Are we all just drug addicts?

[FreeTony]

I have a background in Physics (and a little Geology) so don't know a lot about Biology, so maybe someone in the know could expand on this?

Is everything we do just tailored to getting the brain to release a drug that provides enjoyment? E.g. Eating, playing sport, sex etc. However the brain would still have to process the intake of this drug to give the sense of enjoyment? Pain as far as I'm aware is purely down to the nervous system and does not involve the release of drugs?

People also get a sense of enjoyment in helping others, or just "doing the right thing", be it helping someone across the road or going to Church. Even though people talk of selfless acts of charity, surely they do these acts because they enjoy either doing them and/or the outcome and this is because the brain somehow rewards itself?


This does all have a link to morality/free will. If I do something bad I feel guilt, which ultimately must be again down to the brain. Brains have evolved to allow us to exhibit empathy and work as a society. We also get rewarded for things that:
1) Keep us alive e.g. eating
2) Keep our genes passing from generation to generation e.g. sex
3) Survive as a society e.g. empathy, charity work etc


So are we all just entities that are trying to satisfy our pre programmed (either nature or nurture) brains? This is obviously very simplistic, but is it in any way an accurate reflection of reality?

[KichigaiNeko]

It comes close I think.

You are looking into the neurochemicals that cause a pleasurable sensation for which I am unqualified to give any succinct response to.

But YES, we are ALL addicts.

[FreeTony]

I think we also get pleasure from non-drug related processes, though I'm really sure.

It does seem strange that we have the long convoluted process (please someone correct if this isn't true):

1) Brain instructs body to release chemical.
2) Receptor processes chemical and sends signal to brain.
3) Brain interprets this and gives itself a pleasure response.

There are quite a few things like this in evolution where the solution isn't the most obvious or direct, however it works and is clearly the result of change over time (like the nerve in the Giraffe's neck).

It also reaises the question why is pleasure necessary? Does something like an Ant feel pleasure, or is just following pre-programmed algorithms in its brain? (These algorithms having evolved over time). The likely answer is it isn't necessary, but it is how we have evolved.

[LastPoet]

Human beings are beings of need. Drugs do feel nice and all(otherwise they wouldn't be so appealing), but in the end its all a fantasy. I have made the analogy many times that religion kinda acts like a drug or addiction and I know first hand that life doesn't make sense without [insert adiction or religion ].

I had to learn how to live without religion and addiction, by my own willpower, mabe costed alot of my pride, but I'm better now than before.

[Neo-Scholastic]

The OP certainly applies to those who have not yet accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

[LastPoet]

The OP certainly applies to those who have not yet accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

[FreeTony]

The OP certainly applies to those who have not yet accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Yes, of course they are biologically different.

Human beings are beings of need. Drugs do feel nice and all(otherwise they wouldn't be so appealing), but in the end its all a fantasy. I have made the analogy many times that religion kinda acts like a drug or addiction and I know first hand that life doesn't make sense without [insert adiction or religion ].

I had to learn how to live without religion and addiction, by my own willpower, mabe costed alot of my pride, but I'm better now than before.

There will be something about attending Church that generates something postive in the brain. This is most likely due to childhood nuturing. I may feel guilty about harming someone else or good about helping an old lady across the road due to my upbringing. Believers will feel guilty about not attending church due to their upbringing, or positive about praying.

It is all the brain rewarding itself for a given action.

[Assimilate]

Yeah, I think if you get down to the very bottom of it our lives revolve around brain stimulation and anything that releases dopamine.

[pineapplebunnybounce]

I think we also get pleasure from non-drug related processes, though I'm really sure.

It does seem strange that we have the long convoluted process (please someone correct if this isn't true):

1) Brain instructs body to release chemical.
2) Receptor processes chemical and sends signal to brain.
3) Brain interprets this and gives itself a pleasure response.

There are quite a few things like this in evolution where the solution isn't the most obvious or direct, however it works and is clearly the result of change over time (like the nerve in the Giraffe's neck).

It also reaises the question why is pleasure necessary? Does something like an Ant feel pleasure, or is just following pre-programmed algorithms in its brain? (These algorithms having evolved over time). The likely answer is it isn't necessary, but it is how we have evolved.

Pleasure is necessary to motivate you to do something. If something doesn't give you pleasure you wouldn't do it. It's the same with pain. People who cannot feel pain get problems with their bones and stuff because they don't remember to shift their weight like we do. The small amount of discomfort that makes you shift your weight without thinking is actually preserving your health. Just like the pleasure you get from eating salty and fatty food motivates you to seek out these types of food that were scarce when our ancestors were around. That's why we prefer sweet things, too.

As for addiction, I think (not too sure) it's only addiction if it disrupts your everyday life, and you try to stop but cannot stop. That's the clinical definition of addiction. It's like you can gamble it doesn't mean you have a gambling problem. You can take drugs it doesn't mean you're an addict.

[Angrboda]

There will be something about attending Church that generates something postive in the brain. This is most likely due to childhood nuturing.

No nurturing required. Religious behaviors gravitate to natural brain stimulants. Singing, chanting, dancing, waving your hands in the air, touching other people — these all have powerful and totally natural effects on the brain. It's probably a simple evolution of behavior; the more natural stimulation an act has, the more likely it will be incorporated into ritual. And then there's the drugs, ayahuasca, peyote, the drug used in the Eleusinian mystery cults, soma — many religious rituals involve powerful psychoactive substances.

There are any number of ordinary behaviors with powerful mind altering properties. Religion just cobbles them together to create a brain stew.

What other reason is there to listen to something incomprehensible spoken in a dead language? It's all just twiddling the knobs on the brain.