Matthew Sparks

@sparksm

BS Behavioral Neuroscience: addiction and addiction treatment armchair-expert with a past toxic relationship with opioids. Aspiring terminal degree holder. Lifelong musician, metalhead, tech nerd and PC gamer, and open-mic night standup comic. Accidentally blew up on YouTube for screaming in my car.

youtube.com

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One thing I'd argue as a starting point is there is no "theory" or a "model" of addiction as a disease. The arguments associated with that claim are actually not that cohesive. A common position associated with addiction as a disease is that it is an essential category, which is an idea we can get our arms around a bit better and which I discuss... See more

Toward a Unified Field Theory of Human Flourishing

Addiction

Tattoo Ideas

Addiction is a brain disease, and it matters - PubMed

A I Leshner pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Addiction and Neuroscience

This is one of the foundational papers that established the more medicalized brain disease model of addiction (which AA and treatment facilities would borrow from, if I were to put it lightly. Hijack is a more appropriate term)

There is no more intoxicating fantasy than to feel extraordinary

I make a mentor out of every man that I meet
A lover out of every person I pass in the street

Impactful Writing, Lyrics, etc.

Knowing is not enough. Knowing too much can encourage us to procrastinate. There's a certain point when continuing to know at the expense of doing allows the mess to grow further

Abby Covert • How to Make Sense of Any Mess

Thought provoking

This is a mess I have both birthed and been consumed by, and now I am watching it consume others from the other side of the fence. They’re too defensive to be heard, but I keep the Faith that they will figure it out. Unfortunately, it’s just a matter of waiting.

The Pudding

pudding.cool

While going through the showcase of pages made using Svelte/Sveltekit, this one that tells stories through data, presented in beautiful, single-page scrolling fashion, was especially memorable. Enough to warrant it being added here.

If you consider yourself a technologist, here’s your imperative: build things that are unabashedly, beautifully tangled into all else in life — people and relationships, politics, emotion and pain, understanding or the lack thereof, being alone, being together, homesickness, adventure, victory, loss. Build things that come alive, and drag... See more

Create things that come alive

Awesome Quotes and Impactful Writing, Lyrics, etc.

Technology can be art; an application can evoke and represent emotion; I can sound like a wanker waxing poetic about the JavaScript I’m writing right now

You should keep a developer’s journal - Stack Overflow

stackoverflow.blog

Programming

Note to self for maintaining direction and a chronology

Another day dragged on into sleepless nights
I wish I knew no stars when the sky grows dark
Each one a reminder of all that we are (All that we are)
And how it fell apart

Monument to every meaningless goodbye
And a purpose I have yet to find
A pale light lingers no matter where I hide
Are you ready for truth and pain to be the same?

The difference between

Lyrics and