For What? Why do we need new psychoactives?
(Originally published on drzee.org Apr 13, 2018)
We need psychoactives to circumvent the manifestation of behavioral evolutionary mismatches and the pain that they accrue to us. Our natural behavioral tendencies evolved in a hunter-gatherer setting, which is very different from the world in which we live today. As a result, we are led by our instincts to behave in ways that are not conducive to our own success. This may be correctable with compounds.
For example: The lust for revenge is a human characteristic that once served to warn others not to try and harm the vengeful individual. Today, revenge is often counterproductive and best ignored; however, ignoring anger can be difficult. It can be curbed by, meditation, medication or habit.
Another example, the tendency to be peckish. It was once the case that food was not as abundant and accessible as it is today
Those who were peckish were constantly on the lookout for more food and consequently were (usually) better fed. Today, this tendency contributes to obesity and substantially harms the individual who has inherited it, unless they have overcome it.
These evolutionary mismatches cause endless frustration and confusion as we struggle between what our logic tells us and what we feel “in our guts”. This internal conflict between what we know we should and what we feel we want is the cause of many of life's insecurities and lamentations. It is compounded by the biblical teachings of having been made in God's image and the resulting global feeling of entitlement to happiness and other worldly gifts.
But a practical theory of mind, one which measures performance at a task under the influence of different compounds, could help us depart from our prehistoric heritage and behave according to the needs of our time.
Psychoactives also let us ponder consciousness. A single milligram of a small-molecule compound contains hundreds of trillions of individual molecules, each one of which can create an interaction with a receptor.
Upon reflecting on all that I have written above, it seems that psychoactives are not necessary. Still, they can be helpful in living with less anxiety and less stress, ultimately leading to longer and/or better lives (of course, only if said psychoactives are used correctly).