Utilitarianism says we should act to save lives. These are both very, very valid ways of approaching a problem. But, what's interesting is that depending on the location in three-dimensional space, our brain uses different circuits to process the problem, and we come up with different solutions. 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. Sometimes that means going after resources that are already there, but in a much more exciting fashion. Sometimes it means creating resources that never existed before. Mike Long: That fine line between oh, here, these things and I could put them together into something useful. And here are these things and they're just going to spill out. Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times - and so good at figuring them out?

Molecule of More - The Molecule of More: How a Single The Molecule of More - The Molecule of More: How a Single

Jim Watson, who deciphered the genetic code, famously said, ‘There are only molecules; the rest is sociology,’ adding fuel to C. P. Snow’s complaint that Science and the humanities are two fundamentally different “cultures” which will never meet. The authors argue provocatively, yet convincingly, that the molecule that allows us to bridge the chasm between them is dopamine. Though written for ordinary people, the narrative is sprinkled throughout with dazzling new insights that will appeal equally to specialists.” Daniel Lieberman: If someone in your family had cancer, you hushed it up. It was an enormously shameful thing. Today that seems utterly absurd. Dopaminergic love has been called passionate love, and that's the feeling of being in love, that almost insane feeling of passion for the other person. Unbounded optimism. Anything is possible. That lasts about nine to twelve months. Mike Long: It's so important, and I say that I'm projecting it onto other people, I know. But, as I learned this material, it was, again, just such a revelation for me to see that when you talk about love, you're talking about two very different things. You're talking about the romantic phase, the passionate phase, and then you're talking about the companion phase. And there are those of us who never escape the romantic phase, which sounds kind of exciting until you think about what that really means. Kaitlin Luna: So, you’re talking about animals. So, with it was something like a distant relative of ours, like a primate, have dopamine and with something simple, like an earth room have dopamine?Mental time travel is a powerful tool of the dopamine system. It allows us to experience a possible, though presently unreal, future as if we were there. In The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—And Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, psychiatrist Daniel Z. Liberman and physicist–turned–writer Michael E. Long have produced a book both confused and confusing. Its overblown title signals a kitchen-sink approach—too much, too repetitive, too speculative. Daniel Lieberman: So, to get a sense of what it feels like to have dopamine pushing you along versus trying to go forward without dopamine. Think about working on a project that you're incredibly excited about. Typically, it's going to be a project that involves some degree of creativity. I do a little bit of programming. I also love to make PowerPoint presentations. I'm a total nerd. Boosting dopamine can lead to enthusiastic engagement with things that would otherwise be perceived as unimportant.

The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain

Winning competitions, along with eating and having sex, is essential for evolutionary success. In fact, it’s winning competitions that gives us access to food and reproductive partners. As a result, it’s not surprising that winning competitions releases dopamine. So, it's just fascinating experiment in which they surveyed people about their political ideology, and they randomize them. In one, they put a hand sanitizer dispenser in the room as a very subtle reminder of the risk of infection. This simple presence of the hand sanitizer pushed people to be more conservative in their answers to the survey. The right on the other side, they call themselves conservatives. They're much less interested in change. They’re much else interested in things that are new. They're more here and now. They want to preserve the things they valued that they've inherited from their forebearers. And so, they're much less likely to have active dopaminergic circuits. They’re so attached to dopaminergic stimulation that they flee the present and take refuge in the comfortable world of their own imagination.

Introduction: Up Versus Down......................................................................................... 5 It turns out that dopamine doesn’t really care about tasty food. In fact, it doesn’t really care about anything that is predictable. Instead, dopamine gets released when we encounter things that are new, unexpected, and exciting. 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: I think so. I think there's still an enormous amount of stigma. In general, brain illnesses are more stigmatized compared to other illnesses. But we're making progress. You're probably too young to remember. But, there was a time when having cancer was stigmatized. Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more--more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. Dopamine is the source of our every urge, that little bit of biology that makes an ambitious business professional sacrifice everything in pursuit of success, or that drives a satisfied spouse to risk it all for the thrill of someone new. Simply put, it is why we seek and succeed; it is why we discover and prosper. Yet, at the same time, it's why we gamble and squander.

‎The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in - Apple

Daniel Lieberman: I think perhaps the broadest way to describe dopamine is that it's designed to maximize future resources, and we can see that working in ourselves when we're constantly focused on the future, I need more. I'm not satisfied. I'm not a good enough person rather than just kind of taking a deep breath and saying wow, look at all the wonderful things I have, the good things I've done. I'm grateful for them.

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The book aims to explain the broad, profound influence of the dopamine “pleasure molecule” in everyday life, at cultural branching points in human history, and as a driving force in human evolution. But calling dopamine the pleasure molecule, as it commonly is, is a misnomer, say the authors. From dopamine’s point of view, “it’s not the having that matters. It’s getting something—anything—that’s new.” Daniel Lieberman: Oh, here's another simple question. How should self-driving cars be programmed? Let's say that your self-driving car is going to get in an accident. Should it be programmed to minimize loss of life, or should it be programmed to save the life of its owner? It’s a difficult question. Why do we crave what we don't have rather than feel good about what we do-and why do fools fall in love? Haunting questions of human biology are answered by The Molecule of More, a must-read about the human condition. Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, is professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at George Washington University. Lieberman is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a recipient of the Caron Foundation Research Award and he has published over 50 scientific reports on behavioral science. He has provided insight on psychiatric issues for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and has discussed mental health in interviews on CNN, C-SPAN and PBS. Lieberman received his medical degree and completed his psychiatric training at New York University.

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.”In The Molecule of More, George Washington University professor and psychiatrist Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Georgetown University lecturer Michael E. Long present a potentially life-changing proposal: Much of human life has an unconsidered component that explains an array of behaviors previously thought to be unrelated, including why winners cheat, why geniuses often suffer from mental illness, why nearly all diets fail, and why the brains of liberals and conservatives really are different. Kaitlin Luna: But, you, you could do elaborate things that are you seeing this presentation, though, it really captures your attention. It can be boring and could be interesting, right?