This story is encouraging. A pill that can help addicts kick their problems.
Love the idea.
More troubling though is the recalcitrance of the Rehab industry and the AA crowd to using a pill to stop addiction.
Why would anyone holding themselves out as a professional or support group for addicts take issue with a medication showing such promise?
Money. For the rehab industry, a pill eliminates the thousands of dollars billed for treatment.
Even if it works.
For AA: The whole edifice of AA is built around the disease model of addiction. AA operates like a cult whose success at treating addiction is no better than chance (50/50). That's the level of remission among alcoholics WITHOUT AA.
When a pill stops addiction, what use would anyone have for a twelve step system?
None.
I think this work is great.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Bullets to the head will stop the piracy--Violent, but effective
I'm not one for violence as a policy. In fact, I think too many people are quick to use the gun when other tactics might work better.
Too many advocate government sanctioned violence, especially if they're not the one doing the actual killing. Somehow the sanitary nature of government violence makes it more palatable for the rest of us to tolerate.
But then, there's the piracy issue.
Three issues fuel the piracy mess off Somalia:
1) No strong government in Somalia to put the smack-down on those exploiting the territorial waters.
2) Willingness of commercial shipping companies to pay ransom because it's less expensive than to pay the families and customers should the results become dire.
3) Willful ignorance by countries with the capacity to stop it militarily.
We're seeing a sea-change (literally) off Somalia. The U.S. under Obama has manned up at sent the pirates to Davey Jones' Locker for messing with us.
A few bullets to the head will stop the lawlessness caused by shipping companies cowardly, albeit capitalistic, ways.
Too many advocate government sanctioned violence, especially if they're not the one doing the actual killing. Somehow the sanitary nature of government violence makes it more palatable for the rest of us to tolerate.
But then, there's the piracy issue.
Three issues fuel the piracy mess off Somalia:
1) No strong government in Somalia to put the smack-down on those exploiting the territorial waters.
2) Willingness of commercial shipping companies to pay ransom because it's less expensive than to pay the families and customers should the results become dire.
3) Willful ignorance by countries with the capacity to stop it militarily.
We're seeing a sea-change (literally) off Somalia. The U.S. under Obama has manned up at sent the pirates to Davey Jones' Locker for messing with us.
A few bullets to the head will stop the lawlessness caused by shipping companies cowardly, albeit capitalistic, ways.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Morality may just be post hoc rationalizations for what we feel.
Apparently, we are all moral hypocrites. Recent research indicates that most of us use our emotions to guide our morals and devote considerable time to justifying our morality to fit our emotional state.
No surprising about this work: Conservatives spend a lot of time thinking about sex while liberals think mostly about food.
One look at the Moral Majority could have told you that.
As for me: I still think it possible for people to behave with cool rationality, but only if they exercise extreme effort and realize that emotions are to be compartmentalized instead of followed as the ultimate guide to truth.
No surprising about this work: Conservatives spend a lot of time thinking about sex while liberals think mostly about food.
One look at the Moral Majority could have told you that.
As for me: I still think it possible for people to behave with cool rationality, but only if they exercise extreme effort and realize that emotions are to be compartmentalized instead of followed as the ultimate guide to truth.
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