Dr. Laurie Santos

to seek people out because it was just kind of there and so I think our motivation our reward systems don't cause us to kind of crave it but in the modern day where there's so many substitutes and we're kind of more isolated I think many of us are kind of experiencing the negative effects of loneliness but then when we think well what could I do to get out of it there's not this like I'm starving for connection we don't have this sort of motivational goal to go out and get it

And so what that can lead to is people making the prediction in their head of like, you know, I just heard Laurie say that this is a good idea, but like, I don't know, probably not for me or maybe not as important. I think we just don't have systems that tell us to go out and get this stuff. So even if your brain is saying, oh, it's not that important, try it.

And so what that can lead to is people making the prediction in their head of like, you know, I just heard Laurie say that this is a good idea, but like, I don't know, probably not for me or maybe not as important. I think we just don't have systems that tell us to go out and get this stuff. So even if your brain is saying, oh, it's not that important, try it.

And so what that can lead to is people making the prediction in their head of like, you know, I just heard Laurie say that this is a good idea, but like, I don't know, probably not for me or maybe not as important. I think we just don't have systems that tell us to go out and get this stuff. So even if your brain is saying, oh, it's not that important, try it.

Do your own personal experiment and get a little bit more information. in real time social connection and just take a moment to notice immediately after how it made you feel. And I bet it'll be like, you know, all the kind of fitness hacks and nutrition hacks that you talk about on the show where you're like, oh my God, that made me feel so much better than I really expected it to.

Do your own personal experiment and get a little bit more information. in real time social connection and just take a moment to notice immediately after how it made you feel. And I bet it'll be like, you know, all the kind of fitness hacks and nutrition hacks that you talk about on the show where you're like, oh my God, that made me feel so much better than I really expected it to.

Do your own personal experiment and get a little bit more information. in real time social connection and just take a moment to notice immediately after how it made you feel. And I bet it'll be like, you know, all the kind of fitness hacks and nutrition hacks that you talk about on the show where you're like, oh my God, that made me feel so much better than I really expected it to.

We stopped doing it.

We stopped doing it.

We stopped doing it.

Yeah. I mean, you know how the dopamine system works, right? Like it has these mechanisms to crave stuff that's quick, quick hits, right? Our instant, you know, when we go on Reddit or go on Instagram and scroll through a feed, we're getting these kind of quick hits. Another thing that is rewarding is new information.

Yeah. I mean, you know how the dopamine system works, right? Like it has these mechanisms to crave stuff that's quick, quick hits, right? Our instant, you know, when we go on Reddit or go on Instagram and scroll through a feed, we're getting these kind of quick hits. Another thing that is rewarding is new information.

Yeah. I mean, you know how the dopamine system works, right? Like it has these mechanisms to crave stuff that's quick, quick hits, right? Our instant, you know, when we go on Reddit or go on Instagram and scroll through a feed, we're getting these kind of quick hits. Another thing that is rewarding is new information.

You know, your Stanford colleague, Jamil Zaki, has done these lovely neuroscience studies that just finding out some interesting social information feels rewarding, right?

You know, your Stanford colleague, Jamil Zaki, has done these lovely neuroscience studies that just finding out some interesting social information feels rewarding, right?

You know, your Stanford colleague, Jamil Zaki, has done these lovely neuroscience studies that just finding out some interesting social information feels rewarding, right?

And kind of for the first time, we've been able to separate the reward value that comes from interacting with live human people and faces and social rewarding information that comes at us quickly at this dopamine hit that we crave a lot. But we don't have the craving mechanisms for the in real life connection. And, yeah, I think that's causing a lot of problems.

And kind of for the first time, we've been able to separate the reward value that comes from interacting with live human people and faces and social rewarding information that comes at us quickly at this dopamine hit that we crave a lot. But we don't have the craving mechanisms for the in real life connection. And, yeah, I think that's causing a lot of problems.

And kind of for the first time, we've been able to separate the reward value that comes from interacting with live human people and faces and social rewarding information that comes at us quickly at this dopamine hit that we crave a lot. But we don't have the craving mechanisms for the in real life connection. And, yeah, I think that's causing a lot of problems.

And it means we're kind of building more tools. to do just that. I had the musician David Byrne on my podcast. Talking heads. Talking heads, David Byrne, who cares a lot about these issues. He wrote this really cool article called Eliminating the Human, where he made the claim that pretty much every technological invention of the last 20 years has been...