Motivation is such a complex issue but it's quite apparent that you can't view it in isolation. I don't see how a hypothetical motivation pill will do much better than an anti-depressant drug.
What I find interesting though is this stigma around depression, lack of motivation and laziness. There's nothing unbecoming, wrong or unnatural about any of these states. We don't need to stamp it out completely.
Winston Churchill had severe depression but he was arguably one of the most productive people in the 20th century. Lazy people often come up with brilliant inventions (in order to do less work). And lack of motivation can often be addressed by life style changes.
Maybe for one person the lack of motivation is because the work they engage in isn't meaningful to them. For another person, the work may be meaningful but they are missing connection from other people. The next person might not be leading a healthy lifestyle so they are not providing their body an environment in which they can thrive (not enough nutrients/sun light etc). And yet another person may simply be experiencing a natural oscillation between being motivated and unmotivated. All of these things can be addressed in some way or another.
Personally, I found the education system a factor in robbing me of motivation and questioning my drive. I didn't get really motivated about learning until I got out of it and picked topics I was truly curious about. But up until that point I would almost have considered myself as kind of broken because I was doing the bare minimum to pass tests when I could be doing so much more. The only thing that changed for me to tap into my drive was the conditions I set. Now I learn because I'm driven by curiosity and a drive to make things.
It would be a pity if people start taking pills without addressing these other things (at least in conjunction).
Having said that, for specific treatment alternatives, I think the future is much brighter with neuro/bio feedback technologies. And it's getting cheaper by the year.
I don't think that there's any reason that it has to be one or the other.
It's interesting that you bring up Winston Churchill. He slept less than 6 hours per day, which suggests to me that he likely had a higher dopamine response than normal. That's associated with higher drive, which means Churchill was probably one of the outliers I was talking about.
What I find interesting though is this stigma around depression, lack of motivation and laziness. There's nothing unbecoming, wrong or unnatural about any of these states. We don't need to stamp it out completely.
Winston Churchill had severe depression but he was arguably one of the most productive people in the 20th century. Lazy people often come up with brilliant inventions (in order to do less work). And lack of motivation can often be addressed by life style changes.
Maybe for one person the lack of motivation is because the work they engage in isn't meaningful to them. For another person, the work may be meaningful but they are missing connection from other people. The next person might not be leading a healthy lifestyle so they are not providing their body an environment in which they can thrive (not enough nutrients/sun light etc). And yet another person may simply be experiencing a natural oscillation between being motivated and unmotivated. All of these things can be addressed in some way or another.
Personally, I found the education system a factor in robbing me of motivation and questioning my drive. I didn't get really motivated about learning until I got out of it and picked topics I was truly curious about. But up until that point I would almost have considered myself as kind of broken because I was doing the bare minimum to pass tests when I could be doing so much more. The only thing that changed for me to tap into my drive was the conditions I set. Now I learn because I'm driven by curiosity and a drive to make things.
It would be a pity if people start taking pills without addressing these other things (at least in conjunction).
Having said that, for specific treatment alternatives, I think the future is much brighter with neuro/bio feedback technologies. And it's getting cheaper by the year.