The Molecule of More

computing. Circuits that lead to success are strengthened, and those that 
lead to failure are weakened. As the process goes on, the computer gets 
better and better at its assigned task—recognizing faces, for example. 
But no one can tell how it does it. As adjustments are made over time, 
the circuits become too complex to understand.

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PROGRESS
As a result, no one knows precisely what a superintelligent com-
puter might do. An artificial intelligence that programs its own circuits 
might one day come to the conclusion that eliminating the human race 
is the best way to accomplish its goal. Scientists can try to program in 
safeguards, but since the program evolves outside the programmers’ 
control, it’s impossible to know what kinds of safeguards will be robust 
enough to survive the process of “optimization.” One option is to simply 
stop making computers with artificial intelligence. However, that would 
diminish our ability to pursue more, so we can rule that out. Dopamine 
will drive the science forward whether it’s good for us or not. We may 
get lucky, though. We may discover a way to ensure that artificial intelli-
gences act in ethical ways. Many experts in the field believe that should 
be a top priority for computer scientists.
EVERYTHING. ALL THE TIME.
Dopamine-driven technological advances make it ever easier for us to 
gratify our needs and desires. Grocery store shelves are packed with 
constantly changing “new and improved” products. Planes, trains, and 
automobiles take us wherever we want to go, cheaper and faster than 
ever before. The internet provides us with virtually unlimited entertain-
ment options, and so much cool stuff is brought to market each year 
that we need crowds of journalists to keep us up to date on new ways 
to spend our money.
Dopamine drives our lives faster and faster. It takes more education 
to keep up. A graduate degree is as necessary today as a college edu-
cation was a generation ago. We work longer hours. There are more 
memos to read, reports to write, and emails to be answered. It never 
stops. We are expected to be available at all times of the day and night. 
When someone at work wants us, we must respond immediately. Adver-
tisements show a smiling man responding to texts on the beach, or a 
woman by the hotel pool, checking her cell phone screen to tap into a 
video feed of her empty house. What a relief. Nothing happened since 

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THE MOLECULE OF MORE
the last time she checked, 15 minutes ago. She’s got everything under 
control.
With so many ways to have fun, so many years to devote to educa-
tion, and so much time to spend working, something has to give, and 
that something is family. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 
1976 and 2012 the number of childless women in America approxi-
mately doubled. The New York Times reports that 2015 brought the first 
NotMom Summit, a global gathering of women without children by 
choice or circumstance. 
In developed countries, people have pretty much lost interest in 
having children. Raising kids costs a lot of money. According to the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture it costs $245,000 to raise a child to the 
age of eighteen. Four years of college tuition plus room and board costs 
another $160,000, and after college there’s graduate school, or maybe 
the kids will move back home. Add it all together and you might be able 
to buy a vacation home or travel overseas every year, not to mention 
restaurants, the theater, and designer clothes. As one newlywed who 
planned to have no children succinctly put it, “More money for us.”
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 retire-
ment plans take care of that. That frees up dopamine to move on to 
other things like TVs, cars, and remodeled kitchens.
The end result is demographic collapse. About half the world lives 
in a country with below replacement fertility. Replacement fertility is 
the number of children each couple must have to prevent a decline in 
the population. In developed countries the number is 2.1 per woman in 
order to replace the parents, and a bit more to account for early deaths. 
In some developing countries replacement fertility is as high as 3.4 
because of high rates of infant mortality. The worldwide average is 2.3.
All European countries as well as Australia, Canada, Japan, South 
Korea, and New Zealand have transitioned to below-replacement fer-
tility rates. The United States has enjoyed a more stable rate, largely 
because of the influx of immigrants from developing countries who 
haven’t yet lost the habit of continuing the survival of the human race. 

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PROGRESS
But even in developing countries birth rates are falling. Brazil, China, 
Costa Rica, Iran, Lebanon, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, and Viet-
nam have all transitioned to below-replacement fertility rates.
Governments are doing what they can to prevent their countries 
from becoming ghost towns. During the Syrian refugee crisis, Germany 
famously opened its borders to all comers. Denmark responded to the 
baby crisis by creating commercials showing a sultry model wearing a 
black negligee, encouraging viewers to “Do it for Denmark.” Singapore, 
which has a birthrate of only 0.78, made a deal with Mentos (“The 
Freshmaker”) to promote “National Night” in which couples were told 
to let their “patriotism explode.” In South Korea couples earn cash and 
prizes for having more than one child, and in Russia they get a chance 
to win a refrigerator.
DO NOTHING, EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING
Finally, the decline if not the end of the human race may be acceler-
ated by virtual reality (VR). VR already creates compelling experiences 
in which the participant is transported to beautiful, exciting locations to 
become the hero of the universe—instantly. 
VR produces images and sound, with other sensory modalities com-
ing online soon. For instance, researchers in Singapore have developed 
what they call a “digital taste simulator.” It’s a device with electrodes 
that deliver current and heat to the tongue. By stimulating the tongue 
with varying amounts of electricity and heat, it’s possible to trick it into 
experiencing salty, sour, and bitter flavors. Other groups have managed 
to simulate sweet as well. Once scientists master all the basic flavors, 
they’ll be able to combine them in different proportions to allow the 
tongue to experience the sensation of tasting almost any food imag-
inable. Since what we perceive as taste is, in large part, smell, there’s 
also a device that features an aromatic diffuser that simulates smells. It 
comes with what the inventors call a “bone conduction transducer.” 
They say that it “mimics the chewing sounds that are transmitted from 
the diner’s mouth to ear drums via soft tissues and bones.”

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THE MOLECULE OF MORE
Touch is the final frontier, since that will allow VR makers to sim-
ulate sex, and pornography is the universal driver of new media adop-
tion, such as VCRs, DVDs, and high-speed internet. Why bother having 
sex with a needy, repetitive, imperfect partner when an ever-changing 
fantasy can be had instead? Pornography is about to become a lot more 
addictive by entering the realm of touch. Devices have recently come to 
market that deliver genital stimulation synchronized with pornographic 
VR—essentially sex toys manipulated by a computer. There’s a lot of
money at stake. In 2016 the market for sex toys was $15 billion, with 
projections that it will surpass $50 billion by 2020.
Soon we’ll be able to teach the computer what we like by rating 
the experiences it generates in the same way we rate music and books. 
The computer will become so adept at fulfilling our desires that no 
human will be able to compete. The next step will be bodysuits that 
will allow us to experience virtual sex with all our senses, without the 
inconvenience of reproduction. People are already choosing to have 
fewer children. When current trends meet the allure of VR, the future 
of the human race will be very much in doubt.
With VR, the human race may go willingly into the dark night. 
Our dopamine circuits will tell us it’s the best thing ever.
There’s only one thing that will save us: the ability to achieve a bet-
ter balance, to overcome our obsession with more, appreciate the unlim-
ited complexity of reality, and learn to enjoy the things we have.

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PROGRESS
FURTHER READING
Huff, C. D., Xing, J., Rogers, A. R., Witherspoon, D., & Jorde, L. B. (2010). Mobile 
elements reveal small population size in the ancient ancestors of Homo sapiens.