Over 600 blog readers took a shot at guessing what Gary Becker thinks the most addictive thing on Earth is.
Lots of folks threw out things like crack and caffeine, but do you really think I’m going to offer a blog quiz with an obvious answer?
While not the answer I was looking for, there was something poetic about Deb‘s guess:
A yawn. A smile. Salt.
Before I give the answer, it is worth thinking about what it means for a good to be addictive. At least the way I think about it, an addictive thing has the following characteristics:
1) Once you start consuming it, you want to consume more and more of it.
2) Over time you build up a tolerance to it, i.e. you get less enjoyment out of consuming a fixed amount of it.
3) Pursuit of that good leads you to sacrifice everything else in your life to get it, potentially leading you to do ridiculous things to try to get the good.
4) There is a period of withdrawal when you stop consuming the good.
No doubt alcohol and crack cocaine fit that description well. In Becker’s view, however, there is something even more addictive than substances: people.
When he first said this, it sounded kind of crazy to me. What does it mean to say that people are addictive?
Then I thought more about it, and I think he is right. Falling in love is the ultimate addiction. There is no question that in the early stages of attraction, spending a little bit of time with someone makes you desperately want more. Infatuation can be all-encompassing, and people will do anything to make a relationship blossom. They will risk everything and often end up looking utterly foolish. Once in a relationship, however, the utility one derives from time with the beloved diminishes. The heady excitement of courtship gives way to something much more mundane. Even if a relationship isn’t that good, for at least one of the parties there is a painful withdrawal period.
To get the exact answer I was looking for took until comment number 343, when Bobo responded “Other People.” Many others were close. Jeff (comment 13) said “Society or human companionship.” Laura (comment 47) said “Love.”
I’ll declare all three of them winners.
So what do you think? Is Gary Becker right or wrong?
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I am sure it depends on how you consume them.
I was very close. I said assuming food is not addiction it would be love or power. I think I gave two answers when only one was required. Besides, Laura said it much earlier.
No offense, but that sounds pretty banal to me. Unless he’s got some sort of evidence to back him up, that doesn’t make sense. Unless Gary becker has been addicted to drugs, his opinion doesn’t count for squat here.
You go tell a crack addict that people are more addictive, and see what they say mkay? Yeah. It’s patently absurd, since people frequently give up the people closest to them in exchange for drugs, and that’s even with modern options for curing drug dependencies.
It makes sense in an odd sort of way, but it’s not equally true for everybody.
First of all, “consume”? A “good”?
I have a problem with those words when referring to people. Perhaps you could argue that we consume companionship, but that’s a bit of a stretch.
But more importantly, I think the definition is crucially lacking. You not only develop a tolerance to an addictive good, but you continue your desperate pursuit for the good DESPITE YOUR REDUCED ENJOYMENT CONSUMING IT.
I don’t think you could argue that once you’ve built up your tolerance to a loved one and don’t derive the enjoyment from them anymore, that you’d still continue to pursue them with vigor. You conveniently conflated the distinct experiences of falling in and out of love. Yes, there may be withdrawal, but not the compulsive continuation of consumption without enjoyment.
I don’t think the withdrawal is true withdrawal, either. What we suffer when we separate from a loved one is legitimate loss. Loss of future expected gains, the sting of sunk costs and the realization of opportunity costs wasted, etc. I hate to be so unromantic, but love and companionship are investments. They are not consumed the way an addictive good is.
Love may bring you to sacrifice everything, but it is not for the sake of consuming that love and moving on. It is for the sake of reaping the rewards going forward.
Certainly the most universal addiction. Sorry, not the most addictive thing as judged by the criteria of how hard it is to kick. Lack of people or a person in ones life doesn’t usually result in MAJOR physical consequences of withdrawal. While the addiction process as related to relationships is a major component of ALL peoples lives it cannot compare to the pain and frustration and destructive behavior I see associated with drugs and alcohol on an individual basis. People will kill you for the five bucks in your pocket to get more meth.
Hippie-dippie wank. I like #3′s analysis: go ask a crack addict or a late-stage alcoholic if he would prefer the companionship of other people, or if he’d prefer a loaded pipe and a forty of Steel Reserve.
so the answer is Soylent Green?