Why We Do What We Do

The disease model of addiction is a popular philosophical approach to dependency. The idea is to remove fault and blame from the addicted individual. Further, there are a lot of parallels between addiction and illness. However, there are some drawbacks to conceptualizing addiction as a disease. We talk through the benefits and our reservations about using the disease framework for understanding disease. 

Recommendations

• Abraham: Cutco Knives (https://www.cutco.com/)
• Shane: Godzilla x Kong: New Empire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14539740/)

Links and References: 

1. https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/research-studies/addiction-research/brain-disease-model
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5672554/
3. https://drugfree.org/article/is-addiction-a-disease/#:~:text=The%20disease%20model%20of%20addiction,-Addiction%20is%20defined&text=These%20include%20behavioral%2C%20psychological%2C%20environmental,developing%20a%20substance%20use%20disorder.
4. https://www.americanbrainfoundation.org/diseases/#:~:text=Brain%20disease%20affects%20millions%20worldwide,traumatic%20brain%20injury%2C%20and%20more.
5. https://www.cbhic.com/post/what-are-the-three-major-models-of-addiction
6. https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/understanding-addiction/0/steps/245163#:~:text=The%20common%20core%20assumptions%20of,is%20the%20defining%20observable%20pathology.
7. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/disease-model#:~:text=While%20the%20disease%20model%20was,formalized%20largely%20in%20the%201980s.

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Alcohol dependency is a complicated condition that has killed a staggering number of people. Fortinuately, many people have banded together to support one another through behavior changes to reinvent their life without this dependency. One such program truly dominates the known landscape of addiction interventions: Alcoholics Anonymous. Yet, the effectiveness of the AA program and the "active ingredient" in its method have remained shrouded in ambiguity for nearly a century. Recent scientific research has finally begun to reveal the evidence around Alcoholics Anonymous as an intervention for dependency. 

Recommendations

• Abraham: The Creator (https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/the-creator) John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Allison Janney
• Shane: Ghostbusters - Frozen Empire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21235248/) 

Links and Referenes: 

1. https://doi.org/10.1080/j.1440-1614.2005.01600.x
2. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.1996.57.65
3. https://doi.org/10.1080/10550880902772464
4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2007.07.014
5. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD005032.pub2
6. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous/386255/
7. 10.1007/978-1-4899-1678-5_3
8. https://www.avenuesrecovery.com/blog/why-aa-is-harmful/
9. https://www.practicalrecovery.com/aas-dominance-in-the-us-is-harmful/
10. https://www.sanctuary.net/blog/whats-wrong-with-alcoholics-anonymous/
11. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/26/395310213/critic-faults-alcoholics-anonymous-for-lack-of-evidence
12. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/aa-is-faith-based-not-evidence-based/
13. https://www.sossobriety.org/
14. https://alcohol.org/alcoholics-anonymous/alternatives-to-the-aa-approach/
15. https://www.verywellmind.com/secular-alcohol-and-drug-rehab-programs-67702
16. https://www.aa.org/twelve-steps-twelve-traditions
17. https://recoveryfirst.org/alcohol-abuse/how-does-a-a-work/
18. https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/how-effective-is-alcoholics-anonymous
19. https://theconversation.com/does-alcoholics-anonymous-actually-work-179665
20. https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/alcoholism7.htm?srch_tag=nsfk6pbgbpwfrd2thlmtrzgl5tu35jso
21. https://people.howstuffworks.com/serenity-prayer.htm?srch_tag=nsfk6pbgbpwfrd2thlmtrzgl5tu35jso
22. https://www.columbusrecoverycenter.com/alcohol-addiction/history-of-aa/
23. https://youtu.be/aZIDCMbJZ-g?si=VLIxyoxZ1ToVILZI

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Most people are only one or two nodes away from someone who has struggled with some sort of addiction, or may struggle themselves. But what is this phenomenon? The definition has been tricky to pin down because addiction can span chemicals to behaviors, can go undetected or be overt, and can have seemingly creep up out of nowhere. But what all addiction has in common is harm to the user. We are embarking on an odyssey of episodes to explore the many facets of addiction from philosophy to intervention. Today is just the beginning. 

If you are somone you know is struggling with suicide or crisis, call 988. 

Recommendations

• Abraham: Five Nights at Freddy’s (https://www.fivenightsatfreddys.movie/) 
• Shane: Chamblin Bookmine (https://www.chamblinbookmine.com/)

Links and References: 

1. https://www.asam.org/quality-care/definition-of-addiction
2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addiction
3. https://dictionary.apa.org/brain-disorder
4. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-misuse-addiction
5. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/6407-addiction
6. https://drugabusestatistics.org/
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5328289/#:~:text=The%20DSM%2D5%20specifically%20lists,%3B%20stimulants%3B%20and%20tobacco).
8. https://diamondrehabthailand.com/addiction-types/
9. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/drug-addiction-genes-environment
10. https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/genes#:~:text=The%20A1%20form%20(allele)%20of,than%20normal%E2%80%94especially%20under%20stress.

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Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Have you thought about what you'll do if a significant disaster destroys most of humankind? Perhaps you've prepared for the zombie apocalypse or a nuclear winter. What will humans do if we are faced with end times? We look through the history of extinction-level natural disasters that nearly killed off all humans and how we somehow pulled through... and what this tells us about what to expect if we are faced with yet another world-ending catastrophe. 

Recommendations

• Abraham: Apiary (https://stonemaiergames.com/games/apiary/)
• Shane: Pacific Rim (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/)

Links and References: 

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-ancestors-nearly-went-extinct-900-000-years-ago/
2. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq7487
3. https://www.history.com/news/prehistoric-ancestors-population-decline
4. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/how-long-humans-survive-zombie-apocalypse-scientists-a7513941.html
5. https://nypost.com/2017/01/05/no-one-would-actually-survive-a-zombie-apocalypse/
6. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/five-apocalypses-humanity-has-survived
7. https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22514/1/2308Ramadams.pdf
8. https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/ppt/CERC_Psychology_of_a_Crisis.pdf

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This re-run updates a previous episode on our musings about what aphantasia is, and the purpose of diagnoses. This condition describes people who can't see with their mind's eye. But, what does that mean? How would you know? Do we have aphantasia? Do you? We'll never know.

Recommendations

• Abraham? Project Ironside (https://ironsidegametable.com/)
• Shane: Electric Shark Tattoo (https://electricsharktattoo.com/)

Links and References

1. Arcangeli, M. Aphantasia demystified. Synthese 201, 31 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-022-04027-9
2. https://aphantasia.com/article/science/visualisers-fallacy/
3. Milton, F., Fulford, J., Dance, C., Gaddum, J., Heuerman-Williamson, B., Jones, K., Knight, K. F., MacKisack, M., Winlove, C., & Zeman, A. (2021). Behavioral and Neural Signatures of Visual Imagery Vividness Extremes: Aphantasia versus Hyperphantasia. Cerebral cortex communications, 2(2), tgab035. https://doi.org/10.1093/texcom/tgab035

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

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Psychologists and philosophers speculated for centuries trying to understand how the conscious experience of the mind relates to the physical substrate of the body. Is the mind just the process of our gooey brains, or something more? It's our brains. But we'll unpack it all.


Recommendations

• Abraham: The Fox Experiment (https://pandasaurusgames.com/products/the-fox-experiment)
• Shane: Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub (https://stephenking.com/works/novel/black-house.html)

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Links:

1. 1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/mind-body-problem#:~:text=The%20mind%2Dbody%20problem%20is,of%20physical%20phenomena%20or%20not.
   2. https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/23115/what-does-the-mind-body-problem-mean#:~:text=The%20mind%2Dbody%20problem%20is%20essentially%20the%20question%20of%20whether,the%20same%20thing%20(the%20way
   3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2254848
   4. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9780470514412.ch1
   5. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-46742-4_13
   6. https://philpapers.org/rec/GARHBA

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Technical and professional jargon can be furstratingly opaque and many professionals lament the frequent use of technical speak. However, there is a benefit to technical jargon and neologisms and times that are appropriate for employing this type of communication. We also translate some common behavior analyst terms (behaviorese) into more readily understandable language. Where do you fall on this issue?

Vocab: Neologism

Recommendations

• Abraham: The Big Sick (https://www.primevideo.com/detail/The-Big-Sick/0NYI65XXK4H2JU4KN108U2NACU)
• Shane: Uno: Show ‘Em No Mercy (https://shop.mattel.com/products/uno-show-em-no-mercy-hwv18)

References:

1. Friman PC. There is no such thing as a bad boy: The Circumstances View of problem behavior. J Appl Behav Anal. 2021 Apr;54(2):636-653. doi: 10.1002/jaba.816. Epub 2021 Feb 11. PMID: 33570187.
2. https://behavioralobservations.com/how-to-disseminate-behavior-analytic-technologies-inside-jaba-18-with-dorothea-lerman
3. Lindsley, O. R. (1991). From technical jargon to plain English for application. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24(3), 449-458. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1991.24-449

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Kids these days...but what does that mean? Have kids changed over time? Many people believe that there is something to say about the different "generations." Indeed, each generation experiences similar world events during the impressionable years of youth. What then can we expect from Baby Boomers, Millenials, or Gen Z? We take a skeptical and scientific look at the characteristic features of the behavior of people born during certain eras.

Recommendations

• Abraham: The Green Knight (https://a24films.com/films/the-green-knight)
• Shane: Megacon 2024

Links and References:

1. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,856950,00.html?ref=journeymatters.ai
2. https://journeymatters.ai/7-generations/
3. https://www.iberdrola.com/talent/generation-x-y-z
4. https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/ms-in-human-resource-management/what-are-the-best-work-traits-of-each-generation
5. http://www.wmfc.org/uploads/generationaldifferenceschart.pdf
6. https://genhq.com/the-generations-hub/generational-faqs/
7. https://imagine.jhu.edu/blog/2022/11/17/the-changing-generational-values/
8. https://web.archive.org/web/20190328230347/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19690752/daily_press/
9. https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/generation-myth-why-when-you-are-born-matters-less-than-you-think-bobby-duffy/
10. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/22/5-things-to-keep-in-mind-when-you-hear-about-gen-z-millennials-boomers-and-other-generations/
11. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/09/03/the-whys-and-hows-of-generations-research/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Down Syndrome is a genetic condition with some characteristic features and complications. We explain how this condition occurs, the history, features of the diagnosis, and treatment. Do you know someone with Down Syndrome? Join us in our celebration of a diverse group of people united by their genetic variation.

Recommendations

• Abraham: Self Reliance (https://www.hulu.com/movie/self-reliance-b530df17-e123-4174-8d4d-75e6f422468f)
• Shane: Archers of Loaf - Seconds Before the Accident (https://www.discogs.com/release/1364075-Archers-Of-Loaf-Seconds-Before-The-Accident)

Links and References:

1. https://ndss.org/about
2. https://dsfamilynetwork.org/
3. https://dsnetworkaz.org/
4. https://www.dsnnn.org/
5. https://www.dsdiagnosisnetwork.org/
6. https://youtu.be/NPmU0JS5PqY?si=FyiNaGjvyUbKZ9PJ
7. https://www.champaigndsn.org/
8. Ataman, A. D., Vatanoğlu-Lutz, E. E., & Yıldırım, G. (2012). Medicine in stamps: history of Down syndrome through philately. Journal of the Turkish German Gynecological Association, 13(4), 267–269. https://doi.org/10.5152/jtgga.2012.43

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

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Unions are grouops of employees who band together to form an allied unit that works to support its members in a work environment. This usually results in bargaining for higher wages for union members. Companies have long despised unions for this reason. Right to work laws state that their intended purpose is to give employees the option to opt out of unions if they don't want to participate. We explore what this means for employees and employers and unions and the history.

Recommendations

• Abraham: Project Hail Mary (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611060/project-hail-mary-by-andy-weir/)
• Shane: Ghostbusters: The Video Game (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters:_The_Video_Game)

Links:

1. https://aflcio.org/issues/right-work
2. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/righttowork-law.asp
3. https://www.nlrb.gov/guidance/key-reference-materials/national-labor-relations-act
4. https://www.nrtw.org/right-to-work-frequently-asked-questions/
5. https://www.epi.org/publication/right-to-work-states-have-lower-wages/
6. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/understanding-workers-financial-wellbeing-in-states-with-right-to-work-laws-20230908.html

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast