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

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The neurotransmitter dopamine is the source of desire (via the desire circuit) and tenacity (via the control circuit); the passion that points the way and the willpower that gets us there. Dopamine is the source of our desires, our tenacity, our creativity, and even our political beliefs. For most of us, these are the qualities that make us “us.” This means that of all our different brain chemicals, we identify most with dopamine. Dopamine makes us seek out new experiences. And the more receptors our brains have for this chemical, the stronger its effect is on our behavior. Tengo un amigo que cuando escuchó por primera vez el podcast del neurocientífico de Stanford, Andrew Huberman, me dijo: “El tío mola mucho y es una pasada escucharle… una pena que se lo invente todo”. El comentario me hizo bastante gracia porque entendí rápidamente que lo que realmente estaba queriendo decir es que las explicaciones de Huberman sobre cómo funciona el cerebro son tan elegantes, sencillas e intuitivas que parecen ciencia ficción. Leyendo The Molecule of More (libro recomendado por el propio Huberman en uno de los episodios del podcast) he tenido la misma sensación ya que parece imposible que un único neurotransmisor, la dopamina, sea la explicación de tantos y tan dispares comportamientos humanos.

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 E un sentiment al anticipării că viața e pe cale să devină mai bună. Circuitele ei nu procesează experiențe din lumea reală, ci numai posibilități viitoare imaginare. Hm, cum ar fi să-mi iau o înghețată după ce termin de scris aici. Just as dopamine is the molecule of obsessive yearning, the chemicals most associated with long-term relationships are oxytocin and vasopressin. 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. 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.Well, let me start by saying I was a firm believer in the concept of Free Will. That we are in many if not most cases, able to make decisions that will most benefit us or will bring about our ruin, whichever argument wins out in our hearts, minds, and souls. Our brain simply loves to get high and for a long time we couldn´t get good stuff from the outer world ( it must have been terrible) when we were still stonagey and before, but we had those fine centers for own opioids, own cannabinoids, but especially the other hormones that aren´t so fancy. No matter where we look, to the love in our beds, to the digital shopping card, enemies and frenemies at work, what we love and hate about political parties, we are wired to react like animals. Warum haben Künstler und mental Erkrankte häufig gemeinsam? Und wie steht der Bezug von aktivierenden Neurotransmittern zu der politischen Grundeinstellung? Sehr interessante Einsichten!

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.Chapter 1: Love............................................................................................................... 10 If we get clarity on how our brain chemistry works, we can use that understanding to create a life full of healthy, sustainable and truly rewarding relationships and accomplishments, and more effectively avoid the traps of modern existence that are just about to kill us all. Responsible action is a delicate balance – excessive dopamine activity can become impractical and is speculated at times even lead to mental illnesses. The influence of Dopamine on politics, sex, relationships, emotions, political affiliations, religion and business is all discussed in a good amount of detail. In 2002, researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University published a study on personality and political beliefs. It seemed to confirm what most academics thought anyway. Liberals, the study found, tended to be generous and sociable. Conservatives, on the other hand, leaned toward authoritarianism and impulsivity. 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.

In the past, when I was even more naïve as to how the world works than I am today, I'd think this book explained a lot of human nature. 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 problem is that relationships can’t stay new forever. And when the novelty goes, so does the dopamine. Anthropologist Helen Fisher has estimated that the rush of a new romance only lasts about 12 to 18 months. After that, many couples hit a bump. They begin to feel like something is missing from the relationship. And they’re right; they’re missing the dopamine. Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long have pulled off an amazing feat. They have made a biography of a neurotransmitter a riveting read. Once you understand the power and peril of dopamine, you'll better understand the human condition itself."De la coperta de care m-am îndrăgostit, modul în care este organizată, dar și informația pe care mi-a oferit-o, este un deliciu. want to understand your decisions better: Why did you fall out of love with your ex? Why is your diet plan not going well? Why did you decide to start a company? Why did you move to another country? Why aren't you feeling motivated at work? 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. Control dopamine takes the excitement and motivation provided by desire dopamine, evaluates options, selects tools, and plots a strategy to get what it wants.

This book review took me a full week to write. Every time I sat down to collect my thoughts my phone would ping with a message from a friend and I would get swept up in whatever their drama was. One of those days I got a message from a young woman on a dating app, and the idea of meeting her for dinner consumed my mind to the point where I wrote nothing at all. Although frustrating, now that I am on day five of attempting to write this review, I have come to find it precisely appropriate that the dopamine mechanism in my brain kept me distracted for a full week. But let’s get to it. 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. 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. That happy error is what launches dopamine into action. It’s not the extra time or the extra money themselves. It’s the thrill of the unexpected good news. Dopamine responded not to reward, but to reward prediction error: the actual reward minus the expected reward.No one likes to lose, but it’s ten times as bad after you win. There was an anecdote in the book where someone was nominated for best doctor. Which leads to anxieties the next year of “will I be nominated again?” Daniel Z. Lieberman, M.D. is professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University. Dr 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 behavioural science. He has provided insight on psychiatric issues for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the US Department of Commerce, and the Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy, and has discussed mental health in interviews on CNN, C-SPAN, and PBS. Dr Lieberman studied the Great Books at St. John's College. He received his medical degree and completed his psychiatric training at New York University. This system involves our frontal lobes, the part of the brain in which logical thinking happens. It controls planning, strategizing, and imagining the future . Even though the control and desire systems are driven by exactly the same molecule, their functions couldn’t be more different. Desire dopamine makes us want things – and control dopamine helps us get them.