wedrifid comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 10 - Less Wrong

11 Post author: Oscar_Cunningham 07 March 2012 04:46PM

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Comment author: wedrifid 15 March 2012 01:27:55PM 2 points [-]

Steroid use does not make good soldiers. Soldier-fit is different than gym-fit in appearance and function. Bulk does not provide performance increases in soldier duties and does cost more calories to maintain.

This is largely nonsense. AA-Steroids are not just toys that are used to make muscles pump up at look pretty. They are performance enhancers. There is a reason they are banned and heavily controlled for in all top level sports. They work. They allow athletes to be faster, stronger and train more heavily. The usefulness of these traits to soldiers is obvious. To the extent that elite soldiers wish to be fast, strong and heavily conditioned without just ending up overtrained, steroids will be useful.

Judicious use of stimulants, on the other hand, makes very good soldiers and may be started and stopped almost at will.

Stimulants are great. But if you were really concerned about testosterone based aggression you probably shouldn't pump the meat heads full of amphetamines either.