Narcos of life!

I am realizing that right use of words makes such a big difference! 

Towards the beginning of the series, they use a phrase in Narcos - Cocaine hijacks the pleasure centers in the brain. Mostly, in the past, I have seen use of terms such as Cocaine releases happy hormones, it increases the production of oxytocin, etc. But when you say, hijacks, it gives a whole new meaning altogether.

Our brain is designed to choose options that either help avoid pain or approach pleasure. Now, in life, many things give pleasure. A good job, a happy family, healthy social interactions, good cinema, good food, good sex, beautiful home, and so on. So, we often find ourselves making choices that catalyze these events or prevent obstructions to these events. A decision to commit to an EMI of 2 lac rupees a month is towards the pleasure of owning a beautiful home, a decision to increase one’s responsibilities by welcoming a new baby is towards the pleasure of possessing a happy family. 

What happens when the pleasure centers are hijacked by an object? It means, the pleasure center will now positively respond to only one object instead of gaining pleasure from multiple things. Which means other things lose their ability to produce pleasures. Hijacking, in effect, renders other pleasure-providers useless!

Now, this makes sense! 

Now, all decision making happens in order to increase the presence of that one pleasure-provider in your life. Which means, if these choices come at the cost of the erstwhile pleasure providers such as home, money, family, relationships, etc, you become okay to forego them because the purpose they were fulfilling for you earlier is now being fulfilled by one object – the hijacker.

In an experiment to study the effects of cocaine on rats, two pumps were set up which the rat could operate by nudging. Upon nudging, only one would open. One gave food, the other cocaine. The rat starved to death but chose cocaine without fail.

One word. Can clarify so much!