Behavior specialist trying to figuring out what the hell is wrong with y'all • undisciplined writer • brain frenemy • dopamine slander account • she/her
@SusannaLHarris Dopamine isn't a pleasure molecule. It's a memory molecule. It's not what feels good, it's what won't EVER let you forget that something felt nice that one time. Without it, we'd forget to function.
Our will to live is based entirely on hormonal reminders to chase various highs.
What sucks is that life could be so easy. So easy. There are enough resources to end world hunger, homelessness, and poverty. We could slow down and fairly utilize and distribute them. Instead, everyone suffers while 20 men control half the world’s wealth.
This is how you push through universally unpopular legislation. You start with attacks on groups most people don't care about (sex workers), under the guise of something many support (protecting kids). Then you keep increasing the heat until the frog sits in boiling water.
There's a guy on tiktok called Cancer Faking Expert who I just loveee. He's the world's only expert on people who fake cancer and is getting a degree specifically in it because he spent so much personal time gathering data around cancer faking. You can study anything, I love it.
NYC's response to the Knicks' run is an explicit rejection of Trumpism. Civic engagement is at an all-time high. Fearmongering about public safety was crushed by the hundreds of spontaneous watch parties. Unimaginably diverse groups rallying behind a sense of collective identity.
I saw a post on Reddit that said that “The underlying purpose of AI is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth.” And I don’t think I’ve ever seen AI described so incisively.
What matters most for childhood brain organization?
We analyzed 649 variables.
The answer: Socioeconomics (SES); with brain patterns pointing at sleep & stress as drivers.
Even brain-IQ associations were better explained by SES confounding.
In Science: https://t.co/7zDtxSlDBn
Rich kids being able to do art for a living may be a reflection of their privilege but it seems to me like a reflection of the fact that a human that doesn't have to worry about money will often choose art. everyone is an artist until rent is due. i wish we all had that right
“The researchers estimate that half or more of the gap in life outcomes between older and younger siblings can be attributed to pathogens inadvertently brought home by older siblings.“ https://t.co/wl7JFCteGF
High intelligence often comes with heightened pattern recognition. You start noticing social masks, forced conversations, performative friendships, hidden motives, emotional immaturity, and energy that feels draining instead of nourishing. Many highly intelligent people also have more active nervous systems, deeper inner worlds, and lower tolerance for superficial stimulation, so solitude can feel safer than constantly shrinking themselves to fit environments that don't feel aligned.
Being a billionaire must be insane. You can buy new teeth, new skin. All your chairs cost 20,000 dollars and weigh 2,000 pounds. Your life is just a series of your own preferences. In terms of cognitive impairment it's probably like being kicked in the head by a horse every day
What's fascinating to me about this is that doctors — supposedly very smart people — fall into this fallacy again and again. Ulcers were psychosomatic until they weren't. MS was psychosomatic until it wasn't. Lupus was psychosomatic until it wasn't.
https://t.co/3VcdhwkLEe
read more books. read to escape reality. read to understand reality. read to challenge what you believe. read to think better. read to write better. read to argue better. read to know yourself. read to build something. a single book can completely rewire your brain.
Thread as a somatic therapist who has worked with a lot of people who struggle with executive functioning around procrastination.
The short answer is you have to keep a stream of dopamine going the whole time because that’s what your brain is low on and needs to do the things