Addiction to Power - 2001 & 2012
- From: davidp@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2012 10:22:56 -0400
From: imb...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (David James Polewka)
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: WI the problem is addiction to power?
Date: 05 Dec 2001
Organization: MindSpring Enterprises
Message-ID: <3c0dc317.86519061@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
What if the reason politicians keep having this peace problem
is because they're addicted to political power?
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9228257/Like-baboons-our-elected-leaders-are-literally-addicted-to-power.html
Like baboons, our elected leaders are literally addicted to power
Political power has a similar effect on the brain to cocaine -
and it's not surprising that, as the Leveson Inquiry shows, our
political leaders are hooked on it, says Dr Ian Robertson.
By Dr Ian Robertson - 26 Apr 2012
Democracy, the separation of judicial powers & the free press all
evolved for essentially one purpose ? to reduce the chance of
leaders becoming power addicts. Power changes the brain triggering
increased testosterone in both men and women. Testosterone & one
of its by-products called 3-androstanediol, are addictive, largely
because they increase dopamine in a part of the brain?s reward
system called the nucleus accumbens. Cocaine has its effects thru
this system also, & by hijacking our brain?s reward system, it can
give short-term extreme pleasure but leads to long-term addiction,
with all that that entails.
Unfettered power has almost identical effects, but in the light of
yesterday?s Leveson Inquiry interchanges in London, there seems to
be less chance of British government ministers becoming addicted
to power. Why? Because, as it appears from the emails released by
James Murdoch yesterday, they appeared to be submissive to the
all-powerful Murdoch empire, hugely dependent on the support of
this organization for their jobs & status, who could swing 100s of
1000s of votes for or against them.
Submissiveness & dominance have their effects on the same reward
circuits of the brain as power & cocaine. Baboons low down in the
dominance hierarchy have lower levels of dopamine in key brain
areas, but if they get ?promoted? to a higher position, then
dopamine rises accordingly. This makes them more aggressive and
sexually active, and in humans similar changes happen when people
are given power. What?s more, power also makes people smarter,
because dopamine improves the functioning of the brain?s frontal
lobes. Conversely, demotion in a hierarchy decreases dopamine
levels, increases stress and reduces cognitive function.
But too much power - & hence too much dopamine - can disrupt normal
cognition & emotion, leading to gross errors of judgment and
imperviousness to risk, not to mention huge egocentricity & lack
of empathy for others. The Murdoch empire and its acolytes seem to
have got carried away by the power they have wielded over the
British political system and the unfettered power they have had -
unconstrained by any democratic constraints - has led to the quite
extraordinary behaviour and arrogance that has been corporately
demonstrated.
We should all be grateful that two of the three power-constraining
elements of democracy - the legal system and a free press - have
managed to at last reign in some of the power of the Murdoch empire.
But it was a close call for both, given the threat to financial
viability of the newspaper industry and to the integrity of the
police system through the close links between the Murdoch empire
and Scotland Yard.
.
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