The Molecule of More

Star Wars: The Old Republic required more than eight hundred people 
on four continents at a cost of over $200 million. The world of the 
game is vast. Working through all the story lines would require 1,600 
hours of play. Spending that much money to create a game is risky, but 
there’s the potential for a big payoff. Grand Theft Auto, one of the most 
successful video game series, had sales of $1 billion in just three days for 
its fifth-generation release. Americans spend more than $20 billion per 
year on video games; they spent only half that much on movie tickets 
in 2016, the biggest U.S. box office year in history.
DOPAMINE VERSUS DOPAMINE
It’s natural to confuse wanting and liking. It seems obvious that we 
would want the things that we will like having. That’s how it would 
work if we were rational creatures, and despite all evidence to the con-
trary, we persist in thinking that we are rational creatures. But we’re not. 
Frequently we want things that we don’t like. Our desires can lead us 
toward things that may destroy our lives, such as drugs, gambling, and 
other out-of-control behaviors.
The dopamine desire circuit is powerful. It focuses attention, moti-
vates, and thrills. It has a profound influence over the choices we make. 
Yet it isn’t all-powerful. Addicts get clean. Dieters lose weight. Some-
times we switch off the TV, get off the couch, and go for a run. What 
kind of circuit in the brain is powerful enough to oppose dopamine? 
Dopamine is. Dopamine opposing dopamine. The circuit that opposes 
the desire circuit might be called the dopamine control circuit.
You may recall that in many situations, future-focused dopamine 
opposes the activity of the H&N circuits and vice versa. If you’re think-
ing about where to go for dinner, you’re probably not appreciating the 
taste, smell, and texture of the sandwich you’re eating for lunch. But 

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DRUGS
there’s also opposition within the future-oriented dopamine system 
itself.
Why would the brain develop circuits that work against each other? 
Wouldn’t it make more sense to have everyone pulling together, so to 
speak? In fact, no. Systems that contain opposing forces are easier to 
control. That’s why cars have both an accelerator and a brake, and why 
the brain uses circuits that counter each other. 
Not surprisingly, the dopamine control circuit involves the fron-
tal lobes, the part of the brain that is sometimes called the neocortex 
because it evolved most recently. It’s what makes human beings unique. 
It gives us the imagination to project ourselves further into the future 
than the desire circuit can take us, so we can make long-term plans. 
It’s also the part that allows us to maximize resources in that future by 
creating new tools and using abstract concepts; concepts that rise above 
the here-and-now experience of the senses, like language, mathematics, 
and science. It’s intensely rational. It doesn’t feel, because emotion is an 
H&N phenomenon. As we will see in the next chapter, it’s cold, calcu-
lating, and ruthless, doing whatever it takes to reach its goal.

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THE MOLECULE OF MORE
FURTHER READING
Pfaus, J. G., Kippin, T. E., & Coria-Avila, G. (2003). What can animal models tell 
us about human sexual response? Annual Review of Sex Research, 14(1), 1–63.
Fleming, A. (2015, May–June). The science of craving. The Economist 1843. 
Retrieved from https://www.1843magazine.com/content/features/wanting 
-versus-liking
Study with “never-smokers” sheds light on the earliest stages of nicotine depen-
dence. (2015, September 9). Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved from https://
www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_with_never_ 
smokers_sheds_light_on_the_earliest_stages_of_nicotine_dependence 
Rutledge, R. B., Skandali, N., Dayan, P., & Dolan, R. J. (2015). Dopaminergic 
modulation of decision making and subjective well-being. Journal of Neurosci-
ence, 35(27), 9811–9822.
Weintraub, D., Siderowf, A. D., Potenza, M. N., Goveas, J., Morales, K. H., Duda, 
J. E., . . . Stern, M. B. (2006). Association of dopamine agonist use with 
impulse control disorders in Parkinson disease. Archives of Neurology, 63(7), 
969–973.
Moore, T. J., Glenmullen, J., & Mattison, D. R. (2014). Reports of pathological 
gambling, hypersexuality, and compulsive shopping associated with dopa-
mine receptor agonist drugs. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(12), 1930–1933.