Thread

1. zug_zug · 1790700477 · focus · HN ↗

   Somebody said (I think it was FrostPrime) roughly: Gambling is genuinely the scariest drug, I actually think it's worse than cocaine and it's just right there on your phone.

   I think that really framed the issue well to me. Imagine having an addiction problem and having to carry the problem substance around with you 24/7.

   1. IAmGraydon · 1790710690 · focus · HN ↗

      When a gambling addict spends money on a bet, they're actually spending that money on a moment of hope. After the bet is placed but before the cards fall, they can live in a place where there is at least a possibility that they can make enough money to escape their problems. That moment of possibility is experienced as hope, and it's a feeling that's truly addictive to the hopeless.

      It's scary like all addiction, but particularly sad at its core.

      1. xdavidliu · 1790720008 · focus · HN ↗

         i've always wondered at the intimate relation between risk, dopamine, anticipation, and utility. I'm not an expert and only going by amateur armchair observation, but i suspect that evolution has spent a lot of attention on the problem of non-guaranteed rewards, and the phenomenon of gambling addiction is merely a reflection of that, just like how that of adhd is a reflection of ancient humans needing to be overly alert for subtle signs of danger (or something like that, not an expert)

         That "live in a place with possibility" surely triggers the anticipation part of dopamine (which is what it really is, more so than the pleasure part). Dopamine is also intimately connected to movement: i.e. the shakes for people with neurological conditions as well as addicts going through withdrawal or about to relapse.

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