The Fix

Drugs, food, alcohol, food, sex and technology are all addictions that pervade our lives and that are moving beyond our control as they multiply. Damian Thompson, who has himself struggled with a range of addictions, argues that human desire is, in the process, being reshaped. The acceleration of scientific achievement is producing more and more substances, objects and experiences that we learn to like too much for our own good and addictive behaviour is becoming a substitute for family and work bonds that are being swept away by globalisation and urbanisation.

THE FIX explains how capitalism and organised crime are producing a dizzying range of substances, ranging from slickly marketed iPads and blueberry muffins to illegally manufactured opiate painkillers, that are supplementing the traditional addictions to alcohol and heroin. This battle to control addiction will soon overshadow familiar ideological debates about how to run the economy. As whole societies set about "fixing" themselves, the architecture of human relations will come under strain as never before. THE FIX offers a truly frightening glimpse of the future.