I'm pissed (can I say that here?)
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,442
back to the OP
Just a vent here...
I have been digging into the scientific literature about addiction. Many views, theories etc. But not ONE answer! It just angers me. They (the doctors, scientists, etc. ) know how to treat so many other illnesses. Yet, addiction remains a mystery. Is it biological? Is is psychological? Is it social? Is it all the above?
I am angry because it causes so much pain in people's lives, including my own.
I have been digging into the scientific literature about addiction. Many views, theories etc. But not ONE answer! It just angers me. They (the doctors, scientists, etc. ) know how to treat so many other illnesses. Yet, addiction remains a mystery. Is it biological? Is is psychological? Is it social? Is it all the above?
I am angry because it causes so much pain in people's lives, including my own.
Don't drink.
D
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 4,860
Yesterday, Bill Gates posted a video on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's FB page noting they believe that, within the next 15 years, life will improve for the poorest among our fellow humans through the eradication of four diseases. That's four times the amount of disease eradication than humankind has seen in all its history. So far, only smalllpox has been wiped out.
(BTW, the four diseases they're looking at for eradication are guinea worm river blindness, elephantiasis, blinding trachoma and polio, the paralytic disease. All maladies that beleaguer those who came out in a tougher place in the genetic lottery than folks like yours truly.)
Alcoholism isn't on the list. I suspect it's not on many lists. But what if it was? What if someone said "we think that in 15 years we're going to have a vaccine/pill/implant/whatever that will stop alcoholism." Would I want to spend the next 15 years mired in the living hell of alcoholism waiting for the miracle cure?
Heck no. I wouldn't want to spend the next 15 hours back there. So I do what is in the realm of the possible for me: I don't drink. I work on my life -- the good, the hard, the everything. Lots of good stuff here, ArtFriend. Take some time to let it sink in.
I'll try posting the video. Don't know if it'll work but it is brief and very worthwhile. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...type=2&theater
(BTW, the four diseases they're looking at for eradication are guinea worm river blindness, elephantiasis, blinding trachoma and polio, the paralytic disease. All maladies that beleaguer those who came out in a tougher place in the genetic lottery than folks like yours truly.)
Alcoholism isn't on the list. I suspect it's not on many lists. But what if it was? What if someone said "we think that in 15 years we're going to have a vaccine/pill/implant/whatever that will stop alcoholism." Would I want to spend the next 15 years mired in the living hell of alcoholism waiting for the miracle cure?
Heck no. I wouldn't want to spend the next 15 hours back there. So I do what is in the realm of the possible for me: I don't drink. I work on my life -- the good, the hard, the everything. Lots of good stuff here, ArtFriend. Take some time to let it sink in.
I'll try posting the video. Don't know if it'll work but it is brief and very worthwhile. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...type=2&theater
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
If alcohol weren't a problem for me, then it wouldn't be important to me either.
I believe that genetic engineering in broader use and in a more refined way is inevitable. Human beings at first turned to religion and then science to cure all ills. It's what we do. Evidence-based treatment is the new religion, with a man-made god that is practiced in a church that knows no geographical, spiritual or intellectual boundaries.
Who gets to decide what is "abnormal?" Or do we simply impose the normal curve to define our humanity? Though genetic engineering may well indeed eradicate all types of illnesses and what we consider to be abnormalities, I shudder to think of the consequences of using it for selfish or destructive purposes. Again, that's what we do.
I believe that genetic engineering in broader use and in a more refined way is inevitable. Human beings at first turned to religion and then science to cure all ills. It's what we do. Evidence-based treatment is the new religion, with a man-made god that is practiced in a church that knows no geographical, spiritual or intellectual boundaries.
Who gets to decide what is "abnormal?" Or do we simply impose the normal curve to define our humanity? Though genetic engineering may well indeed eradicate all types of illnesses and what we consider to be abnormalities, I shudder to think of the consequences of using it for selfish or destructive purposes. Again, that's what we do.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
Originally Posted by ArtFriend 
Just a vent here...
I have been digging into the scientific literature about addiction. Many views, theories etc. But not ONE answer! It just angers me. They (the doctors, scientists, etc. ) know how to treat so many other illnesses. Yet, addiction remains a mystery. Is it biological? Is is psychological? Is it social? Is it all the above?
I am angry because it causes so much pain in people's lives, including my own.
I have been digging into the scientific literature about addiction. Many views, theories etc. But not ONE answer! It just angers me. They (the doctors, scientists, etc. ) know how to treat so many other illnesses. Yet, addiction remains a mystery. Is it biological? Is is psychological? Is it social? Is it all the above?
I am angry because it causes so much pain in people's lives, including my own.
You already have the answer. There are many different theories.
Chose one. Move on.
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