The Molecule of More

Most people, when they see a donut, want to eat it. Most people, when they see a donut, want to not eat it. What’s going on?

Since balance is essential, the brain often wires circuits in opposition. Having read this book, I understand why it so often feels like my brain is working against itself (it probably is).

This book by Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long focuses primarily on the ‘anticipation module’, dopamine. 

Here are my key takeaways:

💡Dopamine makes us always want more, more, more (which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective). It is why we are never happy for long. 

💡“If you live in the most expensive mansion in the world, dopamine makes you want a castle on the moon.” 

💡Love that lasts shifts the emphasis from anticipation to experience; from the fantasy of anything being possible (dopamine) to engagement with reality and all its imperfections (oxytocin and vasopressin). 

💡The fine arts and the hard sciences are both driven by dopamine. 

💡Dopamine allows us to imagine the unreal and connect the seemingly unrelated. This puts creative geniuses at risk of mental illness.

💡Occasionally, schizophrenic voices are friendly and encouraging.

💡Highly dopaminergic people serve the public well but no matter how rich, famous, or successful they become, they’re almost never happy, and certainly never satisfied. 

💡“I arrive in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” E. B. White.

💡Most decisions cannot be approached in a purely rational way. Either we don’t have enough information or we have far more than we can progress. 

💡Cocaine blocks the dopamine transporter like a sock shoved in a vacuum cleaner nozzle. The blockage allows the dopamine to interact with its receptor over and over again. 

💡We often lose the pleasure of the sensory world around us because of dopamine; instead of enjoying the beauty of a flower, we imagine only how it would look in a vase on our kitchen table. 

💡As a species we have become far more powerful than we were when our brains first developed but unfortunately we’re suck with our ancient brains. 

💡To save the world, behaviour driven by dopamine will need to be drastically suppressed and the era of better, faster, cheaper, and more will have to end. “This has never happened in the history of humanity -- at least not by choice.” 

💡Mastery is the point at which dopamine bows to ‘Here & Now’ chemicals. Even if it’s only for a short time, dopamine doesn’t fight the feeling of contentment. I guess this is part of 'flow'.

💡You might get a few weeks of dopaminergic thrills by buying an expensive Swiss timepiece, but after that it's just a watch. 

Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Molecule-More-Chemical-Creativity_and-Determine/dp/1948836580