[ExI] addiction

[William Flynn Wallace]

On Sat, Apr 4, 2015 at 6:21 PM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't think people are going to get very far with understanding
> addiction until they understand why human (some at least) can be
> addicted at all.
>
> You folks are sick of hearing about it from me, anyone have an
> evolutionary pathway to this curious trait.
>
> Keith
>

​Long ago psychologists established that if you inserted a stimulator in a
lab animal's pleasure centers, (in fact the studies that established the
existence of them), the animal would make a response to get the stimulation
until it fell over from exhaustion and then later get up and do it again.​

​It could not be distracted by food or the smell of a receptive female.
Surely this is the mother of all addictions.

It is difficult to see how this behavior could in any way help an animal to
survive and breed.

Perhaps someone who is more up-to-date on cerebral stimulation can
enlighten us.

One thing I do know:  not every single thing about us is positive in terms
of evolutionary fitness.  We have just enough to keep going.
Look at the susceptibilities to various cancers.  Very negative but
generally occurring well after sexual maturity.

 Bill W​

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