A Blessing in Disguise, Albeit a Very Good Disguise

Argues - counterintuitively - AGAINST legalizing/destigmatizing modafinil via positional goods + race-to-the-bottom: if only a few geeks use it they gain, but if everyone does, expectations and work-weeks just ratchet up (the 40-hour Schelling point becomes 60) and no one gains while losing sleep and money. A clear PRECURSOR to 'Meditations on Moloch' (multipolar trap) applied to cognitive enhancement, wrapped in jokey early-blog asides (geeks as God's chosen, PCs vs NPCs).

Quality 70 · Strong. Strong: the positional-goods / coordination-trap argument is genuinely insightful and historically interesting as a Moloch precursor - held back by datedness and a rambly, half-serious style. ~70.

Claude’s paradigm shift 60 · Notable shift. Applying race-to-the-bottom / positional goods to nootropic enhancement is a fresh, non-obvious move that prefigures his later coordination-failure frame. ~60.

Real-world impact 3 · Moderate. A genuinely insightful positional-goods / race-to-the-bottom argument against destigmatizing modafinil (universal use just ratchets up work-week expectations with no one gaining) — a clear precursor to 'Meditations on Moloch' applied to cognitive enhancement. Conceptual influence within rationalist discourse, dated/rambly, no material change — modest RWI.