00:00newton discovered the laws of gravity laid the foundations of optics and basically invented
00:05calculus on his own he also by most accounts never had sex not once freud spent his entire
00:11life studying sexual desire and wrote thousands of pages about it that's not the same as actually
00:16having it but still pretty telling so do smart people want sex more or less than everyone else
00:22today we're getting into it no shame just neuroscience and hopefully a good time
00:28a study published in the journal of adolescent health found that smarter teenagers have sex
00:34later significantly later they hold hands later kiss later do everything else later sure makes
00:40sense homework college prep but here's the thing their desire isn't lower intellectually advanced
00:46teenagers report just as much sexual interest as their last academically focused peers they just
00:52postpone it it's like knowing there's a cake in a fridge by deciding to finish the report first
00:57researchers call this the protective effect of intelligence smarter kids have better impulse
01:03control they are more involved in structured activities and they make more deliberate choices
01:08not because they don't want to because they are good at waiting and that by the way is the same
01:13trait psychologists link to success later in life the famous marshmallow test the ability to delay
01:19gratification for a bigger reward predicts carrier achievement even better than iq does so the
01:25delayed sexual debut of smart teenagers isn't a lack of interest it's the same superpower that
01:30later helps them build carriers launch startups and not eat the cake before the report is done
01:38now let's talk chemistry because there's no getting around it dopamine you've heard of it people
01:43usually call it the pleasure hormone but that's not quite right dopamine is the hormone of anticipation
01:49the i want chemical u.s scientist daniel liberman explains it this way in his book the molecule of
01:56more dopamine drives us toward a goal but the moment we reach it dopamine disappears it gets replaced by
02:03other neurotransmitters serotonin oxytocin endocannabinoids the ones that make you feel warm and content
02:09and then dopamine comes back and says okay what's next it's never ending ending that's why reaching
02:15a big goal often brings a strange emptiness right after your brain is already looking for the next one
02:20and here's there it gets interesting the exact same mechanism drives sexual desire dopamine is what makes
02:26us want then it fades then it comes back and says more and the more active your dopamine system the
02:32stronger that cycle runs in highly intelligent people the dopamine system appears to run hotter it explains
02:39they drive toward new goals new ideas new challenges but and this is where it all connects it also
02:45explains higher sexual desire in adulthood same mechanism same molecule put simply the brain of a
02:52genius and the pain of someone with a very high sex drive it's the same brain just pointed in different
02:58directions here where it gets really interesting researchers found that variations in the drd4 gene that's the
03:07dopamine d4 receptor gene are linked to three things at once a tendency toward infidelity sexual
03:13adventurousness and creative thinking wait the same gene that influences how creatively gifted someone is
03:20also influences how likely they are to stray in a relationship yeah and it's not a coincidence
03:26creativity is about breaking patterns finding unconventional solutions going beyond the expected
03:32sexual adventurousness is also in a sense about stepping outside of conventional norms liberman
03:38writes that people with a highly active dopamine system share one fundamental trait they can stay
03:43satisfied with what they already have for long they reach a goal and they are already eyeing the next
03:49one that makes them engines of progress it also makes them somewhat complicated long-term partners and
03:54honestly looking at the biographies of great scientists artists and philosophers this checks out newton was
04:01socially isolated tesla had no interest in relationships whatsoever picasso on the other hand was very
04:07interested and the number of his romantic relationships was roughly comparable to the number of his paintings
04:12both extremes same dopamine some people channel it into physics others channel it elsewhere
04:20now let's talk about why smart people also tend to attract more people there's a term for this
04:25i suppose sexuality attraction to intelligent people is not just a quirky word from tinder bios
04:31well yeah it's there too from an evolutionary standpoint it makes complete sense intelligence
04:37signals genetic quality the smart partner is more likely to secure resources solve problems navigate
04:43hard situations and pass on good genes so if you find yourself drawn to people who can explain
04:49complicated things clearly that's not a weird niche preference that's your evolutionary programming working
04:54exactly as intended high desire in intellectually developed people combined with their natural
05:00appeal to others might not be a bug at all smart people want more and more people want them pretty
05:05efficient system so where does that leave us the connection between intelligence dopamine and sexuality
05:14is real but complicated it's a tendency not a law the brain isn't simple machine so if you're a smart
05:20person
05:20with a strong sex drive you now have a neuroscientific explanation use it wisely if you're a smart person with
05:27no
05:27particular interest in any of this your dopamine is probably just fully committed to work that's fine too
05:33and newton well newton really loved physics that's all for now bye
05:38you
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