WEBVTT - The Science of Happiness 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:14.480 Forward Thinking, either everyone, and welcome to Forward Thinking, the 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.159 podcast that looks at the future and says, what the 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.400 heck doesn't mean to feel like a room without a roof. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.320 I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren Volcabon, and we're going 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.639 to get happy in this episode. We are not only 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.400 because our third co host, Joe is out on vacation. No, No, 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:34.000 we're upset that he's out on vacation and terrible. We're 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.320 upset because he's on vacation in an amazing landscape, having 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.560 wonderful adventures and we're in a podcast studio. But that's 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.680 all right, Joe. We look forward to hearing about your 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.839 saga when you come back. Yes, he's an Iceland, by 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.240 the way, Yeah, that's that's the saga. And so we're 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.600 going to take the opportunity to really look at happiness 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.840 as everything from a biological function or a collection of function, 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.160 to how we might try and pursue happiness in the future, 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:07.920 and really to understand where we're coming from. I thought 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.600 it'd be fun to look back in the past, because, 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.160 as it turns out, the English word happy in its 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.280 original context meant lucky or favored by fortune. So it 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.080 didn't necessarily mean that you were filled with joy and 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.320 contentment and you had great life satisfaction. It meant that 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:29.039 you had fortune smiling on you, and good things were happening, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.600 and you were less likely to die. Right, right, Because 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.919 for a lot of history, it wasn't really about finding happiness. 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.319 It was about getting a bye. Yeah exactly. Yeah. You 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:43.480 might be that your crop has come in uh more 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.400 plentiful than you had expected, and so it was a 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.520 happy accident. It was lucky fortune that smiled on you. Uh. 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.880 And in fact, according to at least one source, I've 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.320 looked at almost every European language, the word for happy 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.080 traces its roots back to the word for lucky in 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:03.480 that particular culture, except with one exception. The Welsh. Their 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.440 word for happy traces back to their word for wise. 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.760 That's that's very sweet. It's cool, isn't it. I thought 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.480 it was so neat. Uh So if you, if you 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:16.760 are Welsh and you think it's wise to be happy, 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.680 I agree, yeah I I. However, of course, being English, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.240 I think it's just lucky to be happy. But no, 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.840 one of the things that has changed over time is 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.480 that we have as a species gotten better and better 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.840 at achieving our basic needs, particularly in the developed world 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:39.160 when we saw the various revolutions, the agricultural revolution, the 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.560 industrial revolution. These things allowed us to get those those 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.400 necessities more easily, and as we were able to get 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.400 better access to them, we could spend more time seeking 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.240 There's gotta be more to life than this, right, Where's 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:57.000 got to be something that will make me content and 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:01.120 joyful and feel fulfilled with my life. Now now that 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.239 I no longer have to spend nearly every waking hour 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.200 making sure I don't die, what can I do with 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.200 all this time? And that's where we kind of get 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:14.560 our modern concept of happiness, this idea of being content 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.880 and joyful and fulfilled. And uh so we wanted to 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.840 kind of concentrate on what it is that's going on 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:26.000 when we have this this feeling, right, because it's more 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.760 than just an emotion. It's there, there's a biology to this. Yeah, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.480 we we aren't like a hollow shell with various emotions 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.640 that once sometimes one of them rises to the top 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.240 and that's our dominant emotion. We're not We're not that, 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:43.520 We're not a collection of humors, although that was certainly 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.520 an idea that held sway for a very long time time. 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:54.240 We are very complicated electrochemical machines and meating meating machines. Yeah, 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.880 and part of that means that we we there's a 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.720 lot of complex chemical processes that are going on for 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.520 any given state of being, not just happiness, but anything, right, 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.880 if you're stressed, or if you're afraid, or if you 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.760 are feeling hungry. I mean, all of these different things 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:16.440 have different um biological processes that are associated with them, 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.320 and we don't understand all of them for any given 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.839 state of being. We're we're in the learning phase, yes, 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:25.839 especially where I mean we've said this on the show 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.200 a million times. At this juncture. Um anything having to 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.480 do with the brain is very complicated, and we are 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.039 really only beginning to figure out how it does. Yeah. 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:37.880 So if you're hoping that we're going to tell you 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:42.120 where the happy switches, we don't have that information. We 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.039 can talk a lot about some of the areas of 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:49.360 the brain that are important. Yes, there are many happy switches. Yeah, 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.600 with our question mark at the end. In fact, there 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.719 are a lot of scientists who don't really like to 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.880 talk about happiness as a concept because it's it's so broad, 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.640 it's also vague in encompasses so much that two people 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.800 can talk about happiness and have very different ideas about 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.640 what they're saying, and they're trying to have a common conversation. So, 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.760 for example, there's a psychologist named Martin Seligman who authored 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.760 Authentic Happiness, who wrote this book, and he says, I 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.440 don't really like the word happiness. I wrote this book 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.000 called Authentic Happiness. Don't really care for that that I 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.160 I like to think in terms of things like well 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.240 being or love, or growth or meaning or flourishing satisfaction. 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.400 These are concepts that are easier to define. You could 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.600 say they play a part in the overall concept achievement. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.760 It's the happiness umbrella, which I like to think has 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.320 smiley faces on it, but doesn't necessarily have to. I 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:50.520 like to think it's lined with cupcakes, a cupcake lined umbrella. 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.520 I didn't have enough for lunch today, so um yeah, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.760 it's it's it's difficult to even deal with this concept 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:01.120 on a scientific basis, because again, if you have a 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.839 large term that is not not precisely defined, it's hard 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.239 to get really empirical with it. Oh sure, and anything 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.040 emotional is necessarily going to be a little bit difficult 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.160 to empirically defined. Right. By breaking it down into these 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:18.480 kind of subcategories of happiness, you can really start isolating 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.840 chemicals and brain bits that have more to do with them. Yea. 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.120 So we're going to look at some, uh, some of 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.240 the neurotransmitters and hormones as well as some of the 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.000 regions of the brain that are associated with happiness. So 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.440 let's start off with some of these neurotransmitters and hormones 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.760 that we're talking about, because these are the chemicals that 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:41.760 we associate with various responses that are part of feeling happy. Uh. 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:46.760 And we're launching off with dopamine and nora pa nephrin uh. Now, 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.000 these are hormones that do lots of things. Actually, in fact, 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.160 all the ones we're gonna be talking about have more. 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.880 They pull multi job duty, as at most everything does. 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.960 The body is not filled with unitaskers exactly, so a 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.520 lot of these hormones are not even just regulating stuff 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:03.719 in the brain. They may have important roles throughout the 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.159 entire body. And one of those happens to be something 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.520 that goes on inside our noggins, but not necessarily the 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:15.280 only thing. So umin and Nora beneffn are important in 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.920 the reward center of the brain. So rewards are reinforcers 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.560 which indicate that the thing you just did was a 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.680 good thing and you should do more of that. So, 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.040 in other words, like if you were to uh do 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.920 a physical task that ends up achieving the goal that 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.480 you were aiming at. Let's say that you were throwing 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.000 a spear at a wooly mammoth and you hit it 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:39.720 just the right spot and the wooly mammoth dies. The 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.640 reward center in your brain is gonna go, that was awesome, dude, 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.880 you rule. You know, We're gonna eat for days on this. 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.360 Make sure you do that again. At the situation ever 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.840 pops up. It's like a chemical high five. Yeah. And 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.880 so it's something that is certainly associated with happiness, particularly 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.680 as far as it goes as being fulfilled or satisfaction. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:04.160 This idea that our own brain rewards us. It's it's intrinsic. 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.040 It's not dependent upon any kind of external gift. Um. 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:10.680 It can be associated with an external gift. If you 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.120 get that promotion that you've been hoping for you might 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.880 have that reward feeling. But it may also just just 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.160 by doing something nice for someone, you may have that 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.920 reward feeling as you see that the actions you have 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.400 taken have benefited someone else. Yeah, or getting an answer 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.440 correct on a test, or any number of stimuli, so 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.240 very important. Yes, then we've got endorphins, these things we 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.600 all do, their hormones that act as pain killers when 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.920 we're injured and can also induce a kind of sense 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.840 of euphoria. Yeah. So if you if you're a runner 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.480 and you've heard of the runners hide, Yeah, the runner side, 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.559 that's endorphins. That's a that's a big part of it, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:47.960 where you know, you you just kind of get this 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:53.320 this happy sensation, this this pleasant, pleasant sensation, even though 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.840 just moments ago your body was saying, for for goodness 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.559 sakes to stop. Yeah. Yeah, it's because you've you've pushed 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.240 yourself to a point where ear body is like, noah, 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.520 we need some pain killers. Yea, we have got to. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.480 We got to jump to action because otherwise, uh, this 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.800 person's own spleen is going to rush up to their 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.720 neck and strangle them. So I might be getting a 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.120 little loose with the medical technology and terminology here. But 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.640 you know this is my own personal understanding. I don't 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.040 run unless something's chasing me. Yeah, I feel about the 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.080 same way about it personally. Then we have serotonin, which 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.840 is a neurotransmitter that is biochemically derived from trip to fan. 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:31.760 You may have heard that eating turkey makes you sleepy. 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.160 That's not really true technically true. Well, I mean you'd 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.200 have to have a lot of turkey, like a crazy 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.400 overdose level of turkey. I'm pretty sure you would make 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.079 yourself sick with turkey before you would actually get sleepy. Yeah, 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:46.120 you would probably end up being at least thirty turkey 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.760 by that time right now. But trip to fan is 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:53.800 in fact where we derive uh saratonin. And again we 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.800 don't fully understand all of serotonin's functions within the body, 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.760 but we do believe it contributes to feeling of happiness 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:04.679 and well being and it helps regulate our sleep cycles. 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.720 So it also plays a very important role in regulating 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:12.520 our gastro intestinal tract, which again shows how these hormones 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.000 do lots of different stuff in our bodies. And serotonin 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.960 also plays a role in our appetites, so when we 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.560 feel hungry, so like I said, it does a lot 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.480 of stuff, but again we're not We're just getting started. 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.160 We still have more to go through. There's melotonin, so 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:33.000 we got serotonin than melatonin. These are two different things. Melantonin, though, 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.000 also helps regulate our sleep wake cycle and establishes the 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:39.680 daily cycle of various systems are circadian rhythm, if you will. 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:44.800 So it's largely in charge of making sure that our 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:49.280 our various rhythms throughout the day coincide with our when 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.680 we're awake and when we're asleep. This is the stuff 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:53.400 that uh, you know, you you kind of need to 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.400 be in a dark place to really start generating the melotonin. 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.400 You don't want to have lots of around you all 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:03.840 the time. It can really mess with your sleep wake cycle. 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.960 Uh So people who have insomnia can have issues with 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.240 that as well. So anyway, very important obviously if you 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.400 don't get enough sleep, that's going to affect your satisfaction, 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.280 your happiness, as well as your health in general. And generally, Yes, 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:18.800 and all of these systems are very much tied into 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.760 each other. Um, there's also cortisol, and this is a 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:26.520 stress hormone. Actually it makes you feel unhappy relatively, it's 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.800 really it's a hormone that is released in response to 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.679 stressors by the adrenal gland. And it's important because increases 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.040 the amount of sugar in your blood and makes more 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:39.240 available to your brain. Plus makes more like tissue repair 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.800 stuff available to your cells. So basically it primes your 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:46.199 body to get stuff done. Um and along with adrenaline, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.240 it makes you ready for fight or flight, but it 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.680 can also decrease the functions of your other systems. Uh 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.000 and basically says to your brain like be afraid, be 0:11:56.400 --> 0:12:01.960 very afraid. Um. These these mnicles are your body's equivalent 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.080 of like red alert, divert full power to the engines, 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.760 um and and you know, so that's really good in 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.800 some circumstances, but overall, that's not a great feeling. Yeah, 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.319 you don't want to have that be your your baseline, 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.719 right No, no, no, no, not not at all. The 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.520 amount of stress. And we've talked in the past about 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.440 how stress can have an actual effect on your health. 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.120 It's not just you know, you're feeling tense and you're 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.200 you're not feeling great. I mean it can really have 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.120 a really uh negative impact absolutely, yeah. Yeah, and so 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:40.560 not just the happy inducing chemicals but also the sad 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.520 or stress inducing chemicals can have a big impact on 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.920 how happy your overall being is. Right, and there are 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.160 there are those who argue, obviously that the negative ones 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.880 do play an important rock part because it it alerts 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.760 you to potential danger, helps you stay out of that 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.160 kind of danger, get out of a danger situation. But 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.000 then a lot of people also point out that we're 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:07.600 many of us are now living in a world where those, um, 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.400 realistically dangerous situations are few and far between, and yet 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.679 our body will still react in a negative way when 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:18.120 it perceives danger, even if there's no physical threat that's 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:20.840 facing us. Oh absolutely, you know, like like when you 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.800 get nervous about going on a date um, which you know, 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:30.680 historically speaking, is slightly less useful than getting nervous about, 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.839 you know, a bear chasing you, right exactly, but you 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.480 end up having the same sort of physiological response because 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.840 your body doesn't have Oh, let's initiate the date hormone. 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.400 It's it's not like that, No, it's more like, well, uh, 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.520 you know this this the thought processes. This is scary, 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:50.960 so let's enact the scary stuff. Uh So, anyway, that 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.000 the balance here is really important, and again we don't 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:59.160 understand all of them in which all of these things work. Now, 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.760 let's move on to some some brain anatomy. Yeah, some 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:07.439 of the hardware. Where so we talked about reward system 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.280 and the hormones like dopamine that play a part in it. 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.800 There are reward pathways in the brain. They involved the 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.960 frontal cortex, which has the highest concentration of dopamine sensitive neurons. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.600 Then you have the nucleus accumbus, which plays an important 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.560 part in our sense of pleasure as well as other emotions. 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.440 It can also play a part with things like fear 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.680 and aggression. You can kind of think of that as 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.040 almost like the reptile brain in a way. And then 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.680 you've got the ventral tegmental area, which is the release 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:41.160 site for dopamine. Yeah, the left prefrontal cortex in particular 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.280 is more active when you're happy, as opposed to the 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.240 right prefrontal cortex, which is more active when you're unhappy 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.400 or stressed out. Interesting, and that's really cool. I did 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.440 not realize that. Then you have the neo cortex, which 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:56.560 is the part of our brain that's responsible for a 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.640 lot of the the higher thinking functions like conscious thought. 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.600 That's the mammalian brain. Yes, sometimes here uh here it 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.480 referred to in literature, right, because it is not something 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.400 that is found in all animals. In fact, the reason 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.280 why it's called neo cortex is because it's a relatively 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:16.920 new development, as in late in the evolutionary uh pathway 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.280 of animals in general. I mean, you know, it's it's 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.000 only a few million years ago as opposed to a 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:26.440 few Is that correct? Is it only a million? Yeah, yeah, 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.520 you know it's I mean, you know, things have a 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.120 longer shelf life in the evolutionary time scale. So, uh. 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:38.120 One of the important things about happiness is consciousness. It's 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.800 the ability to be aware that you are happy. It's 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.680 the ability to be aware of the difference between happiness 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.960 and unhappiness. And there are many who argue that if 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.760 we did not have that ability, this would be largely Yeah, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.600 well we wouldn't be having this conversation, be incapable of it. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.840 But but the the consciousness is in fact a necessary 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.680 item as far as being able to to be happy. 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.000 And I like Shakespeare's take on this. He was not 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.000 saying anything new, and this was in fact something that 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.960 character Hamlet said. And you always have to remember. A 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.160 character saying something does not necessarily mean the author means it. No, 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.400 but he says there's nothing good or bad, but thinking 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.760 makes it so, which of course is to say there's 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.520 nothing innately good or bad in anything that's going on. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.960 It's our interpretation of it that makes it good or bad. Uh. 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.240 Thus the consciousness is the thing that allows us to 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:37.000 differentiate happy versus unhappy. This becomes more important in a 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.760 later part of our discussion in this episode, but it 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.520 just shows that these ideas have been around, and again, 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.800 Shakespeare didn't come up with that. He was voicing something 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.480 that the ancient Greeks had talked about ages before Shakespeare 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:52.360 came along. Uh. Then there's the hippocampus, which helps us 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.600 attach context to memories um. And furthermore, it gets damaged 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:01.120 by the release of large amounts of cortisol. So that's 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.800 really interesting as well, because that means that in a 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.439 in a heightened situation where cortisol is being released because 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.640 you are getting ready for fight or flight type of thing, 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:17.880 then presumably you might have difficulty recalling that situation well 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.480 in the future. Thus, or while it's going on, you 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:27.479 might have difficulty contextualizing what is what's really going on? 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:29.960 You might have it. It's part of why you sort 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.200 of freak out a little bit in those situations. Yeah, 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.399 it's also it's another good example of why eyewitness testimony 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.359 is something that we should be careful about, because memories 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.520 are weird things. A lot of times we end up 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.840 forming what we think was the actual memory of the 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.840 event that happened while it was happening afterward. Our brains 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.320 are not digital cameras, and every time we recall a memory, 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.600 we are changing it. Yeah. So I think that's a 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.960 little bit of a tangent, but important, I think Jonathan 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.360 rant time, Yes, exactly. So. Yeah, and it gets even 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:04.199 more complicated, right, This is just a tiny glimpse of 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.000 parts of the brain that are involved with our our 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.520 concept at least our modern concepts. These are kind of 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.439 referred to as the big ones, I think. But but 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.840 we don't know, Yeah, we don't. We don't even know 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.920 what we don't know, right, That's the that's the crazy 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:20.800 part of it, is that we don't know how far 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.160 away we are from getting a full understanding of the 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.480 workings of the brain. We know that it's far more 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.520 complex than what we are capable of explaining right now. 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.000 And when I say we, I mean humans as a whole, 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:34.560 not just not just two of us sitting at this 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:38.280 podcast table. That's already been clear from our previous episodes. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.200 But no, people as a whole. We don't really know everything. 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:46.400 And so since we're just fearing all this out, uh, 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:48.960 it's it's impossible for us to say right now that 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.200 we could come up with a system that could manufacture 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.879 synthetic happiness on demand. But that is something that we've 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:58.920 you know, thought about. It's something that's in science fiction. 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:03.639 It's something that's there's their experiments with uh stimulating the 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:07.320 pleasure centers of the brain, granted, and we're about to 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.200 just talk about specific ways of doing that with humans. 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.600 But you know, we don't have that that ability, And 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:15.760 the question is if we ever come up with it, 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.680 would it really be meaningful. So in order to get 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.280 to that question, we should look at some ways that 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.720 we've kind of explored stimulating different parts of the brain 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.359 that are associated at least in some part with happiness. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.919 UM so far, because this is absolutely a science that 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.640 is going on right now. In fact, in fact, there's 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.480 the first one we're talking about is the science that's 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.240 been around for a while in various formats, and we've 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.920 talked about on this show before, electrical stimulation of the brain. 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.400 You know, like we said, the brain is an electrochemical 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.840 organ and so the electro part means that if you 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.200 use some electricity, yeah, yeah, don't touch that, you never 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.960 know what's attached to. But uh so, we we are 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.240 seeing some people use electricity to treat depression. This is 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:03.920 not a new idea. It is the basis for electro 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.560 convulsive therapy, which is actually used for multiple types of therapy, 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.880 not just for depression. Um. And there's also deep brain stimulation, 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:16.040 which uses electrodes to deliver electricity to areas in the 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.960 brain believed to be associated with moods, specifically for depression. Again, 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:24.160 it can also be used for other types of treatments. UM. Now, 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:27.600 the big difference between the two is that deep brain stimulation, 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:32.360 as you would imagine, is invasive involve surgery. So you're 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.040 talking about drilling holes into a person's head, inserting wires 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:40.119 into their brain so that the wires terminate at the 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.200 point near the neurons you want to stimulate, and then 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.000 directing a charge at that specific area. All right, but 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.760 that's obviously a pretty high buy in for treating something. Ye. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:56.560 Usually it's for people who are suffering from very serious ailments. 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.679 I mean, it might be something like Parkinson's. It's not 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.080 for treating moods. But I did read a study where 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.840 it was used to treat UM, someone who had a 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:12.440 very serious case of depression, to the point where, uh, 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.080 of course this could have been hyperbole, but it was 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.240 in popular science, and the author mentioned that after they 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:24.080 turned on the electrodes and delivered electricity to the um 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:28.080 two specific neurons in this woman's brain, she smiled. She 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:30.960 said that the room got brighter and that she could 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.440 actually recognize emotions on faces, and she said it was 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.480 the first time she had smiled in twenty years. Yeah, 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.040 it's a pretty powerful story. Whether or not there was 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.359 any embellishment there, I cannot say. But you know, again, 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:44.919 it's one of those things that says, hey, you know, 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:48.439 there is this this power in electricity to have a 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.720 fundamental effect on our brains. Yeah, and right, we we 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:53.840 have talked a little bit about the other one electric 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.520 convulsive therapy before that episode was augmenting the brain part 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.440 to the tech, and it published an aug if you'd 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.880 like to check it out. But just to summarize real quick, 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:07.160 it's currently considered a really a safe and effective way 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:11.040 to manage cases of severe depression where drugs haven't helped. 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:13.000 And it's it's not like in the movies. Okay, your 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:16.280 ear doc is gonna put you under general anesthesia and 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:18.800 give you muscle relaxers, So it's not traumatic the way 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:22.159 that you've probably seen it portray. It's not like such 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:29.000 or where it's used as the threatening American horror story. 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:31.439 Nothing like that. No. Um, I mean, you know, the 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:33.720 thing is is that we're not even sure why it 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:38.159 works like this. Theories range from that it changes blood 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:43.119 flow or or changes the brain's metabolism, to changing the 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:47.480 chemical release and uptake of stuff to the stimulation of 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.960 nerve cells and pathway growth. Um. But but but right, 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:54.800 it's it's definitely a therapy that is good in these 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:58.280 extreme cases. It does tend to affect patients memory, so 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:01.720 it's really only a last sorts, right. We are talking 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:05.480