Getting High on Truth

[Received]

Look, when we realize something we get a dopamine kick. With enough of these kicks, being curious, interested, nerdy, dedicated to truth, facts, reason, logic, whatever -- all these things eventually become part of a behavioral contingency via positive reinforcement: I learn something, I get a dopamine kick, which increases my odds of wanting to learn something in the future.

Which brings me to intellectuals, whether professors, scientists, thinkers, anything, or even any person who has any varying inclination to learn about things. They are most definitely lying when they tell you it's all about truth. No. It's all about truth and the dopamine kick.

When we're getting wise, we're really just getting high in a socially acceptable way. Nerds are just people who, if they were in a usual substance abuse scenario (beer, wine, cocaine, etc.), would be locked away for fifty years or dried out in rehab. Adds a whole new meaning to, "getting high on life," right?

(How was that kick? Gooooood stuff, eh?)

 

[Vergil10]

Look, when we realize something we get a dopamine kick. With enough of these kicks, being curious, interested, nerdy, dedicated to truth, facts, reason, logic, whatever -- all these things eventually become part of a behavioral contingency via positive reinforcement: I learn something, I get a dopamine kick, which increases my odds of wanting to learn something in the future.

Which brings me to intellectuals, whether professors, scientists, thinkers, anything, or even any person who has any varying inclination to learn about things. They are most definitely lying when they tell you it's all about truth. No. It's all about truth and the dopamine kick.

When we're getting wise, we're really just getting high in a socially acceptable way. Nerds are just people who, if they were in a usual substance abuse scenario (beer, wine, cocaine, etc.), would be locked away for fifty years or dried out in rehab. Adds a whole new meaning to, "getting high on life," right?

(How was that kick? Gooooood stuff, eh?)

i am sorry but im not entirely sure of the point you are trying to make. are you saying we should avoid knowledge because of the psychological effects it has? and are using that as a basis that knowledge is therefore bad? would you say all things that produce psychological effects (for example being in groups, working out, etc.) should also be avoided beacuse of this?

 

[BL2KTN]

I enjoy learning the truth because I am better able to navigate the world, not because of some emotional/chemical high.

 

[variant]

Look, when we realize something we get a dopamine kick. With enough of these kicks, being curious, interested, nerdy, dedicated to truth, facts, reason, logic, whatever -- all these things eventually become part of a behavioral contingency via positive reinforcement: I learn something, I get a dopamine kick, which increases my odds of wanting to learn something in the future.

Which brings me to intellectuals, whether professors, scientists, thinkers, anything, or even any person who has any varying inclination to learn about things. They are most definitely lying when they tell you it's all about truth. No. It's all about truth and the dopamine kick.

When we're getting wise, we're really just getting high in a socially acceptable way. Nerds are just people who, if they were in a usual substance abuse scenario (beer, wine, cocaine, etc.), would be locked away for fifty years or dried out in rehab. Adds a whole new meaning to, "getting high on life," right?

(How was that kick? Gooooood stuff, eh?)

Getting a dopamine kick for curiosity in pursuit of truth is not bad, it is part of who you are, which is part of the truth.

Are you seriously down on being a habitual user of curiosity and discovery?

 

[Received]

Getting a dopamine kick for curiosity in pursuit of truth is not bad, it is part of who you are, which is part of the truth.

Are you seriously down on being a habitual user of curiosity and discovery?

Yes! I don't think it's bad at all. It's what makes truth good, or why we are inclined toward it.

So getting high CAN be a very good thing!

 

[variant]

Yes! I don't think it's bad at all. It's what makes truth good, or why we are inclined toward it.

So getting high CAN be a very good thing!

Being an organized chemical process is part of who you are.

The reasoning behind why you would get positive feed back from gaining knowledge though seems pretty easy to justify.

And further, if you are a chemical system prone to become addicted to the chemical feedback from knowledge gathering, how is that terribly different than or distinguishable from being genuinely interested in truth?

Isn't that just what it means to be interested?

 

[True Scotsman]

Look, when we realize something we get a dopamine kick. With enough of these kicks, being curious, interested, nerdy, dedicated to truth, facts, reason, logic, whatever -- all these things eventually become part of a behavioral contingency via positive reinforcement: I learn something, I get a dopamine kick, which increases my odds of wanting to learn something in the future.

Which brings me to intellectuals, whether professors, scientists, thinkers, anything, or even any person who has any varying inclination to learn about things. They are most definitely lying when they tell you it's all about truth. No. It's all about truth and the dopamine kick.

When we're getting wise, we're really just getting high in a socially acceptable way. Nerds are just people who, if they were in a usual substance abuse scenario (beer, wine, cocaine, etc.), would be locked away for fifty years or dried out in rehab. Adds a whole new meaning to, "getting high on life," right?

(How was that kick? Gooooood stuff, eh?)

Agreed!!!

 

[DogmaHunter]

Look, when we realize something we get a dopamine kick. With enough of these kicks, being curious, interested, nerdy, dedicated to truth, facts, reason, logic, whatever -- all these things eventually become part of a behavioral contingency via positive reinforcement: I learn something, I get a dopamine kick, which increases my odds of wanting to learn something in the future.

Which brings me to intellectuals, whether professors, scientists, thinkers, anything, or even any person who has any varying inclination to learn about things. They are most definitely lying when they tell you it's all about truth. No. It's all about truth and the dopamine kick.

When we're getting wise, we're really just getting high in a socially acceptable way. Nerds are just people who, if they were in a usual substance abuse scenario (beer, wine, cocaine, etc.), would be locked away for fifty years or dried out in rehab. Adds a whole new meaning to, "getting high on life," right?

(How was that kick? Gooooood stuff, eh?)

Sure.

Here's the thing though.
All emotion is ultimately fueled by brain chemistry. And not all of it is good.

This "high" you speak of is certainly real.
I get a kick out of the adrenaline rush when playing the drums on stage.
I get a kick out of the dopamine rush when nailing that groove I had trouble with or when I fixed that stinky bug in the software.

But other people get those rushes when doing some rather nasty stuff.

In any case, I think truth is its own reward.

 

[bhsmte]

Look, when we realize something we get a dopamine kick. With enough of these kicks, being curious, interested, nerdy, dedicated to truth, facts, reason, logic, whatever -- all these things eventually become part of a behavioral contingency via positive reinforcement: I learn something, I get a dopamine kick, which increases my odds of wanting to learn something in the future.

Which brings me to intellectuals, whether professors, scientists, thinkers, anything, or even any person who has any varying inclination to learn about things. They are most definitely lying when they tell you it's all about truth. No. It's all about truth and the dopamine kick.

When we're getting wise, we're really just getting high in a socially acceptable way. Nerds are just people who, if they were in a usual substance abuse scenario (beer, wine, cocaine, etc.), would be locked away for fifty years or dried out in rehab. Adds a whole new meaning to, "getting high on life," right?

(How was that kick? Gooooood stuff, eh?)

Well, people get their kicks in different ways. Some get them from being as accurate as they possibly can and feeling assured, they got it right. Others get their kicks in different ways and it all comes down to what floats your boat.

I would akin this to the distance runner who continues to workout when they are sick, or if it is 10 below zero outside (which I am familiar with). Are they doing it for the benefits of being fit, or the endorphin rush?

 

[Paradoxum]

Highness should always be legal.

(I'm not sure that claim that 'it's all about truth', and 'we are motivated to care about truth', are mutually exclusive.)

 

[Usus Vox Tractus]

Like when I finally see the pattern under a huge set of individual data points, and all the points then fractally rearrange into a nested wholon, I have full blown multiple mind-gasms.

The first one I had lasted for 6 months!

But then again, I'd been playing with it for well over a decade!

 

[Received]

Like when I finally see the pattern under a huge set of individual data points, and all the points then fractally rearrange into a nested wholon, I have full blown multiple mind-gasms.

The first one I had lasted for 6 months!

But then again, I'd been playing with it for well over a decade!

That's a long workup for an [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse].

 

[Usus Vox Tractus]

That's a long workup for an [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse].

Not that long for a magnum opus and knowing exactly what I'm supposed to do here this life.


Now it just a matter of doing it!

 

[Received]

i am sorry but im not entirely sure of the point you are trying to make. are you saying we should avoid knowledge because of the psychological effects it has? and are using that as a basis that knowledge is therefore bad? would you say all things that produce psychological effects (for example being in groups, working out, etc.) should also be avoided beacuse of this?

I'm not saying we should avoid or approach knowledge because of physiological processes. I'm just pointing out how the physiological processes are what motivates a search for truth, given how good truth makes us feel because of the dopamine kick. IOW, unveiling the hypocrisy of some so-called truth-at-all-costs thinkers.

 

[Received]

I enjoy learning the truth because I am better able to navigate the world, not because of some emotional/chemical high.

I promise if you got a kick of cortisol instead of dopamine, you definitely wouldn't be saying that.

 

[Received]

Being an organized chemical process is part of who you are.

The reasoning behind why you would get positive feed back from gaining knowledge though seems pretty easy to justify.

And further, if you are a chemical system prone to become addicted to the chemical feedback from knowledge gathering, how is that terribly different than or distinguishable from being genuinely interested in truth?

Isn't that just what it means to be interested?

Right. I think getting "high" with this feedback loop is the way to go, because it's a noble form of reinforcement. At the same time, we shouldn't assume (whether theist or atheists), caught up on outdated postenlightenment perceptions of human behavior (reason divorced from emotion, emotion as a last resort), that it's "just" about truth.

 

[Received]

Sure.

Here's the thing though.
All emotion is ultimately fueled by brain chemistry. And not all of it is good.

This "high" you speak of is certainly real.
I get a kick out of the adrenaline rush when playing the drums on stage.
I get a kick out of the dopamine rush when nailing that groove I had trouble with or when I fixed that stinky bug in the software.

But other people get those rushes when doing some rather nasty stuff.

In any case, I think truth is its own reward.

Nothing is really its own reward, given that we're emotional, neurotransmittery creatures.

 

[Received]

Well, people get their kicks in different ways. Some get them from being as accurate as they possibly can and feeling assured, they got it right. Others get their kicks in different ways and it all comes down to what floats your boat.

I would akin this to the distance runner who continues to workout when they are sick, or if it is 10 below zero outside (which I am familiar with). Are they doing it for the benefits of being fit, or the endorphin rush?

And I think there's a world of difference, apropos your distinction, between the person who values truth and gets a dopamine kick as a secondary value, and a person who values truth just for the warm fuzzies it involves. That's the difference, in a drug setting, between a person who uses and abuses drugs.

At the same time, I think a lot of professors and intellectuals value truth for this primary abuse-related reason. But they play it off as wisdom. That's the hypocrisy. If their drug was cocaine instead of dopamine, they'd be treated as criminals.

 

[Received]

Highness should always be legal.

(I'm not sure that claim that 'it's all about truth', and 'we are motivated to care about truth', are mutually exclusive.)

Bill Hicks said marijuana shouldn't just be legal, it should be required by law.

That way when you see some dude totally going nuts because he's late to work, knock knock knock, "oh high officer", "smoke this, it's the law."

 

[KCfromNC]

I'm not saying we should avoid or approach knowledge because of physiological processes. I'm just pointing out how the physiological processes are what motivates a search for truth, given how good truth makes us feel because of the dopamine kick. IOW, unveiling the hypocrisy of some so-called truth-at-all-costs thinkers.

404 : Hypocrisy not found.