Story of pachinko machines and the mind Or: Habits & Dopamine Or: The path of least resistance Or: The daily gamble
Why do you do as you do? Why are you motivated to do one thing and not another? To me, it seems I do what I do largely based on projected dopamine rewards. I am motivated to do things I know will give me that feel-good chemical.
That includes seeing friends, computer games, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sex, scrolling my phone, listening to music and the list goes on. Basically anything I enjoy.
A realization came to me when I imagined myself every morning as a ball on top of a hill — ready to roll down different paths for the day and do whatever I do.
The ball, or me, will usually go along the trodden path — i.e. the path I know will give me a dopamine boost. It is the path of least resistance, least risk and also the one I most likely will roll down any given day. The path includes any of the things I listed that I enjoy. And the paths most trodden we call habits because we tend to do them very often.
In this context, a habit is essentially anything that grabs my attention. It can be thoughts or physical action I take in the world. Now you might wonder — what does this have to do with pachinko machines?
Well, pachinko machines are ball gambling machines that are huge in Japan — kind of like a ball rolling down a complicated hill with complicated paths, leading to different prizes. This pachinko machine video describes it well, I like to visualize the mind like this video:
https://vimeo.com/280411716#t=12s
Each ball is a different day and can take different paths depending on what habits or mechanisms we have built in our personal pachinko machines. Each habit represents a different part of the pachinko machine and tends to move the ball in certain directions. Eventually, the ball always drops to the bottom and we fall asleep — resetting for the next day.
This presents many interesting approaches to a day. Among others the problem: if I continue to roll down the trodden paths, how can I lead the ball to different, potentially better, and more interesting paths down the line that lead to better payouts (subjectively)? I am not as motivated to find new sources of dopamine, i.e. new paths. Sometimes the ball can randomly jump off to new paths that give high reward but they rarely become habits. The already known paths have a strong pull for the ball because they take up a huge part of the pachinko machine already. In other words, the larger a known dopamine kick is, the larger pull it has on the ball.
This is worth repeating: unknown actions with unknown rewards (as new things often are) tend to pull less on the ball than known dopamine habits. This makes it difficult to try new things because it simply not as attractive. This is the core of the issue — getting stuck with a certain pachinko machine setup — not changing. Why do I think change is positive? Two reasons:
- Change is the only constant in life. Nothing stays the same. Better to embrace change than avoid it — because it will hit me nonetheless
- To a certain point in life, it is more interesting to try different combinations of different things. This point is age dependent, I’m not even sure if it exists — can I ever say I have tried enough things to truly know what I like? Life on planet earth is so complex I could keep on trying new things and never try everything. Only by trying things may I discover what I really enjoy and what I don’t.
Jung describes this phenomena in his book Modern Man in Search of a Soul:
“Habits do not disappear until they are replaced by other habits. But habits are only won by exercise, and appropriate education is the sole means to this end. The patient must be, as it were, prodded into other paths, and this always requires an educating will.”
The gambling view
This pachinko mind also presents a gambling view of a day, including life as a game of luck and chance (which it is). I can set up my machine perfectly, still, the ball has a random element to it. Thus, I need to stick with certain setups for some time in order to see payouts or see if it is not worth the effort.
One thing is certain, we all start and end days at the same spots; the beginning and end are for everyone the same; waking up and falling asleep. It is the pachinko machine in between that sets us apart.
Do I want to be a ball that rolls down a similar pachinko machine every day, with the same odds of hitting a jackpot? Or would I rather embrace change, and try to change the pachinko machine itself to stack the odds in my favor?
F*ck yes I want to stack the odds in my favor, I want to rig the machine! A look at myself as this machine will hopefully give me the energy and motivation to change the machine (aka. change my habits) and hopefully find better ways to accomplish whatever I want to accomplish. Does that lead to a different topic about what should one rig the pachinko machine towards? That is a personal question to discuss in future posts. For now, I think embracing change in the machine is a good habit to form.
