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A comment on We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-defeating habits.

Re:We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-def... by wallace_f on Monday September 25, 2017 @11:17AM (#15331132)
tl;dr the thesis is that addiction is a learning process of reinforcing behavior->reward understanding. Targeted magnetic pulses look to be capable of altering the chemistry of the neural pathways where this understanding lives.

The article also notes how increasingly more behaviors are treated as addictions. Korea provides government subsidized gaming addiction treatment, which I think is interesting to consider if we are physically altering destructive behavioral patterns to reprogram people Where will the limits be? Might a workaholic be treated? What about junk food, smart phones? An adolescent with a history of getting kicks out of tormenting others? Fanatical racists or nationalists?

On another note, there are other theories about addiction to supplement this one: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg

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Re:We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-def... by scardine on Monday September 25, 2017 @02:08PM (#15332630)
This line of ethical questioning is behind the plot of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel "A Clockwork Orange". The main character Alex is subject of an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals but the method is flawed and leads to unfair consequences for him.
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Re:We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-def... by civilian on Monday September 25, 2017 @07:02PM (#15334889)
I'm generally in favor of rehabilitation, but in the case of Alex, I thought that the punishment was fitting.
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Re:We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-def... by rwnspace on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @10:36AM (#15339005)
Well that's the major question, as far as I'm concerned. Does the punishment fit the crime? Are there punishments for which there are no fitting crimes?
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Re:We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-def... by Florin_Andrei on Monday September 25, 2017 @02:12PM (#15332659)
Perhaps the line is quite blurry between addiction on one hand, and the general modifications that take place in the brain as part of the processes we call learning or even evolution on the other hand. Perhaps addiction is just those mechanisms gone awry.
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Re:We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-def... by damnstraight on Monday September 25, 2017 @05:27PM (#15334324)
Addiction is just one view into impulse control; I don't see any reason to think the average human doesn't commonly have impulse control issues.
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Re:We're learning more about the craving that fuels self-def... by QAPereo on Monday September 25, 2017 @01:11PM (#15332154)
Fanatical racists or nationalists?

...Or the insufficiently fanatical...

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