Is virtual reality the next hard drug? Video games already cause the brain to release dopamine, just like cocaine. That’s why they’re addictive. When the game makers figure out how to get the whole cocktail of brain chemicals flowing – dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, norepinephrine, anandamide – it’ll be like a “rapid hit of speed, heroin, ecstasy, marijuana, and cocaine” all at once. Then we’ll all be Obama voters.
View Comments (14)
That was a story line in Red Dwarf too although in the TV episode the "Better Than Life" video game wasn't shown as harshly as it was written in the book where it was like the animals preferring the pleasure button to food not just the guys wanting to escape the game out of boredom.
Demolition man come to mind to anyone else?
Okay, I've got to address the crappy science here. Dopamine can be released by anything pleasurable. Eating food, reading a book, working out, having sex, any of those things will stimulate its production. If you're going to claim video games are evil for stimulating dopamine you're also demonizing anything you enjoy.
So please don't post articles without a minimum of research. It just gives liberals more ammo to perpetuate the myth that we're anti-science Luddites.
Not taking sides, just trying to stimulate discourse. Actually I think you're both pretty much right, just coming at it from different directions. Not so much apples/oranges, more like Red Delicious/Granny Smith.
Curious where this electrifying technological breakthrough fits your pet theories.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn397-pushbutton-pleasure.html#.Ux3atqIdY1L
It's not dopamine that's the issue, it's dopamine induced by artificial means. Steak versus sugar. Eating dinner versus smoking crack. When you elicit dopamine quickly and effortlessly through artificial means - and yes, that does include video games - you lose interest in eliciting dopamine through normal means that require effort. That's why the mice in the famous experiments kept pushing the lever to prod their pleasure centers while they starved to death in the presence of food. It was easier to push the lever than walk over and chew & swallow the food.
And that's why kids will spend hours in front of a video game rather than go out in the backyard and learn to throw a football. It's easier.
The problem is also exacerbated by the fact that artificial stimulation of dopamine production desensitizes the dopamine receptors, which means normal pleasures never quite make the grade any more. Ask an addict how often he has sex. Answer: seldom. Why? Not enough pleasure in it anymore.
The linked article is a politically neutral one, so conservatives don't need to take ownership.
The act of linking to it is the issue. Holding up faulty information in a politically charged area or drawing the wrong conclusions from it is. The article might be politically neutral and fairly accurate, but the description under the link is misleading.
And it's only artificial insofar is you consider anything artificial. I don't see anyone up in arms that reading a book or listening to music releases the same chemicals. Or watching football. Playing it for that matter, too.
You cite drugs and mice and addicts wanting pleasure over anything else. And, yes, you're right. That's what will happen with sufficient levels. Interestingly enough, though, the levels we're talking about here are insanely small compared to those released from pharmaceuticals. Even cigarets will stimulate an order of magnitude larger release than playing video games.
In short, yes, video games are addictive. They're just as addictive as TV, reading, sports, food, or anything pleasurable, "artificial" or not. There will always be people who lack the self discipline to police themselves and budget time appropriately. People said the same thing about TV 20 years ago and it turned out nowhere near as bad as was claimed.
"People said the same thing about TV 20 years ago and it turned out nowhere near as bad as was claimed."
You're kidding, right?
That is quite a disturbing picture J.P., I don't think I even want to know how you managed to find it.
If something like this was to happen, we can't say we didn't do it to ourselves.
Isn't that basically the plot of "The Matrix"?
A simpler way of recreating the subjects of the movie Coma.
Hmm...
Brave New World.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/item/17704-un-plotting-to-dramatically-alter-your-views-and-behavior