tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501253.post114117453114880455..comments2023-10-07T06:50:50.327-04:00Comments on Do Cats Eat Bats?: Pause Reaches 1 Year MarkSteve Petersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00379811212810268091noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501253.post-1141331545539517642006-03-02T15:32:00.000-05:002006-03-02T15:32:00.000-05:00I agree but I wonder if maybe I just can't appreci...I agree but I wonder if maybe I just can't appreciate what it's like to have a compulsion. I see these psychologists come on TV and talk about addictive personalities and so on and feel like I should leave open the possibility that others have different experiences.<BR/><BR/>And I don't know what a compulsion would be like either. I expect it would be something like an urge -- perhaps the way one is suddenly hit with a need for a certain kind of food, or maybe the kind of emotional turmoil one experiences when a relationship revs up and we do things that we wouldn't ordinarily do because of all the hormones.<BR/><BR/>Similarly, Jaru definitely has different emotional reactions based on the state of her hormones, and this leads to behavior that she'll come back later and say that she'd rather not have done. So it does seem that we have some examples of how this process might work -- but, perhaps, many of us are fortunate enough to only be faced with desires, and not compulsions.Steve Petersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00379811212810268091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501253.post-1141213203449357092006-03-01T06:40:00.000-05:002006-03-01T06:40:00.000-05:00Steve - Very glad to hear you've given up smoking ...Steve - Very glad to hear you've given up smoking (or are on a long break). <BR/><BR/>For me, the big question with addiction is whether this counter-factual is true: "They could have chosen not to keep taking the drug". If it's true then it's just a question of having the will power (sure, maybe a lot of will power, but still will power). If the counter-factual is not true then addiction is something I have no understanding of at all. <BR/><BR/>I'm inclined to think that its more a question of how good one is at controlling desire than how uncontrollable one's desires are. (If that makes any sense at all). People conquer addiction when the alternatives to drugs finally seem better to them.danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11544922228359443493noreply@blogger.com