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Regarding mothers smoking. My point was not only is a mother risking killing her baby, but if the baby survives and is of normal weight, the brain of the baby can STILL be irrevokably changed. That child can have behavioral issues and may be a slower learner because the part of the brain that is involved in learning and memory and behavior develops in part in the womb and nicotine has been PROVEN to alter the development of these parts of the brain.

HWI wrote:

"But psychology arose because Neuroscience can't explain everything."

Actually this is not true. Psychology has been around for a LONG time. Ancient civilizations throughout the world, like in India, China, and Greece have had these concepts and studies. Neuroscience emerged as a distinct, separate modern science in the late 1950's, early 1960's and it has REALLY had HUGE advancements in the last 20 years. When psychology began, people thought the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun revolved around it. Science has proven much to be false since that time.

If you are referring to modern experimental clinical psychology, that arose in the late 1870's. This was at a time when doctors rejected Louis Pasteur's theory that bacteria were the cause of diseases because people could not believe that organisms could cause diseases, especially some small enough to not be seen! Doctors also still used to bleed patients (a practice that took place for 2000 years), even though NOW it has been shown to not only be ineffective for most illnesses, but also quite destructive. Clearly people at that time did not have the same amount of knowledge that scientists do these days. Neuroscience CAN NOW provide better answers for much that psychologists got wrong (for example Freud's theories about sleep).

The brain is exceedingly complex and it will take quite a while to completely understand the biological basis of complex mental states, however it is now clear that there IS a physical basis.

"Humans can't be compared with fruit flies... My brain irreversibly mutated because of tons of nicotine refuse to accept that human being is only a composition of chemical elements."

Actually humans CAN be compared with fruit flies. There are tens of thousands of scientists who do JUST this ! In fact, about 80 percent of the genes with mutations that cause diseases in humans have an equivalent gene in fruit flies. Fruit flies sleep, learn, remember, have a complex mating ritual, see, smell, taste, perceive noxious stimuli, etc. They are pretty cool little guys! Scientists have made some breakthroughs into studies of autism, aging, and other neurodegenerative diseases from studying fruit flies.

"And that human desire for art and science are just a result of physical reactions"

Physical reactions ALLOW for the desire of art and science. Without action potentials and ion channels, there would be NO "thought", and, therefore, the term "physical" applies. This is all that I am saying.

I DO agree that addiction requires therapy. Therapy can lead to changing synaptic strengths and connections. This results in PHYSICAL changes in the brain that will lead to successfully maintaining a sober lifestyle.

Anna