Evidence that addictive behaviors have links with ancient retroviral infection

There is some interesting research distinguishing "wanting" from "liking" behavior that is worth checking out. They are distinct neurochemical processes - addicts may "want" to engage in a behaviour due to dopamine reward circuitry but this is distinct from whether they actually "like" doing this. Animal models have been effective at teasing out the different neurochemical correlates of behavior.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27977239

Also one of my favourites. You might enjoy this story also https://zerohplovecraft.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/the-gig-eco...

Don't worry, I appreciate your care but don't mind "an attack against my interpretation" :-)

It seems that I will have to introduce the actual Buddhist (Nyingma/Bön Dzogchen) non-duality interpretation of this in a more or less simplified way to make it (including the "We are all Kosh" part) more clear but be warned, it may sound a way too bizarre. I don't insist it's true and my initial intention was to leave it for the people interested in going this way to discover on themselves as it makes little if any sense before the experience. Ready? The "true self" you can directly perceive this way is just one for every sentient being (my true self = your true self, "by reference" not just "by value", it's the same object, not just same class) and it is kind of the absolute, the only thing that actually exists, everything else (including our feelings and beliefs (our ego), bodies, cars, events and everything) is an emanation of it, like a wave on the surface of a lake. The idea of everything being just an emanation of yourself seems less weird or even rationally obvious if you apply this to "everything in your dreams" but the real life is considered to be a phenomenon of little fundamental difference from a dream. I am not a real guru and may probably explain the things wrong so whoever interested should better watch a lecture of the actual Buddhist (Bön) teacher[1] (it's rather fun, easy to listen and made as free of any religious mumbo-jumbo as possible, the chant in the beginning is very short but the guided meditation that follows the introductory speech is important).

Obviously, the interpretation of a skeptic materialist capable to experience this "true self" and observe their ego is going to be it hardly has anything to do with any kind of absolute and probably is not a real object (needless to say shared between everybody) but just a sort of feeling produced by our bodies.

I believe neither of these interpretations can be rationally proven correct or wrong (it's a transcendental matter) but regardless to which one do you stick to it seems fairly easy to recognize that your feelings, your beliefs, your addictions, your DNA and dopamine receptors are you in the same degree as your left hand thumb is.

Keeping consciously aware of this as constantly as possible may gift a person with an amazing level of emotional balance and having the direct experience of "the true self" can strengthen it to an incredible level (and as a bonus probably let you actually feel less pain when it hurts physically[2]). Deep recognition of the Buddhist interpretation ("rigpa") also gives an awesome sense of union with everybody and everything, blissful presence in every single moment and sets your free of sorrow and worrying.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frQVcizEkmI

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17935554

I think chaos theory suffices to establish your second sentence, without needing to bring in quantum mechanics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

The ancient Egyptians liked cats, and considering the effect T. Gondi has on males[1] (higher Testosotorone & dominance) and females[2] (submissiveness), this could have been a reason why they worshipped cats. It could also be considered an early example of a biological weapon used on sections of population.

With regard to addictive behaviour, some research has suggested addictions are neuro amine addictions, ie andrenaline, dopamine & serotonin. Cocaine for example last in the body for upto 2hrs and amplifies dopamine and serotonin, so being addicted to feeling good is understandable, however serotonin also plays a part in the innate immune system and the association between depression and illness has also long been known. The medical profession SSRI's inhibit the uptake of serotonin in the brain, which reduces the brains ability to convert it into melatonin (4x more potent than Vit C), plus not much can cross the blood brain barrier so the adapative immune can not work in the brain, eyes, gonads, ovaries. So whilst SSRI's can make you feel good, like everything in life it can also have its side effects because we are a bundle of realtime complex pathways oscillating in time and space.

One other point of risk taking behaviour, some of you may have noticed when you feel like you are going down with something like a cold or flu, you may also feel the need to procreate before the illness takes hold. This would suggest an evolutionary response to pass on genes, but excessive amounts of chemicals which can harm the body can also cause this behaviour as well, illegal drugs & alcohol being examples. ie did you know that smokers have elevated levels of copper in their blood stream? This is probably due to the need to deal with the risk of foreign bodies coming into the blood stream through the lungs, but copper and iron is also required to prevent anemia, which in turn is required to make red blood cells, plus its also known that elite atheletes, people living at high altitude and smokers have enlarged red blood cells. Plus smoking can also be a form of self medication if an asthma inhaler is not available, asthma being a type of allergic reaction to debris or pathogens inhaled, most commonly being from pets or pollution. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17435678 [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17435678