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Yeah, I mean, I guess what I’m just thinking about, you're saying it’s less about persuasion and, like try and bring someone to your side and more about some of the chemicals in our brains? Kaitlin Luna: So, it's really been integral in what has helped us evolve from early humans to where we are today? The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas—and progress itself. The left calls themselves progressives. Instead of progress, they want to make the world a better place. Ah, and that's maximizing future resources. And so, they're interested in things like taking control, helping people to live healthier, longer lives by making it difficult for them to access unhealthy food or tobacco or alcohol or things like that. And so, they're very much about taking control of things to maximize the goodness. So, one day he met a girl, dated her for a couple weeks and then persuaded her to come to Las Vegas with him and get married. Because, he thought that he could take control of this situation. He'd get married to her and live happily ever after. And it did not work out.
Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain
Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times—and so good at figuring them out? Kaitlin Luna: Okay, so that could be something like a job or a hobby or to something immersion? Yeah, something where something you're immersed in. Kaitlin Luna: Yes, that's not totally surprising. But, I guess the question that this leads me to is do different people have different amounts of dopamine in their brains that could influence this type of behavior? From dopamine’s point of view, it’s not the having that matters. It’s getting something—anything—that’s new. From this understanding—the difference between possessing something versus anticipating it—we can understand in a revolutionary new way why we behave as we do in love, business, addiction, politics, religion—and we can even predict those behaviors in ourselves and others.Daniel Lieberman: That’s right. We really do have enough. We don't need a new cell phone. We don't need a bigger TV. We should just experience what we have and enjoy it.
molecule of more—dopamine, with Daniel Lieberman, MD, and The molecule of more—dopamine, with Daniel Lieberman, MD, and
But let me change the situation slightly, and what my change is going to do is it's going to shift the neuro transmitters you're going to use to think about this problem, and it's going to change the way you view it. Daniel Lieberman: Yeah, there are. There are proteins on the cell called dopamine receptors that react to the chemical dopamine and changed the functioning of the cell as a result. Some of these are more sensitive than others. And there's other structures in the brain, as well that are genetically determined to have a stronger or weaker effect to dopamine. And these are associated with particular kinds of personalities. So, from an evolutionary point of view, it's incredibly important. And that's why it's so powerful because it directs our behavior from the bottom up. It's designed to keep us alive and make us evolutionarily successful.Daniel Lieberman: Yeah, it can do that. It can make us obsessed with our work and take us away from a personal life. And, of course, a work-life balance is very important, and dopamine can ruin that balance. But, it can also prevent us from getting satisfaction from what we're working for so hard. It's never enough. I saw a patient today who an incredibly successful real estate developer is, and he has more money than he will ever be able to spend and through his life, he's achieved higher and higher and higher levels. But, every time he takes a step, he starts comparing himself to the person at the higher level. And his self-esteem is terrible, in spite of all of his achievements. In spite of having a wonderful family, he constantly sees himself as a failure because he's always looking for what he has not yet achieved. And then that's a pathological behavior of dopamine. There's another pathway, though, that goes up to the frontal lobes. We call that the control pathway as opposed to the desire pathway, which is more immediate gratification. This plans for longer term gain, and so, people with very strong control systems, are going to be more the type A workaholics. They can't relax. They work incredibly hard. They're the kind of people who can afford beach houses but can't enjoy them. The last thing they're going to be able to do is sit on the beach, soaking up the sun. Daniel Lieberman: If someone in your family had cancer, you hushed it up. It was an enormously shameful thing. Today that seems utterly absurd.
Molecule of More Book Summary – Dan Lieberman The Molecule of More Book Summary – Dan Lieberman
Daniel Lieberman: Easier, easier, easier to program the drone to say, take out the terrorists and the children then it would be if you were standing right there on location, let's say with a gun and you were told “pull the trigger.” So, the question is, is it ethically permissible to pull the switch to save five lives at the expense of one? You survey people about this and ninety percent now say no. It's not ethically permissible to do it. Daniel Lieberman: Unless you work for a company, that trace is exactly that you are interested. But let's say you read it. And all of a sudden, you run across the name of somebody you went to school with, who’s involved in the negotiations. You’re going to get some dopamine. Kaitlin Luna: Absolutely. That’s what it seems like. It does push the tide more. And I mean, something like opioids is affecting so many people and friends, family, that sort of thing.Daniel Lieberman: And then you gotta transform. Then you're trying to transfer over to what's called companion It love. That's the kind of love that can last a lifetime. And that's more driven by chemicals like oxytocin and serotonin. Kaitlin Luna: Wow, that’s amazing. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been an absolutely fascinating conversation. Daniel Lieberman: And the irony is that when people do that, they talk about how much they enjoy it. And yet they do it so little because their dopamine circuits are saying don't waste your time. Work for more. Kaitlin Luna: Wow, that sounds very complex. It's hard to believe this is all happening in our brains all of the time. Daniel Lieberman: No, it’s not. It might influence your dopamine a tiny bit, but probably not enough to have an effect on you.
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