Episode #237

News Items

Who's That Noisy

  • Answer to last week: Dr. Maurice Hilleman

Question #1 – Addiction

  • Question #1 – Addiction Addictions – the truth behind them Message: Hello SGU! First off, congrats for the awesome podcast – you guys make science news and skepticism extremely entertaining. You’re among the leaders of the skeptic movement, and really mean a lot to us. Even as a student attending Imperial College, a science-only university, I find there is not enough active scientific skepticism being promoted, and you guys are an excellent resource of clarity and reason. Anyways, I was having a discussion with a friend over addictions, in particular substance abuse like alcohol. He was arguing that, ultimately, it is a choice that the addict makes and that it is not a real ‘disease’ as such. I’m undecided on this issue, being wary of the bullcrap that Alcoholics Anonymous, amongst other organizations, feeds their members in order to turn them into born-again Christians, but at the same time I don’t feel the issue is as simple as that. Since Dr. Novella’s specialization is neuroscience, how akin to a ‘real’ disease is alcoholism and other substance? In your opinion should other, ‘milder’ addictions (non-chemically driven ones like, say, videogame addiction) be also considered ‘addictions’ or are they simply choices that the person chooses not to make? Is there even a scientific consensus on these issues? Thanks very much for reading, I wish you all the very best. Hopefully I’ll make it down to a skeptics in the pub in London and get to meet Rebecca (!!), in the meantime thank you so much for all the hard work you put into this and keep on making the awesome podcast! Mike Lara London, UK

Science or Fiction

Skeptical Quote of the Week.