Michael Long

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, plus a single nitrogen atom—it is simple in form and complex in result. This is dopamine, and it narrates no less than the story of human behavior.

Each one of us has a unique way of moving. We’re usually unaware of these habits, but other people see them. Often we recognize our friends from a distance based on how they move, even when we can’t see their faces. The way we move is part of what defines us.

A Harvard study that’s been going on for seventy-four years has found that social isolation (even in the absence of feelings of loneliness) is associated with a 50 to 90 percent higher risk of early death. That’s about the same as smoking, and higher than obesity or lack of exercise.

As a species we have become far more powerful than we were when our brains first developed. Technology develops fast while evolution is slow. Our brains evolved at a time when survival was in doubt. That’s less of a problem in the modern world, but we’re stuck with our ancient brains.

Future-focused dopamine no longer drives couples to have children because people who live in developed countries don’t depend on their children to support them in their old age. Government-funded retirement plans take care of that. That frees up dopamine to move on to other things like TVs, cars, and remodeled kitchens.

Dopamine was discovered in the brain in 1957 by Kathleen Montagu

dopamine activity is not a marker of pleasure. It is a reaction to the unexpected—to possibility and anticipation.

Sweat is salt water, which conducts electricity better than dry skin. The more aroused a person is, the easier the electricity flows.

Conservatives are more likely than liberals to focus on threat. At the same time, when people of either inclination feel threatened, they become more conservative.

Dopamine, they discovered, isn’t about pleasure at all.