The Molecule of More

THE MOLECULE OF MORE

for social interaction. The scientist you meet at the cocktail party won’t
shut up about his research because he can’t tell how bored you are. In
a similar vein, Albert Einstein once said, “My passionate sense of social
justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my
pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings.”
And “I love Humanity but I hate humans.” The abstract concepts of
social justice and humanity came easily, but the concrete experience of
encountering another person was too hard.
Einstein’s personal life reflected his  difficulties with  relationships. He 
was far more interested in science than people. Two years before he and
his wife separated, he began an  affair with  his  cousin, and  eventually mar-
ried her. Once again, he was unfaithful, cheating on his cousin with his
secretary and  possibly a  half-dozen other girlfriends as  well. His  dopa-
minergic mind was both a blessing and a curse—the elevated levels of
dopamine that allowed him to discover relativity was most likely the same
dopamine that drove him from relationship to relationship, never allowing
him to make the switch to H&N-focused, long-term companionate love.
Understanding how the brains of geniuses work provides further
insight into  the  dopaminergic personality, and  the  different ways it  can 
manifest itself. We’ve already seen the impulsive pleasure-seeker who
has  difficulty maintaining long-term relationships and  is  vulnerable to 
addiction. We’ve also seen the detached planner who would rather stay
late  at  the  office than enjoy time with friends. Now we  see  a  third pos-
sibility: the creative genius—whether painter, poet, or physicist—who
has so much trouble with human relationships that he may appear to
be slightly autistic.^4 In addition, the dopaminergic genius is so focused
on  his  internal world of ideas that  he  wears different-color socks, forgets 
to comb his hair, and generally neglects anything having to do with the
real world of the here and now. Plato wrote about an incident in which
Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, stood glued to one spot for an
entire day and night, thinking about a problem, completely unaware of
what was going on around him.

4 Autism is also associated with abnormally high levels of dopamine activity in the

brain.