Could you help end news/TV enjoyment with this method? Take and then watch TV, play video games, browse reddit/CNN/etc. End political identity biases? Take and then go to a political party meeting, religious service or read a bunch of politically charged information. Food cravings? Take and stuff your face with ice cream and greasy mexican food. Dirty gossip? Take and gossip about who your friends have slept with, who hates who, etc.
Do any of these activites involve the endorphine mechanism related to drug use that it’s used for currently? Are you suggesting that this is a possible ticket to becoming a LessWrong superhero?
I don’t know. There’s no certain reason it shouldn’t work, but I could see a couple of possible sticking points.
Alcoholism’s a much more simple chemical addiction than some of the others. I don’t know if those are mediated by opioids, dopamine, or something else entirely (though it would be worth study). And if it works, without some countermethod like the one Roko’s hinting at in his comment, you’re going to kill your ability to enjoy everything you currently enjoy without gaining any new enjoyment of anything else, which sounds as likely to leave you depressed as superproductive.
Oh, and the alcoholics have to take the drug before each time they drink alcohol, even if it’s twenty years after the finish the original course and they’ve been sober the whole time. Otherwise they get the reinforcement and the alcoholism starts to return. So I doubt anyone could practically arrange to take a tablet a half hour before each time they think about in-group politics.
In a few years I might be in a better position to actually do some experiments with this stuff, at which point I’ll report back.
The End of My Addiction is by a cardiologist who became an alcoholic and eventually found that Baclofen, an muscle relaxant, eliminated his craving for alcohol and surprisingly, his compulsive shopping.
His theory is that alcoholism is an effort to feel normal—taking away the pleasure from the alcohol isn’t a good solution.
I’ve heard good things about baclofen too, but I haven’t looked at in in depth. If you’ve read that book, I’d be really interested in seeing a post about the science behind it.
Could you help end news/TV enjoyment with this method? Take and then watch TV, play video games, browse reddit/CNN/etc. End political identity biases? Take and then go to a political party meeting, religious service or read a bunch of politically charged information. Food cravings? Take and stuff your face with ice cream and greasy mexican food. Dirty gossip? Take and gossip about who your friends have slept with, who hates who, etc.
Do any of these activites involve the endorphine mechanism related to drug use that it’s used for currently? Are you suggesting that this is a possible ticket to becoming a LessWrong superhero?
I don’t know. There’s no certain reason it shouldn’t work, but I could see a couple of possible sticking points.
Alcoholism’s a much more simple chemical addiction than some of the others. I don’t know if those are mediated by opioids, dopamine, or something else entirely (though it would be worth study). And if it works, without some countermethod like the one Roko’s hinting at in his comment, you’re going to kill your ability to enjoy everything you currently enjoy without gaining any new enjoyment of anything else, which sounds as likely to leave you depressed as superproductive.
Oh, and the alcoholics have to take the drug before each time they drink alcohol, even if it’s twenty years after the finish the original course and they’ve been sober the whole time. Otherwise they get the reinforcement and the alcoholism starts to return. So I doubt anyone could practically arrange to take a tablet a half hour before each time they think about in-group politics.
In a few years I might be in a better position to actually do some experiments with this stuff, at which point I’ll report back.
A different angle on alcoholism
The End of My Addiction is by a cardiologist who became an alcoholic and eventually found that Baclofen, an muscle relaxant, eliminated his craving for alcohol and surprisingly, his compulsive shopping.
His theory is that alcoholism is an effort to feel normal—taking away the pleasure from the alcohol isn’t a good solution.
I’ve heard good things about baclofen too, but I haven’t looked at in in depth. If you’ve read that book, I’d be really interested in seeing a post about the science behind it.
I didn’t remember enough to answer your question, but I found a summary, with self-experimentation anecdotes in the comments.