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Prevailing explanations are immoral (#739) and false (#742). My theory does not have those flaws from the linked criticisms.
Prevailing explanations do not mention entrenchment. They do not refer to any epistemological concepts. My theory does.
Prevailing explanations (#734) attribute addiction to desensitization. My theory doesn’t do that.
Any explanation of human behavior involving brains and their chemistry can at best be parochial. Since our computers are universal, we know that they could run any algorithm the brain runs. A computer can, in principle – although we don’t yet know how to program it to – run whatever algorithms make a person, including an addict. A computer made of metal and silicon has neither a brain nor hormones nor any other allegedly relevant chemistry, yet it could still simulate an addict. (Here, ‘simulate’ does not mean ‘fake’ or ‘mimic’ – it basically means ‘give rise to’, ‘instantiate’. A computer running such a program would literally contain a person.)
So the prevailing explanation violates computational universality, and with it, the laws of physics.
I think the prevailing explanation is immoral and false. People are not mindless machines executing commands based on their brain chemistry. Nor is their behavior a result of a biological urge to seek rewards and avoid punishment. That is true for animals, but not people.
True and moral (ie, non-dehumanizing) explanations of humans refer to things like minds (not brains), preferences, ideas, and problems. They accurately reflect that a person is a moral agent, meaning he has free will and is responsible for his actions. They do not violate computational universality, nor are they limited to explaining behavior.
My conjecture
Conjecture: addiction is the result of the entrenchment of a conflict between two or more preferences in a mind.
Picture a smoker who wants to give up smoking but also really enjoys smoking. Those preferences conflict.
If the conflict is entrenched, then both preferences get to live on indefinitely. The entrenchment will not let the smoker give up smoking. He becomes a chain smoker.
Conjecture: addiction is the result of the entrenchment of a conflict between two or more preferences in a mind.
Picture a smoker who wants to give up smoking but also really enjoys smoking. Those preferences conflict.
If the conflict is entrenched, then both preferences get to live on indefinitely. The entrenchment will not let the smoker give up smoking. He becomes a chain smoker.
Conjecture: addiction is the result of the entrenchment of a conflict between two or more preferences in a mind.
Picture a chain smoker who wants to give up smoking but also really enjoys smoking. Those preferences conflict.
If the conflict is entrenched, then both preferences get to live on indefinitely.
Conjecture: addiction is the result of the entrenchment of a conflict between two or more preferences in a mind.
I see. It’s the hyphen being followed by a space that threw me off. Did you get that from Dutch? I know German has it, too, but I don’t think English does. ‘Zu series’ might work.
Providing the source doesn’t fix the (potential) copyright violation, if that’s what you’re suggesting.
‘Honduran Supreme Court declares zones for employment and economic development (ZEDEs) unconstitutional’
We will update you on news, events, and do longer form write-ups […]
‘longer-form’
[…] on the projects discussed in the talks, […]
You mentioned the talks in the previous sentence. Remove “discussed in the talks” and instead say ‘discussed projects’ or ‘projects that were discussed’.
[…] as we now have many more news sources we didn’t yet know about.
Don’t explain yourself to your readers. Remove this part.
Not a lawyer but reproducing the entire letter from Próspera ZEDE is presumably a violation of their copyright.
In the coming period, expect us to pick up on many of the talks’ subject matter.
Zu- series of popup projects
That hyphen looks out of place.
The Honduran Supreme Court still needs to publish an explanatory addendum on the passed law to explain how (existing) ZEDEs will be dealt with after this ruling.
Passive voice hides accountability. Who will deal with ZEDEs? Use active voice accordingly.
Prospects for Próspera and other ZEDEs look dire and in a recent post […]
The alliteration threw me off a bit here. And if they’re dire they’re not really prospects. ‘Outlook’ might work better here.
lighter taxes and regulations
‘lower taxes and lighter regulations’ (I don’t think taxes can be ‘light’)
made […] legally possible
Just say ‘legalized’
I now see that the newsletter links to an explanation further down:
ZEDEs are SEZs in Honduras.
But that’s too late. May have already lost readers at that point.
Honduran Supreme Court declares ZEDEs unconstitutional, putting Próspera and other ZEDEs in jeopardy.
Not everyone knows what a “ZEDE” is. Is it an acronym? What does it stand for?
Your subconscious is like a computer […]
She says “like” so the sentence is technically correct, but it would have been better if she had said the subconscious is a program (or an amalgamation of programs). What she’s presumably getting at here is that the subconscious is automatic like a computer and unlike the conscious, which can stop and reflect and criticize and so on.