<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 4:15 PM, Adrian Tymes <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:atymes@gmail.com" target="_blank">atymes@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><span><p dir="ltr">On Mar 21, 2016 1:31 PM, "Dan TheBookMan" <<a href="mailto:danust2012@gmail.com" target="_blank">danust2012@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> I believe that Peale was arguing that if, say, the heroin addict -- as defined by conventional standards -- were not addicted to heroin, they would find something else to be addicted -- as defined by the conventional standard -- provided the opportunity presented itself. In other words, some people are just more prone to get addicted overall -- and meaning others are generally not so prone.</p>
</span><p dir="ltr">As someone with a family history of addiction, it does look to me that some people - such as myself - are more likely than others to get addicted.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The trick is in choosing what you get addicted to, preferably early on: adolescence if not earlier, while the addictions that can stay with you for life (or take a lot more effort to change later) are still forming. The tobacco industry knows this quite well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I could have been an alcoholic, or a chain smoker...or far worse in terms of harm to other people, just for the thrill of seeing what I did help shape the world to a degree others acknowledged. I chose instead to addict myself to video games, storytelling, solving problems, and other neutral or positive things, though it can be harder to drive one's addictions toward not-immediately-rewarding tasks. (I still take some pleasure in the results my small contribution to cybernetics has had. And then there's what I do for my current startup; there is a blurry line between "addicted to work" and "focused on work".)</p>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">I do not agree. Look at what you are doing: trading puns, sharing ideas when you could be working. Addicted to work means driving away your family, your friends with sheer inattention and/or inability to talk about anything else. If addiction has a place in the diagnostic manual of mental disorders it has to be something that seriously needs treatment. No need for treatment? No need for diagnosis. </div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">I read for several hours a day. Am I addicted? Well, if I could keep only one thing it would be the ability to read books. If I had no access to books I go nuts. If I were in solitary confinement I could stand it if I had books (not allowed, likely). There really is no fuzzy line with addiction. It's a serious problem or it's just something you do a lot. And like OCD, it has a driven quality to it. "I just can't leave work until I finish this...." and then it's 3 a.m. </div> <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:'comic sans ms',sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">It's the sort of thing ancients blamed on demon possession because it appeared as if the person were just taken over by something which forced them to do whatever. bill w</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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