I’m performing today’s newsletter au naturel. I’m not talking about my attire, but my brain. It turns out it’s increasingly rare for people to work, study, or just function without the boost of a PCE (pharmacological cognitive enhancement) of one kind or another. “The use of drugs by people hoping to boost mental performance is rising worldwide, finds the largest ever study of the trend. In a survey of tens of thousands of people, 14% reported using stimulants at least once in the preceding 12 months in 2017, up from 5% in 2015.” I’m a Humanities major on nothing but coffee, so I can’t do the math, but that sounds like a lot. And if the folks in the tech industry are any indicator, the trend is escalating and breadth of drug choices in increasing. From Nature: Use of smart drugs on the rise.