Why Can't We Just Quit?

In a 1995 edition of The Orange County Register, a professor at McMaster University in Ontario described famed physicist Albert Einstein’s approach to solving the apocalypse: “When Einstein was asked how he would save the world in one hour, he said he’d spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and five minutes solving it.” It was an apocryphal quote; one which Einstein likely didn’t speak.

But still, isn’t there wisdom buried there? When we examine our habits, addictions, dependencies, and vices, we so often ask this question: Why can’t we just quit? The alcoholic asks it this…