Tag: addiction

Gabor Mate: Brain Development and Addiction (1h5m)

Skyler J. Collins (Editor)

This episode features a talk by Canadian physician and addiction expert Gabor Mate from 2009. Drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, compulsive work habits, sexual seeking or spending: what is amiss with our lives that we seek such destructive ways to comfort ourselves? And why is it so difficult to stop these habits, even as they threaten our health, jeopardize our relationships and corrode our spirits?

Seeing Our Addictions & Don’t Be a Slave (29m) – Episode 033

Skyler J. Collins (Editor)

Episode 033 looks at two Stoic topics: the first from Seneca who wrote, “We must give up many things to which we are addicted, considering them to be good. Otherwise, courage will vanish, which should continually test itself. Greatness of soul will be lost, which can’t stand out unless it disdains as petty what the mob regards as most desirable.”; and the second from Demetrius the Cynic who wrote, “If I cherish my body, I make a slave of myself, if I cherish my property, I make a slave of myself; because I’ve disclosed the means to make me captive.”; also a story of devastation experienced by Skyler due to his attachment to some of his property.

David’s Journey & Foster Parenting (49m) – Episode 371

Skyler J. Collins (Editor)

Episode 371 welcomes David Scholes to the podcast to chat with Skyler on the following topics: what becoming foster parents entails; why he and his wife chose to become foster parents; initial and interval requirements to being a foster parent; where foster kids come from and some trouble cases he’s seen; why he adopted his son out of his foster care; abuses in the system; how being a foster parent can be rewarding; video game “addiction” and what’s really going on there; the free range kids phenomenon; protecting himself from illnesses like COVID-19 through his ketogenic dieting, 5 years on; and more.

Reflections on the Krikorian-Caplan Soho Forum Debate

Bryan Caplan

Thanks again to Gene Epstein and Reason for sponsoring last week’s immigration debate between myself and Mark Krikorian.  Thanks to Mark, too, for debating before an unsympathetic audience.  The resolution, you may recall, was: The current pandemic makes it all the more necessary for the federal government to tighten restrictions on immigration. Here are my extra thoughts on the exchange.

Politics is Still Stupid

Isaac Morehouse

The combination of Public Choice theory, which explains how politics works and why it doesn’t, and understanding social change, plus lived experience of working in politics, policy, education, and finally entrepreneurship have made it abundantly clear to me that politics is at best a ridiculous spectator sport. At worst a terrible addiction that makes you an asshole and a moron all at once.

The Fault Is Not in Our Stuff But in Ourselves

Bryan Caplan

Bruce Sacerdote‘s NBER Working Paper, “Fifty Years of Growth in American Consumption, Income, and Wages” provides a nice update on the measurement of CPI Bias.  The punchline should be obvious, but it’s great to hear such an eminent economist say it: “Meaningful growth in consumption for below median income families has occurred even in a prolonged period of increasing income inequality, increasing consumption inequality and a decreasing share of national income accruing to labor.”