AA might very well be right about the powerless thing, but "powerless" is not a scientific term: it has no established definition and wasnt arrived at empirically, as we can see. And you can't carry out studies to prove if "alcoholics" are "powerless" because alcoholic is not a scientific term either, since alcohol problems traverse the sprectrum from problem drinkers, alcohol dependents, to late stage addicts, and many people from all these groups identify themselves as "alcoholics". I only accept the loosest definition of powerless, meaning that you have a growing problem with a substance or action, but I dont buy its AA definition.