Psychiatrist Peter Whybrow argues that Americans are addictively driven by the brain's pleasure centers to live turbocharged lives in pursuit of status and possessions at the expense of the only things that can truly make us happy: relationships with other people.
People are biologically wired to want more, he contends. We seek more than we need because consumption activates the neurotransmitter dopamine, which rewards us with pleasure. Historically, he says, built-in social brakes reined in our acquisitive instincts. In the capitalist utopia envisioned by Adam Smith in the 18th century, self-interest was tempered by the competing demands of the marketplace and community. But with globalization, the idea of doing business with neighbors one must face the next day is a quaint memory, and all bets are off. Whybrow sees the Enrons and the Worldcoms- the mess left by unfettered capitalism- therefore, not as a moral problem, but as a behavioral one.
Other countries are prey to the same forces, Dr. Whybrow says, but the problem is worse here because we are a nation of immigrants, genetically self-selected to favor individualism and novelty. Americans are competitive, restless and driven to succeed. And we have succeeded.
The result, he argues, is that the country is on the downswing of a manic episode set off by the Internet bubble of the 1990's.
Excerpted from New York Times Review . Read more or purchase from Amazon.com
