A lot of
grown geeks I have talked to were tempted at one point to become
doctors. It's all the same thing really -
your body is just another machine, controlled by
chemicals and
electric impulses that are easily influenced one way or another.
A geek grows used to be able to squeeze maximum performance out of everything.
I've rigged my toaster to make toast in half the time it usually takes, overclocked nearly everything in my computer and squeezed the last out of every dying appliance. It's only logical that I will do the same to my body - there's a job due in two days and I need 3? take caffeine and uppers and go without sleep! Need to calm down? Nicotine is just a patch away. We research our drugs and decide that "Hey, codeine isn't addictive and doesn't carry any long term effects when done within reason..." We control the drugs, not the other way around. We're not normal people.
Or so I thought.