DRUGSthere’s also opposition within the future-oriented dopamine system
itself.
Why would the brain develop circuits that work against each other?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to have everyone pulling together, so to
speak? In fact, no. Systems that contain opposing forces are easier to
control. That’s why cars have both an accelerator and a brake, and why
the brain uses circuits that counter each other.
Not surprisingly, the dopamine control circuit involves the fron-
tal lobes, the part of the brain that is sometimes called the neocortex
because it evolved most recently. It’s what makes human beings unique.
It gives us the imagination to project ourselves further into the future
than the desire circuit can take us, so we can make long-term plans.
It’s also the part that allows us to maximize resources in that future by
creating new tools and using abstract concepts; concepts that rise above
the here-and-now experience of the senses, like language, mathematics,
and science. It’s intensely rational. It doesn’t feel, because emotion is an
H&N phenomenon. As we will see in the next chapter, it’s cold, calcu-
lating, and ruthless, doing whatever it takes to reach its goal.