Not being able to remember what you did doesn’t mean that you lost control of your actions. When you “blackout” you don’t enter a like blackout state where you lose control from then on - you just don’t remember periods of time.
Comment on What is it like being drunk? How much control do you have?
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
it’s crazy how many people are confidently answering “you never lose control from alcohol” when they’ve obviously never been blackout drunk.
like, sure, there’s definitely a varying degree of effects to some point but when you black out (drink so much that you don’t remember it) you lose control of your actions. when you black out you do things that you would never do sober.
most people don’t black out more than a few times in their life because it happens, they go “wow that was awful I sure don’t want to do that again” and then don’t. they are the lucky ones. then you have people like me (alcoholics) who want to be anything but themselves and want to feel anything but what they’re feeling so desperately that it happens a lot.
no it’s not just “lowered inhibitions so you do what you want to do sober but stop yourself from doing,” your body goes into autopilot. it’s more like sleepwalking than staying up so late that you start feeling loopy once it hits that point. for an example, the first time I ever blacked out I tried to convince my mom that my dugout (block of wood for holding weed and pipe) would open the hotel room door… that’s not “lowered inhibitions” that’s a brain that’s not working
now I’m a little annoyed by the amount of confidently incorrect in this thread but on a serious note I’m glad so many of y’all don’t get it. alcoholism is a terrible affliction that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. it’s a bad time, through and through.
i think a part of why there are so many wrong answers though is because of the word “responsible.” you’re responsible for what you do while blackout drunk because you are the one who got blackout drunk. nobody else poured the booze down your throat for you. so, while what you do in that state is out of your control, you are entirely responsible for it.
GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 hours ago
you don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’ll reiterate, I’m glad you don’t
but you don’t
GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
I absolutely do. You obviously have done some terrible things while drunk so you cope by shirking ownership
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 hour ago
worst thing I ever did was fuck your mom, but I did that sober
tell her I say hi 😘
zerofk@lemmy.zip 16 hours ago
Twice in my youth I’ve blacked out. I remember the start of the evening, and I remember waking up with no clue how I got to where I was. In between, there’s nothing. I couldn’t tell you whether I was still in control or not, because I simply don’t remember. Neither do my friends: I just disappeared.
Other times, when I was “normally” drunk, it’s definitely like others here have said: fewer inhibitions but there’s still a core that can make decisions. But when I blacked out? No idea. I might’ve stolen the Mona Lisa and replaced it with my own copy for all I know.
I just wish I remembered where I put the real one.
FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I’m one of the people who gave an answer like you’re describing and I have to admit, I’ve never been blackout drunk
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
yeah, no hate. like I said I’m glad you don’t get it. it’s not a fun lesson to learn.
darthelmet@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Thanks for the insight. That sounds pretty rough. I hope you can get better soon.
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 hour ago
I’ve been kinda going back and forth in my head on whether or not to respond to this, but I’ve landed on “respond and try to keep it pithy” (something I’m bad at)
you don’t really “get better” with alcoholism or addiction. you can be sober 20+ years and you’re still an alcoholic, just a sober one.
that said I’m hanging in there, one day at a time and whatnot
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
According to the Many Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics, there is a universe out there, where, when you attempted to open the hotel room door with your dugout, through random molecular interactions, it actually did open the door’s locking mechanism.
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 hours ago
idk who downvoted you but this is hilarious. I’m very amused imagining that happening lol
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Things get really weird when you start chasing infinities of probabilities. There is a non-zero chance of nearly anything happening. In theory, you could turn around right now and find the literal historical Genghis Khan standing behind you, complete with all his memories, having instantly been assembled just then through random molecular motions. In theory, you could be walking down the street, and a blue London police call box could materialize in front of you, and out could walk a man who honestly believes himself to be the literal Dr. Who. Ever feel nostalgia for the events of your childhood? There’s a non-zero probability of the entire Earth spontaneously rearranging itself to recreate that long-gone setting, including placing everyone back in age-appropriate forms.
The probability of such absurdities is so low that “astronomical” doesn’t even begin to convey how remotely small they are. So low that if the universe was maxed out on population, and everyone sat there watching until the heat death of the universe, that the odds of any one person observing such a thing would be less than 1%. But according to Many Worlds, any possible quantum interaction does occur.
Which means that there’s a universe out there where you have a magic light switch. Every time you flip the switch, in addition to the light turning on, a gold bar appears in the middle of the room. Again, the gold bar was simply assembled by random chance from particles in the environment. In this universe, one day your light switch just started making gold. At first you were astonished, so you tried it again. In most universes, the second time did nothing. But in some, it happened again. And in some particularly rare universes, it’s worked the dozens of time you’ve tried it. You showed your loved ones just to prove to yourself you’re not crazy, and the light switch still made gold. You brought in outside experts, even bringing in physicists and chemists from your local university to observe. And damnit, even in front of them, the light switch still makes gold! They examine the light switch but cannot find anything out of the ordinary with it. As far as repeated testing has shown, you have a magic light switch that makes gold, the one seemingly supernatural oddity in an otherwise completely rational universe. According to Many Worlds, there is a universe out there where this happened to you.
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 hours ago
very fun stuff. there’s a bit in an episode of Midnight Burger (audio drama about a time-travelling dimension-spanning diner) where they’re explaining it to someone and they say “there’s a world where mark david chapman missed and the beatles got back together! i like that world.” :)
what’s even crazier to me than the sci-fi stuff though is how often we encounter vanishingly impossible odds, 52! blew my fucking mind the first time I heard it explained.