[leeloo]

The damn shame is that the underlying cause is so obvious, and yet the solution still so far from the grasp of most of us. These degens are looking to activate the oldest, most fundamental part of our brain: the limbic system, more specifically the amygdala. What does the amygdala influence in us, you ask? The processing and memory of emotional responses, sexual orientation and libido, social interaction, substance abuse and our overall ability to feel pleasure. Gee, doesn't that sound like the laundry list for common SBR-izen dysfunctions?

These poor bastards, like Moyal and Brock Landers, that we see flailing about year after year, they're just throwbacks to a time when human life was naturally full of a lot more struggles and triumphs. They were meant to be living in the Middle Ages, scraping by as a vassal to some feudal Lord or engaged as foot-soldiers in some Army, faced with death and the risk of ruin on a regular basis. In order to function optimally, they need those frequent swings from defeat to victory and back again. The Modern Age simply has nothing to offer in comparison to that, our struggles are much more subtle and our ruinous events are often tied to losing all our money and not our lives.

That's why these guys have to gamble to feel alive, that risk of losing everything is the only thing scary enough to get their neurotransmitters flowing and make them feel alive short of committing capital crimes and risking the death penalty. Human history being such a reliable cycle, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. In every occasion where the nature of human life shifts drastically, there have always been those that can't manage the adaptation. Centuries ago, it would only last a generation or two due to the effects that struggling to survive has on reproduction/attractiveness to potential mates. Now, sadly, it drags on for many generations thanks to the welfare state and its unintended side effect of propping up those who simply aren't well suited to the times in which they live.

Personally, I pray that neuropharmacology finds a treatment for them soon, because it's absolutely disgusting to watch them live like that, and it's likely to be the real underpinning of the global recession that we'll be mired in until a solution is found.

Once in a while there's something worth reading on this forum.