The dopamine-serotonin swing: from drugs to ideologies.
The dopamine-serotonin swing: from drugs to ideologies. Our brain uses different neurotransmitter systems to interact with what lies at a distance from us. There's the “here-and-now, accessible” the liking system (oxytocin, endorphins, serotonin) – and the “future, not-here, unavailable” system – the wanting system (dopamine). The first system is active when we’re mindful, accepting reality, and present. When we slip into rumination, anxiety, or fantasy, the second system kicks in. Typically, we live mostly in the present, occasionally switching to the dopamine system for goal-setting, desires, forecasting, and planning, and then return to the present (this is a simplified explanation).
Historically, escaping from reality was difficult due to its intense demands – survival, food gathering, mating, navigating threats – forcing us to remain grounded in the “here-and-now” with only brief ventures into fantasy. This created a vulnerability in our brains: a lack of brakes when consciousness and attention slip into fantasy. This works at the neurotransmitter level too – the less satisfaction you derive from the present (oxytocin for social connection, endorphins for savoring experiences, serotonin for status), the more appealing dopamine temptations become, and so does the virtual reality they promise.
The less people engage with real life (work, communication, physical contact, survival tasks), the more attention drifts into dopamine-driven fantasies. This effect has only intensified in the past decade.
The draw of dopamine stimuli. All dopamine stimulants share a common feature: they create a pleasant virtual reality that starkly contrasts with the real world. This could include anything: alcohol, for instance, creates a reality where problems disappear, and the person feels like a hero, relaxed and humorous. Religion can create a reality where the poor see themselves as righteous saints.
How people escape reality. Any dopamine stimulant can become an escape. People may flee reality through binge-eating, fantasy, reading, hobbies, collecting, binge-watching, sects, religions, news, conspiracy theories, or ideologies. The key is that the new reality should feel pleasing. There’s nothing wrong with immersing yourself in a good book or film, but problems arise when this imagined reality becomes preferred and starts affecting decision-making.
In such cases, reality loses its appeal; it becomes a nagging reminder of one’s shortcomings, something to dismiss or eliminate. This resembles a drunken person, sprawled and soaked, seeing themselves as a respected hero, or a fanatical killer who envisions themselves as a saint. Jean Baudrillard called this a simulacrum – a fake entity that replaces “an agonizing reality” with a simulation, a representation of something that doesn’t exist.
Eric Hoffer, in The True Believer, noted that fascists and communists recruited from the same “ditch,” drawing supporters prone to ideological obsession, overeating, or addiction. These tendencies are common in people with low status or who are experiencing tragedy and failure (an unpleasant reality). But how do you deceive healthy individuals?
Undermining the present and enhancing the future – reality should die. Religions and ideologies achieve this by devaluing the present and what people currently have (reducing serotonin) while promoting an “ideal future” (increasing the appeal of the dopamine trigger). This pulls people from reality into fantasy. It’s a pivotal point – the destruction of reality (post-truth) where reality no longer matters in decisions, and the criterion for truth becomes “if I like it, it’s true.”
1. Increase dopamine.
Amplify the appeal of scenarios that are alternatives to reality: tempt people with a glorious future (leftists), a golden past (rightists), or paradise with celestial rewards (religious extremists). These scenarios become virtual drugs, drawing people in and occupying their thoughts. The stronger the craving for dopamine, the less critical thinking engages.
The lure of “free rewards” is powerful – “Vote for us, and you’ll get everything just like that and become great.”
2. Lower serotonin.
Completely discredit the “here and now.” Right-wing extremists denigrate and criticize the world (destroyed traditions, weak leaders, oppressive authorities). Left-wingers also devalue the present (an unjust, corrupt, dangerous, unfair, greedy world). Religious fanatics see reality as a bleak imitation of paradise, the body as temporary, the world as flawed, and life as a fleeting moment compared to eternity in heaven (or hell). The aim is to instill guilt, dissatisfaction, irritation, and hatred toward reality, pushing people to despise themselves and willingly destroy their identity.
In this environment, people are pulled between a devalued reality and an attractive fantasy, which can lead them to reject real-life concerns entirely and prioritize a fabricated existence that better matches their idealized perceptions.
So what to do? What do I offer?
“... it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history, that we are in action at many other points in Norway and in Holland, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean, that the air battle is continuous and that many preparations (...) have to be made here at home. (...) I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: «I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.»
We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival”.
PS
Rose-colored glasses beat the glass inwards. Or - payment for illusions is a reality for which you are not prepared for. It is always surprising how people expect goodness and well-being from pathological liars, criminals, clinical sociopaths.
It's like fish believing the fisherman that he came to feed them. They open wide their mouths for free money (or the promises of a populist), and then complain that they were gutted and fried.
A healthy reaction to a freebie being shoved into your mouth is not salivation, but clenching your teeth so as not to swallow the hook