Macho men, moral development of the brain and the relationship to addiction

OrganizeInformed · Jul 30, 2021

An interesting conversation with Robert Sapolsky:

https://www.edge.org/documents/Sapolsky-2003.pdf

A few points here relate to NoFap and the culture of young guys. Notice it's just a biological fact that people don't have a fully developed frontal cortex until about 30 so young guys are at a disadvantage that way - not to mention if you have a problem like porn addiction. It should be obvious to anyone really thinking about this that there is a developmental difference and not all streaks are the same in terms of day count, younger guys are likely to find it harder. And of course right from the outset this paragraph challenges the typical macho man paradigm:

For the humans who would like to know what it takes to be an alpha man—if I were 25 and asked that question, I would certainly say competitive prowess is important—balls, translated into the more abstractly demanding social realm of humans. What's clear to me now at 45 is, screw the alpha male stuff, go for an alternative strategy. Go for the social affiliation, build relationships with females, don't waste your time trying to figure out how to be the most adept socially cagy male-male competitor. Amazingly enough, that's not what pays off in that system. Go for the affiliative stuff and bypass the male crap. I could not have said that when I was 25.

The most amazing thing is that there is a dogma of neural development. The dogma is that by the time you're a couple of years old, you have your maximal number of neurons, and all of them are wired up and functioning. But it turns out that we make new neurons throughout life, and parts of the brain don't come fully online until later. And, amazingly, the last area to do so is the frontal cortex, not until around age 30 or so. It's the last part of the brain to develop, and thus it's the part whose development is most subject to experience, environment, reinforcement, and the social world around you. That is incredibly interesting.

To put this in personal terms, my six-year-old might do something appallingly horrible and selfish and age appropriate to one of my three-year-old's toys. As a parent you swoop in and say, "This is not acceptable and you cannot do that." But just as I (or my wife who is a clinical nurse-psychologist, and so, pathetically, we actually speak like this at home) am saying this, the other will say, "He can't help it; he doesn't have a frontal cortex yet," to which the first inevitably responds, "But how else is he going to get one?"
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eagle rising · Jul 30, 2021

Wow, almost two decades ago and men are still trying to run around beating their chest. Well, there is at least some light. Some at least have the capacity to come up with such crazy ideologies like "red pill" and "blue pill". They have no basis in reality but at least there is a sense of using the prefrontal cortex. It might be safe to say that humans haven't evolved much from ancient primates. There are some out there, at least, that push knowledge every decade, while all the others are "in the bushes" fighting each other with nuclear weapons much like the baboons that just happen to find a perfect opportunity to engage in a physical altercation in the middle of a hunt.

Sapolsky may be right, the world will be in good hands a million years from now. Can the future descendants of baboons find a way to rise everyone above and beyond their impulsiveness?

Deleted Account · Jul 30, 2021

If you ask me the terms "Alpha" and "Beta" male should be used only in figurative terms/concepts not literal terms. "Alpha" to praise strong and brave men. and Beta to mock cowardly and weaker men. In all reality the terms Alpha male and Beta male are completely irrelevant as s men are generally more complex than this to live by these labels. This is because every man has his strengths and weaknesses. For example; I am more alpha in things such as exercise, whittling, playing guitar, archery, computer technology, driving, mechanics, geology, following the doctrines of my religion, and setting goals. In all honesty I am much more of a Beta male when it comes to talking to women It's not that I'm desperate and in need of a woman's validation and willing to throw away my self-respect and dignity in a desperate attempt to "Score". But because I am and still am terribly shy around the opposite sex. I feel this is because I feel that just the essence of a woman is enough to bring out the sensitive and vulnerable part of me. Aka the side I try desperately to keep hidden I do my best to remain my stoic and hardened composure but it cannot stop the overwhelming power of woman essence.

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Macho men, moral development of the brain and the relationship to addiction

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