Self improvement: oh dear we are sinking into pop psych 101 here. Something with some sub-urbanites that resonates in their mental echo chamber. Add technology and the cargo cult mentality comes in: problems solved of whatever. Not a solid solution. As for cognitive enhancement the European led the way with primarily the secular mind and philosophers from the French and the Germans complementing each other. The Brits were basically logicians which proves nothing. But they did start the Industrial Revolution without self improvement or self help books or self help life gurus. That the Europeans achieved by independent thinking so that today's aides won't work. During the shamanistic stage of human development psychtoropic drugs boosted humanity into the cosmic city state. Quite an achievement with mental achievement. Yet it was the beer sodden wine sodden northern Europe that defined our current society. The great mental release was to go secular. Write divinity and it's mental ordure out of the holistic equation. And today other paradigms are needed: Philip K Dick et.al created possibilities that really did, along with Arthur C Clarke push the cosmological horizon into near infinity. In-sanity the next mindful step.