https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.10002
Abstract (emphasis mine):
The concept of a 'Ballmer Peak' was first proposed in 2007, postulating that there exists a very specific blood alcohol content which confers superhuman programming ability. More generally, there is a commonly held belief among software engineers that coding is easier and more productive after a few drinks. Using the industry standard for assessment of coding ability, we conducted a search for such a peak and more generally investigated the effect of different amounts of alcohol on performance. We conclusively refute the existence of a specific peak with large magnitude, but with p < 0.001 find that there was a significant positive effect to a low amount of alcohol - slightly less than two drinks - on programming ability.
Knew a guy in university that looked like a young Prince Charles that would pop half a tab of LSD whenever he ran into an issue he couldn't solve. Somehow that worked.
This was in the late 90s early 00s, well before Randall made the comic about The Ballmer Peak
Microdosing LSD is a common thing nowadays in the tech world. It definitely increases your creativity and mental energy, so it makes sense. Your friend was probably ahead of the curve. I'm not sure if the idea was as popular back then.
The rest of use were tending towards macro dosing. He may have known about it, but he didn't really talk about it that much. Certainly wasn't encouraging other to try it.
Maybe his dose wasn't small enough to be considered micro. I'd wager half a tab would give a light trip instead of a full
I dunno. I never took less than 2 tabs even my first time, cause less than that didn't seem to do anything as far as visuals went. Just made me feel twitchy