I was reading a book about addiction and wondered why does dopamine make us feel good. I understood the mechanism (largely speaking), dopamine latches unto a receptor and that we perceive as feel-good-stuff, but why? Why does dopamine, getting connected to a receptor, make us feel that way?
I know that we haven’t figured completely how the brain works, so maybe we don’t know why it does that, but still
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Humans have a biological supercomputer in their heads that can actually ponder the meanings and motivations of the universe, but most animals don’t.
They need a more rudimentary system to actually make them do things. Why procreate? Why store food for winter? Why even eat? Why do anything?
We big brained hominids know logically why an animal would do that but they themselves don’t. They do it because their brain compels them to do it, and rewards them when the work is complete.
This rudimentary “do a thing to release the good chemical” is a critically important biological function. Without it, there’s really no innate motivation for anything to do anything.
It works in a lizard, and it works on a human – do what you’re evolutionarily “supposed” to do and you’ll feel better.
Animals that don’t do that go extinct, so there’s a strong selective pressure to keep the system in place.
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