Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The human mind is shaped by the intersection of two powerful forces: biology and culture. The brain is a highly flexible organ, but it is also an accident of evolution with numerous constraints. The written word has profoundly changed how we think, but literacy does not emerge spontaneously from human sociability. #2 Pornography is a great example of how digital technology allows us to withdraw from ordinary interaction. It is a phenomenon that has grown exponentially in the last decade, even though it has remained largely invisible and undetected by society. #3 The threat that internet pornography poses can be traced to the effects it has on the reward circuitry of the brain. This reward circuitry comprises a complex system that learns and changes with experience. It is sensitive to many different sorts of rewards. #4 The ventral striatum is also activated by rewards that depend on social context. For instance, stimuli that signal financial gains and increase in social status also activate the ventral striatum.