Further to “New Scientist embraces politics,” we also learn, from Alice Klein at New Scientist,
The love drug that could draw people away from any addiction: The “cuddle chemical” oxytocin boosts social bonds. Soon a version of it will be tested in pill form to see if it can reset the brain wiring that gets us hooked
Would it be possible to reverse substance addiction by switching the brain back from drug-chasing mode to social mode? If McGregor’s hunch was right, this could be the silver bullet – a universal treatment for all addictions at once. (paywall) More.
Prediction: The love drug won’t work because addiction is more than about finding love; it is about finding power, death, excuses, and escapes from reality or anything else the diseased human heart desires at the expense of itself. It could only “work” by becoming another drug, with the same consequences.
The 12-Step programs make way more sense. They are rooted in traditional thinking, do not care exactly why you became addicted, and make no claim to be science. But they have helped countless people for next to nothing.
These New Scientist people need to go away on a retreat and think some things out. What is science, really? What are science media anyway?
See also: New Scientist embraces politics: “an enlightened world view that we strongly advocate” Oh dear. That kind of prose is a symptom of the onset of deadly dullness. Take heart! There is surely an Anonymous group for the addicts of politics.