Four square - Serotonin and Dopamine
Oversimplifying things can be fun, but to be messy, is to be human.
Gus satirically calls the 2x2 matrix, the McKinsey chart. If you haven’t seen a McKinsey chart before, endemic throughout business and military presentations (though at DoD they’re called quad charts and are a little different), here’s one on art.
The point is to poke fun at things in the upper left hand corner and make a statement in the lower right corner. It could be vice versa. Or neither. In general these are over simplifications that should lend themselves to self deprecatory humor, but somehow feel, often, self important instead.
But they can be fun. I met with Chris at Freewheel Brewing, one of the few establishments that pours beers on cask, beloved by my PhD advisor, Gareth1. And we discussed a number of things to be touched on in future posts: primary ciliary dyskinesia, complex regional pain syndrome, selection theory for individual objective functions.
And we had a five minute chat on the roles of two hormones:
dopamine, the hormone responsible for reward, drive and motivation - a huge topic of interest here at Lessons in Chimeristry. Additionally dopamine is affected by one of our favorite genes, COMT, implicated in placebo effects and ultramarathoners, which we’ll cover in the future.
serotonin, the hormone that mediates “satisfaction, happiness and optimism” - of even more interest!
Low dopamine levels are associated with craving and drive. Low serotonin are often associated with clinical depression (and is often treated with serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, though their true efficacy remains doubtful). Either way, we came up with this McKinsey chart, while discussing the corrupting influence of wanting to remain in power.
We never figured out where those drunk on power fall? Between addict and cult leader?
Nevertheless beware oversimplifications; they are dangerous to cognition. “Either/or” frameworks limit creativity or flexible thinking and can enhance dogma. At the same time let’s give ourselves grace; we wouldn’t exist as a species if we weren’t able to make quick analytical judgments. We were evolved to do make snap decisions, so maybe we might have a little fun with it once in a while. Like George Washington is in the upper right hand corner, right? RIGHT?
In the end, let us remember the grey, the diffuse idea, the marginalia, entropy, entangled relatedness, messiness and all else that give rise to the profound and the sublime of the human condition. From the wisdom of the ancients, from the Tao Te Ching (h/t Snitch):
Tao Te Ching – Verse 76 Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail. (translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1995)
Apologies to Josh, who specifically gave me feedback about my robust use of appositives. My bad!