It’s obvious. We all know it: Heroin causes heroin addiction.

其實挺明顯的，我們大家都知道－海洛英導致海洛英上癮。

Here’s how it works: If you use heroin for 20 days, by day 21, your body would physically crave the drug ferociously because there are chemical hooks in the drug.

原理是這樣的：如果你連續注射海洛英20天，到了第21天你的身體就會強烈地渴望海洛英，因為海洛英的化學成分會讓你上隱。

That's what addiction means. But there's a catch. Almost everything we think we know about addiction is wrong.

上癮就是這個意思。但這裡有一個問題。幾乎所有我們認為對「癮」的了解幾乎都是錯誤的。

If you, for example, break your hip, you'll be taken to a hospital, and you'll be given loads of diamorphine for weeks or even months.

比如說，如果你的髖關節骨折了，你就會被送往醫院，並在數週甚至數月的時間內被注射大量的二乙醯嗎啡。

Diamorphine is heroin. It's, in fact, much stronger heroin than any addict can get on the street, because it's not contaminated by all the stuff drug dealers dilute it with.

二乙醯嗎啡就是俗稱的海洛英。而且事實上，它比任何上癮者能在黑市裡取得的海洛英來的更爲強烈，因為它並沒有被毒犯們的添加物所稀釋過。

There are people near you being given loads of deluxe heroin in hospitals right now.

此刻，你身邊就有許多人在醫院裡使用大量的高級海洛英。

So, at least some of them should become addicts. But this has been closely studied. It doesn't happen.

所以，至少部分的這些人會上癮吧？但根據研究顯示，這並沒有發生。

Your grandmother wasn't turned into a junkie by her hip replacement. Why is that?

你奶奶並沒有因為髖關節置換手術成為癮君子。為什麼呢？

Our current theory of addiction comes in part from a series of experiments that were carried out earlier in the 20th century.

我們目前對於成癮的理論是奠基於二十世紀初期所進行的一系列實驗。

The experiment is simple: You take a rat and put it in a cage with two water bottles. One is just water, the other is water laced with heroin or cocaine.

這個實驗很簡單：你把一隻老鼠關進只有兩個水瓶的籠子裡。一個裝著純水，另一個則混有海洛英或古柯鹼。

Almost every time you run this experiment, the rat will become obsessed with the drugged water and keep coming back for more and more until it kills itself.

幾乎每次進行這個實驗，老鼠都會著迷下過藥的水，並不斷地回來吸食更多，直到殺死了自己。

But in the 1970s, Bruce Alexander, a professor of psychology, noticed something odd about this experiment.

不過70年代的時候，心理學家布魯斯．亞歷山大發現了這個實驗的奇怪之處。

The rat is put in the cage all alone. It has nothing to do but take the drugs.

這老鼠是被獨自關在籠子裡的。它除了吸食毒品之外無事可做。

What would happen, he wondered, if we tried this differently?

他很好奇，如果我們嘗試不同的方法，會發生什麼事呢？

So he built Rat Park, which is basically heaven for rats.

所以他建造了一個對老鼠們來說像天堂一般的「老鼠樂園」。

It's a lush cage where the rats would have colored balls, tunnels to scamper down, plenty of friends to play with; everything a rat about town could want.

在那個極盡奢華的籠子裡，老鼠們有彩球可以玩、可以在滑道中盡情奔跑、和許多同伴一起嬉戲，滿足一隻懂得享受生命的老鼠的所有需求。

And they would have the drugged water and the normal water bottles.

籠子裡同樣有下過藥的水和普通水的水瓶。

But here's the fascinating thing: In Rat Park, rats hardly ever use the drugged water. None of them ever use it compulsively ; none of them ever overdose.

但有趣的是：在「老鼠樂園」中老鼠極少飲用下過藥的水，沒有任何一隻老鼠有上癮的現象，沒有任何一隻用藥過度。

But maybe this is a quirk of rats, right?

但也許這只是老鼠的怪癖，對吧？

Well, helpfully, there was a human experiment along the same lines: the Vietnam War.

很巧的是，這個實驗也有人類的版本：越戰。

20% of American troops in Vietnam were using a lot of heroin.

在越南，20% 的美國軍隊使用大量的海洛因。

People back home were really panicked because they thought there would be hundreds of thousands of junkies on the streets of the United States when the war was over.

遠在家鄉的人們相當驚慌，因為他們認為在戰爭結束後，美國街頭會充斥著成千上萬的毒蟲。

But a study followed the soldiers home and found something striking : They didn't go to rehab; they didn't even go into withdrawal; 95% of them just stopped after they got home.

但有個研究跟著這些士兵回到家鄉，並且發現了一件驚人的事實：這些士兵沒有去勒戒中心，他們甚至沒有戒斷症狀。95% 的士兵在回國之後就自己戒毒了。

If you believe the old theory of addiction, that makes no sense. But if you believe Professor Alexander's theory, it makes perfect sense.

如果你相信的是那套陳舊的成癮理論，那這一切都說不通。但如果你相信亞歷山大博士的理論，這一切都再合理也不過了。

Because if you're put into a horrific jungle in a foreign country where you don't want to be, and you could be forced to kill or die at any moment, doing heroin is a great way to spend your time.

因為如果你現在心不甘情不願地處在陌生的恐怖叢林中，而你又隨時冒著殺人或被殺的風險，吸食海洛因會是一個消磨時間的好方法。

But if you go back to your nice home with your friends and your family, it's the equivalent of being taken out of that first cage and put into a human Rat Park.

但如果你回到溫暖的家鄉，並和你的家人朋友共處，這就等同於離開第一個實驗裡的籠子，並被放到人類版本的「老鼠樂園」一般。

It's not the chemicals; it's your cage.

讓你成癮的並不是藥物，而是你的牢籠。

We need to think about addiction differently.

我們要用不同的思維來看待「成癮」這件事。

Human beings have an innate need to bond and connect. When we are happy and healthy, we will bond with the people around us.

人類天生就需要和他人產生連結。當我們身心健康快樂的時候，我們自然會和周圍的人產生緊密的連結。

But when we can't because we're traumatized, isolated, or beaten down by life, we will bond with something that gives us some sense of relief.

但當我們因為精神受創、被孤立或被生命中的波折擊倒而無法建立連結時，我們只能和一些能帶給我們安慰的東西產生連結。

It might be endlessly checking a smartphone; it might be pornography, video games, reddit, gambling, or it might be cocaine.

這可能是沒完沒了地查看智慧型手機、色情片、遊戲、社交網站、賭博，或是古柯鹼成癮。

But we will bond with something because that is our human nature.

但我們終究會和某樣東西產生連結，因為那就是人類的天性。

The path out of unhealthy bonds is to form healthy bonds, to be connected to people you want to be present with.

要脫離一段不健康連結的方式，就是建立健康的連結，和那些你想與之共處的人搭建友誼的橋樑。

Addiction is just one symptom of the crisis of disconnection that's happening all around us. We all feel it.

成癮只是一個因為無法建立關係而生的症狀，而它常常發生在我們的生活中 。人人都可能經歷。

Since the 1950s, the average number of close friends an American has has been steadily declining.

從1950年代，一位美國人平均擁有的親密朋友數量開始逐年下降。

At the same time, the amount of floor space in their homes has been steadily increasing.

同時，每戶人家的平均坪數則逐年成長。

To choose floor space over friends, to choose stuff over connection.

我們選擇房屋坪數而不是朋友，選擇物質享受而不是人際關係。

We are going to have to change the unnatural way we live and rediscover each other.

我們必須改變目前不自然的生活方式，並且重新認識彼此。

The opposite of addiction is not sobriety ; the opposite of addiction is connection.

成癮的相反並不是清醒，它的相反是建立人際關係。