[ExI] addiction

[William Flynn Wallace]

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 4:15 PM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mar 21, 2016 1:31 PM, "Dan TheBookMan" <danust2012 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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".)
> ​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.  ​
>

​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.  ​

​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​

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