Smart drugs: A dose of intelligence

It's because the people that actually have something to say don't want to talk, and the people that want to talk have nothing to say.

That seems like the crux of the problem. I'd additionally add to that whether we're being proactive or reactive with respect to the point of view of the unconverted. Both have hurdles. For myself I expect that those who know about nootropics and treat them in a positive, sophisticated light, have considered use in the first place or have a close friend who has. Talking to those people about it is generally not useful because there's nothing else to convince them of. Conversely there are those who don't know about nootropics and have probably already gotten information about nootropics from a larger media outlet. Either they are interested enough to drop into the former camp, or they move into a less-than-sophisticated point of view based on common stimulants and the like.

At that point it seems like a lot of effort to convince someone on points of fact that the nootropics world is bigger than stimulants. Usually it starts getting rather technical, and we're already working from a position where most of the facts are tenuous or still under revision, using what amount to RCs. I know that when I've attempted to explain my hobby to others, I've caught myself on how many qualifications and guardings I had to make in an attempt to distance myself…