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The 4 Modern Stimuli That Evolved to Enslave Us
- Written by NelsonQuest
- November 19, 2022
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One afternoon, a scientist and his students watched as a goose gave chase to a volleyball, hoping to ‘save’ the volleyball and return it to her nest, while she completely ignored her OWN egg as it tumbled along the ground just a few feet away.
The bigger, rounder volleyball actually triggered the mother goose’s primal instincts to a GREATER EXTENT than that of her own smaller, oval shaped eggs.
And while you might not believe it – hidden in this story is the secret behind why we struggle so much with the 4 ‘big obstacles’ of the modern age:
Porn <> Video Games <> Social Media, and Junk Food
What I’ve learned is that to overcome them, we need to understand them – WAY beyond just how they mess with our dopamine.
Because in reality, they literally HIJACK our primal instincts so that they can use them AGAINST us.
Which is why, whenever we use these things, we almost almost instantly we start to feel a strong pull TOWARDS those things, and away from the things that actually benefit us.
So in this article I’ll show you exactly how we can get back to prioritizing physical attraction over sexual distractions, income levels over mining metals, squats over tik toks, and healthy meats over tasty sweets.
Let’s get into it:
Supernormal Stimuli #1: Porn
We are biologically wired to seek out specific desirable traits in potential mates.
Women with fuller lips and child bearing breasts and hips, men with strong features and muscled bodies –
Porn combines ALL of this, and then injects it with steroids, ULTRA 4k HD videos featuring women with gargantuan sized fake breasts and men with horse sized penises, groaning and screaming in exaggerated ways as they engage in utterly unrealistic “casual sex”.
Porn is a ‘supernormal stimuli’ of sexual reproduction – the most POWERFUL primal instinct, which is why porn consumption results in a MASSIVE dopamine dump that is EXPONENTIALLY exacerbated by its ease of access.
Again, dopamine IS what motivates us to do things- so the more we consume the ‘supernormal stimulus’ of porn, the more motivated we are to consume more of it.
Which converts it into a vicious downward cycle that Men MOST tend to struggle with.
Here’s how I manage it:
First, we need to understand the left inferior frontal cortex – which is what allows us essentially ‘override’ primal instincts.
In other words – … our greatest weapon at combating primal instincts that have been hijacked and mobilized against us… is ‘rationality’ – which most people are sorely lacking in.
As an example, most men will put tremendous effort towards something like NOFAP, which I am a fan of, but then they won’t even take a few MINUTES to sit alone in a room and consider “what is it that I REALLY want, and how is porn getting in the way of that? “
When I took the time to consider this for myself – what I really wanted was to find an ideal partner, which meant I had to build my value and become worthy of an ideal partner, which porn was a massive distraction from-
And to make a long story short: I used rationality to understand my primal instinct to reproduce in a way that allowed me to channel it to become what I needed to become if I wanted to attract a gorgeous, young, intellectually-curious, supportive, loving woman… who’s very open to sexual experimentation.
Supernormal Stimuli #2: Video Games
Video games are, for better or for worse, the pinnacle of supernormal stimuli.
Anything and everything in real life can be believably replicated in a virtual world and reconstructed to include all of the ‘reward’ elements, without any of the risk.
FPS games like Call of Duty and Apex Legends, are so rewarding because they so closely mimic the activity of hunting.
From the firing of projectiles at mobile targets, to the cooperation with teammates and coordination of an attack –
Our instinct to hunt thrived because hunters had a better chance to produce healthy offspring thanks to the nutrition and sustenance provided by a fresh kill.
Games like World of Warcraft on the other hand – simulate an exaggerated sense of progression by including ranking systems, rare equipment, and achievements –
In real life, while might just be a ‘lowly’ student or work a boring 9-5.
Online, we can be level 90 elven warlock assassin.
Even FETCH QUESTS are forms of supernormal stimuli that simulate the activity of foraging – go to x area and retrieve x number of items or kill x number of monsters –
And all we need to do to ‘jack-in’ to these exaggerated realities, is this.
I personally LOVE video games – they’ve helped me tremendously as I move along the path.
And what I do to manage them is twofold – First – I don’t play any games that don’t have an ending – so no online or mobile games.
Second – I only allow myself to play video games… when I train on my bicycle –
Which means that riding a bike for an hour, something I used to absolutely hate, is now my favorite part of the day – easily my favorite life-hack ever.
By the time the hour is up, I’m exhausted and sweaty – so I don’t want to keep playing – what I want is a nice shower and to get back to work.
The best investment I’ve made for my health has been this one by far – and while I’ve got a pro bike setup, anyone could just as easily pick up a spin bike, which runs about $300 new or $100 used.
Get the Dark Mode guide
The Dark Mode Guide
is a simple system designed to help you achieve a specific goal by facilitating the development of relevant habits and creating the perfect environment to make failure impossible.
This guide is about actually walking the path. It creates a perfect environment devoid of excuses and forces you to face who you are and what you need to do in a way that’s sustainable.
Supernormal Stimuli #3: Social Media
Even before ‘language’ had evolved – our human ancestors had already learned the critical importance of cooperation and “group harmony” –
Which meant shared resources, and greater protections against looming predators –
As a result, we are genetically HARDWIRED to seek approval from our peers.
Social Media understands this – and hijacks this instinct to keep us in a perpetual ‘approval seeking’ loop.
Every post is an opportunity to demonstrate value and increase our harmony within the group –
And every like that we receive is a signal of approval –
All of which our brain sees all as increasing our chances of survival.
Furthermore, within these ancient tribes – there were ‘hierarchies’ – Where an individuals rank was determined by numerous factors – including the individual’s skills, knowledge, experience, desirability to the opposite sex, and relationships with the rest of the tribe.
Within social media – we’re not seeing someone as they ACTUALLY are – we’re seeing their virtual projection of themself.
Which are often curated to highlight MOST, and in some cases ALL of these ranking factors.
So how do our primitive brains make sense of all of this? They don’t.
We see people AS their digital projections – which is why overconsumption of social media makes us feel depressed about our own, much more ‘REAL’ experience of ourselves –
It’s as if we are, perpetually, the ‘weakest link’ in the tribe, even IF we’ve achieved some stuff.
Social media is what I personally most struggle with, and to manage it what I do is – and this may sound weird – use my rational brain to detest social media – I literally feel disgust.
Which is why I don’t use Facebook or Tik Tok, and only use Instagram to share stuff with you guys and save memories – I also only follow my girl.
To manage YouTube, I keep it uninstalled on my phone – , which helps a lot (although I still get lost on my computer sometimes watching creators that I enjoy too much).
What helps me most is to just be present, and to use my rational brain to differentiate between ‘enjoyment’ and ‘wasting time’.
Supernormal Stimuli #4: Fast Food
Our taste buds – which we use to identify sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami flavors – evolved to help our ancestors identify high calorie food , while avoiding unsafe or toxic substances –
While dopamine systems evolved to create motivation for doing the things that would lead to high calorie foods –
Which, in a relatively short period of time – has gone from this and this, to this.
And what shows up to our door isn’t a freshly killed bison or recently plucked berries –
What usually shows up is something usually a SUPERNORMAL STIMULI of REAL food –
Loaded with artificial sugars and colorings to simulate high calorie, highly attractive to give us lots of calories, and artificial coloring to make it even more to our ancient palettes.
If we’ve ever had a big mac, french fries, and a vanilla shake – then NEXT time we got hungry, we were probably thinking about that same meal or something similar, which is why fast food, like all supernormal stimuli, is always such a slippery slope.
Corporations understand this, which is why high calories aren’t so much ‘cooked’ as they are ‘invented’.. by scientists who have learned how to hijack our evolutionary instincts so that they can flip them on us.
To solve this, what I do is simple – I focus on the long-term feeling that foods are going to give me,, instead of blindly indulging in short-term pleasure. And I only eat delicious foods –
And before anyone starts with that b*llshit about how eating healthy is expensive – vegetables, fruits and eggs aren’t expensive, and there are tons of affordable and tasty meats and fish – you just have to ask around.
When we understand that porn, video games, social media, and fast food are all designed by profit-hungry corporations who don’t care about us.
It becomes a lot easier to look at the situation for what it is – and understand that we must rise ABOVE our instincts using RATIONALITY – to make the adjustments necessary to be able to thrive within the modern world.
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This is the path – ciao and cya in the next video.
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