Theo Von

Okay, yeah. So any of those things, anything where there's a potential payoff, then something happens. Let's use the quesadilla example because it's straightforward. You have the quesadilla, and it's pretty good. Tastes like the quesadilla you usually make. Okay, what happens? Your dopamine starts dropping a little bit. Not a lot, but you're okay. It starts dropping.

Let's say, just by way of example, you eat four quesadillas. Each time, it's going to be a little bit less dopamine from the actual eating of the quesadilla. Yeah, the second quesadilla, you can barely even taste it sometimes. Let's say you bite into the quesadilla, and it's like, ugh. This tastes weird, like there's something off here. Dopamine plummets.

Let's say, just by way of example, you eat four quesadillas. Each time, it's going to be a little bit less dopamine from the actual eating of the quesadilla. Yeah, the second quesadilla, you can barely even taste it sometimes. Let's say you bite into the quesadilla, and it's like, ugh. This tastes weird, like there's something off here. Dopamine plummets.

Let's say, just by way of example, you eat four quesadillas. Each time, it's going to be a little bit less dopamine from the actual eating of the quesadilla. Yeah, the second quesadilla, you can barely even taste it sometimes. Let's say you bite into the quesadilla, and it's like, ugh. This tastes weird, like there's something off here. Dopamine plummets.

So how much dopamine you get depends on the anticipation minus what you actually get, something called reward prediction error. But the language doesn't really matter. That's a bunch of nerd speak for when an experience is worse than you expected, your dopamine drops below where it started. When an experience is better than you expected, surprise,

So how much dopamine you get depends on the anticipation minus what you actually get, something called reward prediction error. But the language doesn't really matter. That's a bunch of nerd speak for when an experience is worse than you expected, your dopamine drops below where it started. When an experience is better than you expected, surprise,

So how much dopamine you get depends on the anticipation minus what you actually get, something called reward prediction error. But the language doesn't really matter. That's a bunch of nerd speak for when an experience is worse than you expected, your dopamine drops below where it started. When an experience is better than you expected, surprise,

It's way above where you started and it stays up there for a while. So the dopamine system loves surprise. Now, all of this is related to learning. This is an ancient system designed for you to learn where are the payoffs? Where's the water? Where's the food? Where are the mates? Where's the money? Where's the resources? These are ancient circuits that we are doing non-ancient things with.

It's way above where you started and it stays up there for a while. So the dopamine system loves surprise. Now, all of this is related to learning. This is an ancient system designed for you to learn where are the payoffs? Where's the water? Where's the food? Where are the mates? Where's the money? Where's the resources? These are ancient circuits that we are doing non-ancient things with.

It's way above where you started and it stays up there for a while. So the dopamine system loves surprise. Now, all of this is related to learning. This is an ancient system designed for you to learn where are the payoffs? Where's the water? Where's the food? Where are the mates? Where's the money? Where's the resources? These are ancient circuits that we are doing non-ancient things with.

And so for instance, if you do tour, you do comedy tours, right? When you do your comedy tours and like, you really nail it one night, like really nail it. It does two things. It raises your baseline level of dopamine. So the next time you go out, you have confidence, right? You're still feeling that, but it also raises the threshold for dopamine right now. It's harder to get dopamine.

And so for instance, if you do tour, you do comedy tours, right? When you do your comedy tours and like, you really nail it one night, like really nail it. It does two things. It raises your baseline level of dopamine. So the next time you go out, you have confidence, right? You're still feeling that, but it also raises the threshold for dopamine right now. It's harder to get dopamine.

And so for instance, if you do tour, you do comedy tours, right? When you do your comedy tours and like, you really nail it one night, like really nail it. It does two things. It raises your baseline level of dopamine. So the next time you go out, you have confidence, right? You're still feeling that, but it also raises the threshold for dopamine right now. It's harder to get dopamine.

You can't have the same experiences that you had prior to that really killer night and get the same amount of dopamine that you used to.

You can't have the same experiences that you had prior to that really killer night and get the same amount of dopamine that you used to.

You can't have the same experiences that you had prior to that really killer night and get the same amount of dopamine that you used to.

And when you think about dopamine, the most important thing to think about is how quickly does it go up? how quickly and how far does it go down? Because every time it goes up, it goes down. Why? Because remember earlier, we were saying everything's like a seesaw.

And when you think about dopamine, the most important thing to think about is how quickly does it go up? how quickly and how far does it go down? Because every time it goes up, it goes down. Why? Because remember earlier, we were saying everything's like a seesaw.

And when you think about dopamine, the most important thing to think about is how quickly does it go up? how quickly and how far does it go down? Because every time it goes up, it goes down. Why? Because remember earlier, we were saying everything's like a seesaw.

If you feel motivated, there is, and this is so important for people to understand, especially people with compulsions, addictions, and this kind of thing. The better it feels, the lower you're going to feel afterwards, and the longer it will take you to get back to baseline. So the drug of all drugs for this, to really nail home dopamine as a concept. Sex. Or what? Behaviorally, sex.