think counterintuitively more often.  Thinking about that, his whole presentation is bit of a contradiction to the main theme he was trying to pass on to the listeners. 

            Anyways, I strongly believe no matter what data there is and what results come from it, listening to stories and observation are much easier and relatable to understand.  Data charts and graphs are only numbers on a page and do not adequately display the actual detrimental effects of drugs.  When exploring whether drugs are “bad” or “good” for you, counterintuitive thinking should not be the way used in determining whether to use the drug or not.  Rather, counterintuitive thinking should be used when doing laboratory experiments in chemistry or mathematical proofs, and not drug decision making.