Ghost In The Shell

what we see now it's like a deem image in a mirror, then we shall see face to face

Dopamine, Motivation and Stress

Dopamine’s Activity in the Brain

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter called the “motivation molecule”, that that plays a key role in the reward-motivation behavior mechanisms, providing the drive and focus needed to get stuff done. It's also involved with the “pleasure system” of the brain to create a feeling of enjoyment and a sense of reward. Things such as getting food, sex, making money, earning praise, etc. increases dopamine and the feeling of pleasure. Most addictive drugs increase dopamine activity in the brain.

It is also involved heavily in the following:

• Reward and pleasure centers.

• Attention and Learning

• Sleep and Overall Mood

• Behavior and Cognition

It plays an important part in morning wakefulness as it inhibits norepinphrine’s melatonin producing effects and shuts off melatonin production in the morning when the brain needs to awaken.

People that suffer with low dopamine often experience hopelessness, worthlessness and struggle to handle stress.  These individuals will often isolate themselves from others and have self-destructive thoughts and behaviors.

Being easily distracted and having trouble focusing and finishing tasks can be signs of early dopamine deficiencies.  Long-term, poor dopamine signaling can result in hand tremors, slowness of movement and pre-Parkinson’s symptoms. Other issues involving low dopamine include schizophrenia, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and drug abuse. [1]

Individuals with low dopamine also display increased levels of impulsiveness.  A 2012 study using 23 adults were given a hypothetical choice between receiving a smaller amount of money immediately or a significantly larger amount at a later time.  The individuals who made the impulsive choice for immediate money demonstrated less impulsitivity and chose to wait for the larger sum after taking a drug that blocks a dopamine degrading enzyme (so they had more dopamine). [2]

It is possible to have too little or too much dopamine production. This is often due to the level of stress the individual is under. 

Phases in stress-response:

- In phase I, alarm response to stress, we produce more dopamine and other catecholamines.

- In phase II adrenal fatigue, stress hormones begin to plummet.

- In phase III, when we have adrenal exhaustion, we produce too little because the cells are burned out. Our dopamine secreting cells can be overwhelmed with stimulus to produce dopamine and begin to shut down, effectively reducing our ability to produce stress hormones on demand.

In addition, when too little precursers such as phenylalanine and tyrosine are available due to low protein diets or more commonly due to low stomach acid, low conversion factors (such as a B6 deficiency) can create an inability to produce enough dopamine. Also, poor sleep, hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia will lead to poor dopamine repletion and symptoms of low dopamine. [3]

Caffeine is the most commonly used psychoactive substance, and consumption by adolescents has risen dramatically in recent years. A study have shown that caffeine consumption during adolescence lowers basal dopamine levels and increases cocaine-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). [...] Caffeine intake is positively correlated with substance-use disorders (Kendler et al, 2006) and has been shown to increase illicit drug use and other risky behaviors in young adults (Miller, 2008). Despite the increase in caffeine consumption among adolescents, very few studies have examined the behavioral or neurobiological effects of adolescent caffeine consumption. We provide new enlightening data suggesting that enduring alterations in reward pathway signaling are an important consequence of chronic adolescent caffeine consumption. On the basis of these findings, it is clear that more extensive studies are needed to determine caffeine’s effects on brain development and possibly the permanent effects of adolescent caffeine exposure. [4].

Sources:
[1] https://drjockers.com/boost-up-dopamine-for-motivation-and-focus/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.+Kayser+AS%2C+et+al.+The+Journal+of+Neuroscience.+4+July+2012%3B32(27)%3A9402-09

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2761676

[4] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267102428_Effects_of_Adolescent_Caffeine_Consumption_on_Cocaine_Sensitivity

オフサイト

I go online everytime

Waiting... expecting to find something, but instead I'm just wasting my time and my life online most of the time...

And when I finally think I'll get it...

Don't go virtual, GO REAL... Live your life... This isn't your life.

Your life it's outside this walls... THE WORLD IS YOURS

Red Rubber Ball

I should've known you'd bid me farewell.

There's a lesson to be learned from this,

and I learned it very well.

Now I know you're not the only starfish in the sea...

If I never hear your name again is all the same for me

...

Always runnin', never carin',

that's the life you live.

Stolen minutes of your time

were all you had to give.

...

The story's in the past, with nothin' to recall.

I've got my life to live, and I don't need you at all.

The rollercoaster ride we took is nearly at an end.

I bought my ticket with my tears, that's all I'm gonna spend.

And I think it's gonna be all right,

Yeah, the worst is over now.

The mornin' sun is shinin' like a red rubber ball.

WhyMaps... Civilization Origins & Technology

I'll just introduce it to you this video in english but I'll make my point in spanish. This video explains the origins of modern civilization with an historical review of Acient Egypt and it's quite amazing the point of view of how things end up being this days and the impact of technology in the way we learn...

Es increíble pensar que actualmente se han realizado tantos avances en tantos aspectos de la humanidad (tecnológicos, médicos, etc) y como en algunos aspectos no se avanzó tanto e incluso en una época se dio un gran retroceso (aspectos humanísticos, sociales, etc).

Hoy en día todo lo que es antiguo se considera obsoleto, pero no obstante fue la base del conocimiento actual, por lo cual, ciertamente antiguo no es equivalente a obsoleto, ya que muchos de esos principios o bases aun rigen, a pesar de que otros tantos fueron siendo redefinidos o modificados para que se vayan ajustando mas al conocimiento del cual hoy disponemos.
No por nada, el avance de la tecnología se basó en compuestas logicas (0's y 1's) y como distintos rearreglos de estos pueden llevar a tareas complejas (es decir una respuesta cuantal "a todo o nada"). Siguiendo la linea de pensamiento de como afecta el uso de la tecnología en los días modernos, luego de ver el video, llegué a la comprehensión de que muchas de las herramientas de las cuales hoy disponemos tienen un poder avasallante sobre nuestras vidas. Tienen un potencial increíble para modificar, alterar e incluso mejorara la manera en la que aprendemos, la manera en la que se nos educa y la manera de volver accesible tantos conocimientos que de otra forma serían inaccesibles (pensar que hace no muchos años atrás, el equivalente de Wikipedia y otras fuentes publicas de acceso a la información - véase bibliotecas, el Encarta de Microsoft, entre otros - han quedado desplazados) y muchas veces tal disponibilidad de conocimiento termina generando el efecto opuesto, produciendo desinterés de aprendizaje ante el argumento de "para que necesito saber esto o aquello si simplemente lo puedo buscar y ya tengo la respuesta?"...
Un exceso de información sin un estimulo u orientación apropiada para hacer el uso mas óptimo de ella termina siendo un arma de doble filo. Ya que que el conocimiento esté disponible, no significa que simplemente podamos buscarlo y entenderlo si no tenemos cierta formación. Es como tener toda la biblioteca de Alejandría a disposición en aquella época del Antiguo Egipto y no saber siquiera leer (que justamente es una de los tantos avances tecnológicos actuales, traductores digitales de cualquier idioma a cualquier idioma de manera casi instantánea... ahora, el problema sería la fidelidad de dichos traductores y un primer problema sería si ni siquiera supiésemos un idioma adecuadamente como para poder entender dichas traducciones). El lenguaje es la base de toda civilización.

Una vez que rompemos con las barreras del lenguaje podemos volvernos accesibles a todo tipo de enriquecimiento cultural, siempre y cuando, tengamos un interés por que así sea y no nos volvamos seres desinteresados mas que por la recompensa inmediata, que es un poco otro de los puntos sobre los que trata el video cuando hace la comparación entre lo que es un videojuego y la vida real. Convengamos que la sociedad actual nos condiciona a que todo aquello que no nos genere una satisfacción inmediata no vale del todo la pena.
No por nada siendo el Antiguo Egipto una de las civilizaciones mas antiguas con tantos años de "invariabilidad" en determinados aspectos, fue lo que propulsó a las civilizaciones actuales a tal disponibilidad de herramientas. Nosotros somos de esas civilizaciones modernas, en las que si no es todo YA, no lo vale...

Podría seguir con el razonamiento y con mi discusión/reflexión conmigo mismo de otros tantos puntos que aborda el video, pero simplemente les dejo que lo continúen por ustedes mismos...

Rosetta Stone

Quantum Mechanics of the Human Brain & Consciousness

Today I would like to share this video I found a couple of months ago... 

It's called "THE AWAKENING – Quantum Mechanics of the Human Brain & Consciousness"

It's kinf of like a documentary with some scientific background which. I found it very interesting, so that's why I'm sharing it.

Some facts are quite accurate, but I feel some of the things on the video where way too exagerated to "sell you" some of the ideas. I hope you enjoy it and try to watch it with a critical view. 

Don't buy everything they try to sell you: