My new avatar explained

[Duty]

You may well be right in a way RE habits of all kinds having "useful" roots, but I would argue that's basically irrelevant in the here and now due to the fact we live in an environment which modifies and interacts with our biological drives and so to separate the one from the other (innate drives vs environmental influence) on this topic would be unrealistic.

I think that if your position is to accept things as they are that's fine. But if you want to fix the discrepancy it is much more easier to alter the environment than alter our nature.

There's this thing called "changing one's mind about how one behaves" through nothing more than information/education/therapy - you might have heard of it? No need to change the "environment" per se...or perhaps you think we are immutable creations of God who are incapable of changing in any way?

There is nothing unrealistic about changing the environment to improve our habits. That's what we're best at. To keep with the food example, knowing that satiety is deactivated by availability, you can modify your local environment to prevent overeating. Perhaps you can divide a large bag of chips into smaller bags, so your brain gets the satisfaction of finishing a bag without it being a large family pack. Or simply avoid buying excess food, so that theres less available at your house in the first place.

Force the corner shop to close...and the one just round the corner...and the 24 hour off licence...and the local yardy crack dealer etc ad absurdum?

My Bold - if it were really that easy do you not think such a practice would be in operation? Me, I can munch through 6 25g bags of crisps (chips) in an evening no probs so....colour me skeptical.

[John 6IX Breezy]

There's this thing called "changing one's mind about how one behaves" through nothing more than information/education/therapy - you might have heard of it? No need to change the "environment" per se...or perhaps you think we are immutable creations of God who are incapable of changing in any way?

Force the corner shop to close...and the one just round the corner...and the 24 hour off licence...and the local yardy crack dealer etc ad absurdum?

My Bold - if it were really that easy do you not think such a practice would be in operation? Me, I can munch through 6 25g bags of crisps (chips) in an evening no probs so....colour me skeptical.

In theory, all behaviors are possible to change depending on how extreme you're willing to go (since drugs and lobotomies are always an option).

The best way to find a solution, however, is to understand what is driving the problem. In a Pew Poll (2006, p. 3) 73% of people answered that convenience was the main reason why people in the U.S. eat junk food whereas not knowing which foods are healthy received only 14% of votes. From this data (and ignoring what we know about behavior) we can see that education would not be a very effective solution. Most people already know eating burgers and French fries is not very good. In contrast, changing the environment and the convenience of fast food would target the problem more accurately.

[no one]

Thank you, I will finally be able to sleep now.

[Porcupine]

To the OP: I accept your premise but not your conclusion.

I agree that we shouldn't accept the toxicity within us but I don't see how the conclusion is "fuck the yin-yang".