Top all-time · #13849
Nicholas Reville
Personal blog · recursiveadaptation.comhealthscience
Nicholas Reville writes Recursive Adaptation, a personal blog at recursiveadaptation.com about health and science. Since 2024, 5 different Hacker News readers have linked it 30 times, most often “The Growing Scientific Case for Using GLP-1s to Treat Addiction”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-13, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this Substack by Nicholas Reville for its writing on GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, including their effects on alcohol drinking and addiction and whether they treat other diseases.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Strategic science and policy for mental health and addiction. Completely free.
Most-linked posts?
- The Growing Scientific Case for Using GLP-1s to Treat Addiction2 people · 20 mentions · first linked 2024-05-14
What Hacker News says?
https://data.worldobesity.org/rankings/ https://www.who.int/activities/controlling-the-global-obesit... The US isn’t even the top 9. Obesity is a global epidemic of Western disease. The food isn’t the cause, it’s the symptom of the brain chemistry. If it isn’t available, yes, the disease may not present. But if available, due to hormones causing the drive , it presents. Like cigarettes (nicotine), like cocaine, like…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “GLP-1 drugs: An economic disruptor? (2024)”Submitted First randomized trial of Ozempic for alcoholism shows big drops in drinking as a story · 83 points
HN discussionA Brain Reward Circuit Inhibited By Next-Generation Weight Loss Drugs - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.12.628169v1.... | https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.12.628169 - December 17rd, 2024 Glucagon-like peptide 1 agonist and effects on reward behaviour: A systematic review - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003193842... | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114622 - Physiology & Beh…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “GLP-1 drugs linked to lower death rates in colon cancer patients”Submitted Wegovy and Ozempic (semaglutide) associated with reduction in alcohol addiction as a story · 76 points
HN discussionHaving a medical condition isn't a moral failing; observing said medical conditions and advocating for providing help with potentially malfunctioning reward centers leading to lower agency and desired individual outcome doesn't strike me as "being a Nazi.". If a human doesn't want the help, they don't have to take it. If they do, make it widely and affordably available. Strange take. Context below. https://recursive…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Metformin decelerates aging clock in male monkeys”Submitted Drinking alcohol reduces the body's natural GLP-1 activity by 34% as a story · 51 points
HN discussionYou're free to your opinion (legit, no snark intended), the market will deliver to the demand. The cost benefit ratio is obvious, even accounting for potential side effects at scale. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/18/ozempic-wegovy-weight-loss-... https://www.axios.com/2024/01/19/weight-loss-drugs-america-o... https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas... https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/global-res…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “GLP-1 for Everything”Submitted Reporters ordered $3,600 of fentanyl precursors online, enough for $3M fentanyl as a story · 6 points
HN discussionNo prob. I noticed that I did not want to drink the day after my first shot. It was that fast. If anything the closest I came to drinking came from routine, not desire. That is to say, what is an afternoon watching football if not with a beer in hand? But I was able to move past that. One thing I should make clear, no matter how heavy a drinker I have been at times in my life, including with liquor, I have never had…
Comment linking /
on “Ozempic linked to lower Alzheimer's risk in people with Type 2 diabetes”Submitted We are underfunding R&D for addiction by 95% as a story · 3 points
HN discussion> I feel icky saying this but we should make a strong effort as a society to stamp out anti-social behaviors. Addictions are very high on that list. GLP-1s can help stamp out addiction, but people are going to be people. You can provide them support, but you cannot prevent chronic, determined self harm and destruction. I speak from personal experience. https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas...
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Software CEO to Catholic panel: AI is more mass stupidity than mass unemployment”Submitted An Innovation Agenda for Addiction as a story · 2 points
HN discussionPolicymakers are doing their jobs based on evidence. Ignore the vocal minority and push on. Parent better? Hah, in this fucking macro? [1] [2] Will power? Not a thing, that's why GLP-1 agonists are so effective against addiction [3]. Social media operating under existing legal frameworks? We can change the framework to better serve the human (see: here). [1] https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/parents-under-pres…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Governor Newsom signs bill to protect kids from social media addiction”Submitted The Market Failure That Will Force Doctors to Keep Writing Opioid Prescriptions as a story · 2 points
HN discussionRelated: The growing scientific case for using Ozempic and other GLP-1s to stop addiction - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40357196 https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas... > The consistency that I'm hearing from all across patient groups is gain of control, whereas previously, there was a loss of control… All of a sudden they're able to step back and say, 'oh, well I had this shopping p…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Rethinking addiction as a chronic brain disease”Submitted The Growing Scientific Case for Using GLP-1s to Treat Addiction as a story · 2 points
HN discussionCheap access to GLP-1 agonists might help with addiction. I have facilitated someone getting access for alcoholism, and it’s like night and day, with them being fully functional. Appears to be an incredibly powerful force multiplier, just need to scale up (can be manufactured for less than $5/month/person). My apologies for going off topic, confirming your point to solve addiction to solve these second order effects…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Metal thieves in America's cities”Submitted The growing scientific case for using Ozempic and other GLP-1s to stop addiction as a story · 1 points
HN discussionGood observation. Can we get sales data anywhere to further correlate? https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/narcan-opioid-ove... > In the fourth quarter of last year, Emergent reported $111 million in Narcan sales, a 22% increase from the year prior. The increase was mainly driven by sales of the over-the-counter version, the drugmaker said. This article indicates there are still challenges about availability…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives”And if you haven't asked a friend who's on one, taking a GLP-1 medication reduces drinking by about 50%: https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/first-ever-randomized-tria...
Comment linking /p/first-ever-randomized-trial-of-ozempic
on “Drinking alcohol reduces the body's natural GLP-1 activity by 34%”It patches a reward center in your brain, reducing appetite, but also patching addiction reward center activity. https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas... > The consistency that I'm hearing from all across patient groups is gain of control, whereas previously, there was a loss of control… All of a sudden they're able to step back and say, 'oh, well I had this shopping phenomenon that was going…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “GLP-1 pills are coming, and they could revolutionize weight-loss treatment”> Your appetite isn't the problem. GLP-1 agonists: and I took that personally The hormone imbalance is what causes the chase after unhealthy food, it’s a bug in the human around executive function. Certainly, promote healthy food, as well as efficient and robust access to said healthy food (while de-incentivizing garbage macros), but let us not pretend the demand isn't because of the biology. https://recursiveadapta…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Ask HN: Why aren't you solving real problems?”I bet that if you start taking a GLP-1 agonist (semaglutide or similar), it’ll break your habit. It patches malfunctioning reward centers in the brain. Something to potentially consider. https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas...
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Is Ben scrolling TikTok right now?”If you're interested in the addiction side of this, I write the substack that Scott links to in this post. Here's the article he links to: https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas... I think that studies of GLP-1RAs for alcohol and opioid addiction are the biggest public health opportunities in the world right now, in terms of leverage and scale.
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Why Does Ozempic Cure All Diseases?”https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas...
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Social drinkers on obesity drugs lose the taste for alcohol”“We fixed the glitch.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12742762/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003193842... https://time.com/7340807/history-debate-insurance-glp-1s/ https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas...
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Womens Sizing”Can it withstand GLP-1s though? https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas...
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “"Unprecedented" decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts”https://recursiveadaptation.com/p/the-growing-scientific-cas...
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on “Trail: Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder”In the United States, cannabis is legal in 38 of 50 states for medical use and 24 states for recreational use [1]. I believe this to be a robust natural experiment, demonstrating that the negative impact (which does exist, but appears to be minor, according to the right leaning Cato Institute [2]) can be balanced against the previous harm of prosecuting users of this drug. Public support for legalization remains hig…
Comment linking /p/the-growing-scientific-case-for-using
on a deleted thread