Dopamine

There is so much research on dopamine already there is no point in trying to make new statements about it, but i will try and give my perspective on how this molecule is one of the main reason our brains are all over the place and how that is impacting society.

Its no secret that our biochemistries haven’t had the time to adapt to the countless stimulations of the new age, from drugs to porn to social media our brains are being held hostage, endlessly craving for more hits even if that is a positive feedback loop feeding the beast more and making it stronger.

It has gone so far that people have starting loosing or already lost the traits that made our species worth fighting for. Its all too common seeing someone in distress and instead of helping we put our phones out to document and share just so we can spend the following hours checking on the traffic and the likes we got. Sacrificing empathy in the process.

Hell you can even identify dopamine as the main reason of the slave era and how it numbed people to the horrors it inflicted on fellow humans. Not only in the form of money and status but sugar, yes sugar plantations were detrimental to the whole tragedy and its not hard to envision it. In an era without tv, internet etc, sugar got people craving for more whatever the cost.

Since then it got worse and worse to the point that our brain homeostasis is a thing of legends. The new generations that grew up with a phone in their hand, with instant access to gratification, porn , drugs are bearing the weight of the experiment and it will be very interesting to see how they will cope with the world they will inherit.

Its very easy to have an pessimistic view of the future since that pessimism it is based according to Dr Jordan Peterson on pain. You see the positive emotions we usually have, even when they are pure and at their best fade fast. Pain however can go on for much much longer and even lead more often than not to death. That’s not an irrational fear to have for sure. The problem arises when we base our whole being around that fear.

So what can we do, well there isn’t really one answer but it is more a change in mindset and the will to start developing the mental capacity to endure hardships. For that we need to raise the pain tolerance by adding pain and suffering on our own terms. There are countless studies suggesting that exercise ( which is a form of self inflicting pain in the end ) is detrimental to ones mental health and to be honest its common knowledge for millennia. “Νους υγιής εν σώματι υγιεί” said the Greeks translating in ” A healthy body equals a healthy mind, even if that is far from absolute its still the best start if you are feeling lost.

The beauty in all this, is that it is a domino effect, when you do one thing that’s hard you feel better about yourself and the next hard thing you tackle becomes easier and less painful.