Remember that insightful post I was going to write but couldn’t because I ran out of time before vacation? Well, here it is. And now it will be even better because I have a vacation story to follow right on its heels. One that will prove my point in a fancy-pants-j sort of way.
Okay, so I read this article on Slate.com, called Seeking, by Emily Yoffe, and it’s all about how perfectly normal it is for me to Google every single question that ever pops into my head. Because I’m human. And we humans are seekers. Of all the emotional systems contained in our brains, “seeking’” according to Washington State University neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, ” is the granddaddy” of them all.
He says that when we get thrilled about the world of ideas, about making intellectual connections, about divining meaning, it is the seeking circuits that are firing. The juice that fuels the seeking system is the neurotransmitter dopamine. The dopamine circuits “promote states of eagerness and directed purpose,” Panksepp writes. It’s a state humans love to be in. So good does it feel that we seek out activities, or substances, that keep this system aroused—cocaine and amphetamines, drugs of stimulation, are particularly effective at stirring it.
And so, it would seem, is Google. Because the dopamine system is activated by finding something unexpected or anticipating something new, Google and it’s world of facts at our fingertips is the perfect drug.
I had to laugh when I read this article, because recently I remarked to a friend that I’ve lost my ability to wonder. Not about everything. I wonder about how love works, for instance, because there is no right answer. An answer to the question of love is not googleable. But for any question that is, for any question with a definitive answer, I’ve lost my ability to ponder. I’m antsy. I ask, “What does a platypus eat?” and grow immediately impatient with anyone who speculates. Why waste time with speculation, I think. THIS is why I own a laptop!
I type in the search, hit enter, find out that platypuses eat “small water animals such as aquatic insect larvae, fresh water shrimp, annelid worms, yabbies and crayfish,” and I am rewarded with a dizzying rush of dopamine, just like the information addict I am.
But is it okay?
I have to say that my impatience troubles me. Just because there is a right answer at my fingertips, doesn’t mean there isn’t value in speculation, or, more to the point, in the conversation that cradles speculation. I think there is, and I think that I’m too quick to douse curiosity. Pretty soon, I won’t wonder about love either. I’ll read all about how it’s just a matter of neurons firing haphazardly, a chemical reaction science can explain, and I’ll actually believe that’s true.
How sad will that day be?
So, while we were camping and I was unplugged, I wondered aloud all manner of things. I wondered, and I let conversation ensue, and I learned if not the answer to my question, a lot about the people I love. Because just like Google – where one search leads to the next and to the next – conversation jumps from one topic to another. Not logically, like links on a computer screen, but randomly, erratically, over and under itself, conversation flows like something wild and alive. It makes us more human, not less.
Google’s good, but it can’t do that.
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And now for something completely different… check out these cardboard sculptures. Talk about recycle!
Wow Judy.
GRRRREEEAAAT POST.
Insightful and elegant.
I couldn’t agree more.
Nothing beats interacting with someone else to make your brain happy.
Face to face is best. The phone is good. Email is good. Snail mail is good. On blog is good(had to throw that one in)
But in person interaction with another human is divine. And I mean that in the most literal sense. As in given to us from a higher power. What you get back from interacting with another being, a touch, a smile, encouragement, a bouncing back and forth of ideas with someone else who is as fired up as you are about something is as close to heaven as anything on earth can be.
I love the information age. And I love finding out stuff.
I’ve been hooked on information since back when I got hooked on phonics.
Google is useful. And I love YouTube for music.
But I’m more hooked on humans.
That said, I have to go immediately to look up “yabbies” on google…..
And Huey Lewis on YouTube…
Then I’ll hug somebody and tell them about your post.
Each interaction will make me happy.
P.S. I can’t wait to see your fancy pants.
Big Giant hugs you smart lady you!!!
Karen :0)
Wow … and wow!
I do so love the way your mind works.
That explains why I spent so many hours with my nose in the complete volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica. I thought I was just a bit of a nerd, turns out I was a dopamine addict.
And the cardboard pieces, quite nice. Almost as good as the amazing rockets, boats and ships, and the adventures I used to create as a kid, all from the discarded cardboard box.
kid
I love having conversations more than google-ing something.
Mostly when I do have a question that I don’t know the answer to and I google it, I usually get upset over the fact that I end up on yahoo answers and read stupid answers and questions.
Other than that I’m okay with it, but still love conversations best!
PS: in a conversation when you get your answers there’s a small chance you’ll find porn, unlike on Google :P
Judy, you never cease to amaze!
Its funny today because I realized I have so much pop culture stuff in my brain that I feel maybe there is no room for “smart” thoughts.
Today I’ve been humming I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world and I realized I knew the band was Aqua. Why would I need to remember that?
Also, I know that there was a Sundance movie called Dopamine where the tagline was something like love is it real or just a chemical reaction? (even though I have never seen the movie)
So since I seem to store nothing but useless pop culture references I sorely depend on Google (and books) I was going to say a more rounded individual, or to complete me, but all that seems lame. I feel I’m not making sense today.
See case in point.
And Karen I too love showing up and there is nothing like a face-to-face dialogue. But I may need my laptop to fill in the blanks! ha
Mairi
“hey Chris, can you get me the numbers on extreme sports gear sales, in Orange County, for 2009″. Chris responds, “I like peanut butter”.
“yeah, that’s great. The numbers if you have them in front of you?”. Chris responds, “KISS rocks, man!”
“Quite right. Um, Orange County numbers…overall extreme sports gear sales figures…2009″. Chris responds, “Do you think the actor that plays Spider-Man can beat up the actor that plays Iron Man?
“HEY Jane, do you have the numbers on extreme gear sales, in OC, 2009?” Jane responds, “love is a many splendored thing da da da daaaa”
Sorry Judy, I don’t have time to read your post today. Full afternoon of human interactions ahead. Will catch up later!
I love this:
“conversation flows like something wild and alive”
And I also copy Mairi’s words:
“Judy, you never cease to amaze!”
Hey y’all. I was without wifi all day today – thank you for being here when I got back!
Karen, I like the idea of divinity. Maybe it’s inside us all – we are, in fact, divine all by ourselves? (I know you are!)
Linda, I so wanted to write this post. Your response is perfect. Thank you!
Kid, Dopamine addiction before the internet era. Yay you!
Estrella, your porn observation made me laugh aloud! And you’re so right about that!
Mairi, tune in tomorrow where I think I might be making your point. Or if not, I’ll be entertaining.
Bobby, I love that conversation. I’d especially love to think you actually had it, but I’ll settle for your always-make-me-laugh imagination.
Terre, Thank you! I had such a long day today. I’m so tired. Your sweetness is just what I needed!
Red, you taught me something today :-). I understand a little more why I have this love-hate relationship with technology, loving the Matrix we live in, yet hating its borg-like collective mind. We used to have to build trusting relationships, yet now we can question every thought, decision and action, get 50 million reviews on a candy bar before we bite into it, and cogugate any subject until it dies of abuse.
And yet, I feel the need to sit here with my blackberry, and respond right now, because even that feeds my need to put bumps and dents in my gray matter. The “dope of mine” or “dope of mind” addicts us to sticking that big ol ethernet or wireless adapter straight in our brain, and “feed me till I want no more”
Unplugging sounds more and more appealing…
But that means I have to turn this off… :-)
TPJ, Wait! It’s about balance. Dropping me will make you sad and lonely! (Or it’ll make me sad and lonely. Either way, I hate that idea!) My suggestion – Keep me but only Google about 50 percent of what you’re curious about. (You can just ask me about the rest!)