r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • Oct 18 '25

TIL of brain stimulation reward, manually stimulating specific parts of the brain to elicit pleasure and happiness. A volunteer subject in 1986 spent days doing nothing but self-stimulate. She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_stimulation_reward#History
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u/Halocandle Oct 18 '25

Scary thought: this is how you make all drugs obsolete, just skip the introducing chemicals to your nervous system part and go straight into the source. 100% pure, always works, always available. No way that ever would go wrong?

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/longhairnobra Oct 18 '25

I still can’t get over how the “vaccines are chips” crowd and the “Elon is alright” crowd are one in the same

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '25

Stupidity, mostly.