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The tricky part in my mind is determining what exactly a quality of life issue is in the first place. I know plenty of moderate, sensible drinkers who would co

by adwf 12y ago

The tricky part in my mind is determining what exactly a quality of life issue is in the first place. I know plenty of moderate, sensible drinkers who would consider their quality of life lowered if there were any more restrictions placed on alcohol. It's not just a price issue, but all sorts of things like not being able to buy alcohol on a Sunday, despite not being religious. Or one that I personally still experience from time to time - being asked for ID despite being 12 years over the age limit. These are all quality of life issues in my mind. If we were to solely go on doctors guidelines, life would be pretty boring. No sport - too dangerous. No drinking - too much liver damage. No sailing, no cheerleading, no mountain climbing, etc... There comes a point at which you just have to tell the doctors that it's all well and good pointing out the risks, but ultimately, life is about risks. I can barely see the point in living if we deny ourselves all the slightly risky things just because of the potential downsides. It's cowardice wrapped up in a fresh new label for the modern age.

Argorak 12y ago
This is all covered by standard models of quality of life - including medical ones - to be found everywhere, including wikipedia or in your favourite journal. Any sane doctor won't tell you to stop playing soccer if you like it, even if is a rather dangerous sport in the lower leagues.
Hytosys 12y ago
Maybe your thoughts apply to yourself and you aren't part of the immediate problem, but binge drinking has been known to be the cause/catalyst in incidents involving bystanders (temperament, drunk driving, etc.). To a personal extent, everyone respects free will. That's not the problem. It's certainly on another caliber, but the dissonance actuated in your arguments remind me a lot of anti-vaccine arguments.
Zigurd 12y ago
The threshold for binge drinking described in the article is well into the "I'd be smashed" territory, so there's no alcohol scaremongering in this case. Also things like free-soloing (corrected as per comment below), and for that matter things society frowns on like needle-drug use, are self-limiting and have orders of magnitude less impact than binge drinking. That's where prioritization washes out pursuing ineffective optimizations.
- j_jochem 12y ago
  I suspect that what you understand the word free-climbing to mean is not what it actually refers to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing

by adwf 12y ago

Argorak 12y ago

This is all covered by standard models of quality of life - including medical ones - to be found everywhere, including wikipedia or in your favourite journal. Any sane doctor won't tell you to stop playing soccer if you like it, even if is a rather dangerous sport in the lower leagues.

Hytosys 12y ago

Maybe your thoughts apply to yourself and you aren't part of the immediate problem, but binge drinking has been known to be the cause/catalyst in incidents involving bystanders (temperament, drunk driving, etc.). To a personal extent, everyone respects free will. That's not the problem. It's certainly on another caliber, but the dissonance actuated in your arguments remind me a lot of anti-vaccine arguments.

Zigurd 12y ago

The threshold for binge drinking described in the article is well into the "I'd be smashed" territory, so there's no alcohol scaremongering in this case. Also things like free-soloing (corrected as per comment below), and for that matter things society frowns on like needle-drug use, are self-limiting and have orders of magnitude less impact than binge drinking. That's where prioritization washes out pursuing ineffective optimizations.

j_jochem 12y ago
I suspect that what you understand the word free-climbing to mean is not what it actually refers to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing