The Molecule of More

THE MOLECULE OF MORE

sort of more is worth having. It gives us the ability to construct plans—to
strategize and  dominate the  world around us  to  get  the  things we  want. 
How does a single chemical do both things? Think of rocket fuel that
powers the main engines of a spaceship. The same fuel that pushes
the rocket forward can be redirected to drive directional thrusters to
steer the ship, as well as retrorockets to slow it down. It all depends on
the  path the  fuel  takes before it’s  ignited—different functions, but  all 
working together to get the spaceship to its destination. In a similar way,
dopamine moving through different brain circuits yields different func-
tions, too, and toward a common end: a relentless focus on enhancing
the future.
Urges come from dopamine passing through the mesolimbic
circuit, which we call the dopamine desire circuit. Calculation and
planning—the means of dominating situations—come from the meso-
cortical circuit, which we will call the dopamine control circuit (Figure
3). Why call it the control circuit? Because its purpose is to manage the
uncontrolled urges of desire dopamine, to take that raw energy and
guide it  toward profitable ends. Also, by  using abstract concepts and 

Figure 3