The Molecule of More

parts of desire dopamine.)
AA participants freely hand out their phone numbers so that strug-
gling alcoholics have people to call for support and encouragement. 
If an AA member slips and experiences a relapse, no one condemns 
him, but he will inevitably feel like he has let them down. The H&N 
experience of guilt is a powerful motivator (as your mother knows). The 
combination of emotional support and the threat of guilt helps many 
addicts maintain a long-lasting sobriety.
A more dramatic example of H&N activity suppressing 
dopamine-driven addiction is the observation that when women smok-
ers become pregnant, the quit rate spikes upward. Dr. Suena Massey 
of the Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern University, 
who has done an in-depth study of this rapid change, notes that the 
usual steps a smoker goes through on the road to quitting are com-
pletely skipped. The level of H&N empathy for the developing fetus is 
so high that many women smokers jump right to the finish line and stop 
smoking without any conscious effort at all. Once the dopaminergic 
rationalization of I’m not hurting anyone but myself breaks down, the door 
opens for a rapid readjustment in the H&N–dopamine balance.
The dopamine system as a whole evolved to maximize future resources. 
In addition to desire and motivation, which get the ball rolling, we also 
possess a more sophisticated circuit that gives us the ability to think 
long term, make plans, and use abstract concepts such as math, reason, 
and logic. Looking into the longer-term future also gives us the tenac-
ity we need to overcome challenges and accomplish things that take 
a long time, things like getting an education or flying to the moon. It 
also gives us the ability to tame the hedonistic urges of the desire cir-
cuit, suppressing immediate gratification to achieve something better. 
The control circuit suppresses H&N emotion, allowing us to think in a 
cold, rational way that’s often required when hard decisions need to be 

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THE MOLECULE OF MORE
made, such as sacrificing the well-being of one person for the benefit 
of others.
The control circuit can be crafty. Sometimes it charges straight 
ahead and dominates a situation through the power of confidence. 
Other times it leads to submissive behaviors that induce others to coop-
erate with us, multiplying our ability to get things done and reach our 
goals. 
Dopamine yields not just desire but also domination. It gives us 
the ability to bend the environment and even other people to our will. 
But dopamine can do more than give us dominion over the world: it 
can create entirely new worlds, worlds that may be so astonishing, they 
could have been created only by a genius—or a madman.

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DOMINATION
FURTHER READING
MacDonald, G. (1993). The light princess: And other fairy tales. Whitethorn, CA: 
Johannesen.
Previc, F. H. (1999). Dopamine and the origins of human intelligence. Brain and 
Cognition, 41(3), 299–350.
Salamone, J. D., Correa, M., Farrar, A., & Mingote, S. M. (2007). Effort-related 
functions of nucleus accumbens dopamine and associated forebrain circuits. 
Psychopharmacology, 191(3), 461–482.
Rasmussen, N. (2008). On speed: The many lives of amphetamine. New York: NYU 
Press.
McBee, S. (1968, January 26). The end of the rainbow may be tragic: Scandal of
the diet pills. Life Magazine, 22–29.
PsychonautRyan. (2013, March 9). Amphetamine-induced narcissism [Forum 
thread]. Bluelight.org. Retrieved from http://www.bluelight.org/vb/
threads/689506-Amphetamine-Induced-Narcissism?s=e81c6e06edabb-
cf704296e266b7245e4
Tiedens, L. Z., & Fragale, A. R. (2003). Power moves: Complementarity in dom-
inant and submissive nonverbal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psy-