[ryandvm]

> The other day, Mr. Sinka ran into an old friend but had to tell her they could not continue speaking.

> “I hadn’t seen her in six months, and it was extraordinarily exciting, super-stimulating, and I could feel how excited I was,” he said. “So I had to cut it off and I just said, ‘Listen, it’s not you, it’s me, doing this dopamine fast.’”

If this were on HBO's Silicon Valley, we would dismiss it as too over-the-top.

[magashna]

I wouldn't be able to hold back laughter if I heard this. It seems like something a parody of hipsters would say.

"My life is too good, I need to make it worse" but still be as self centered as possible.

God forbid someone does difficult volunteer work instead of this "dopamine fast".

[jodrellblank]

God forbid you do some difficult volunteer work instead of this "putting people down and mocking them" internet commenting.

Incidentally, why is it that so many people argue that wealth comes from doing things people value, but then support volunteer work? If it's the case that helping people makes money, all the people needing help should have entrepreneurs all over them, rather than hoping for unpaid volunteers. And why would people tend to become volunteers if continually told that virtue comes from measurably productive money making?

[magashna]

I do both, and I'm also not sure what your tangent has to do with me.

[jodrellblank]

Then why can't the article person do volunteering and dopamine fasting?

My tangent has nothing to do with you; not everything is to do with you.

[dawg-]

Wow, this is a peak "I bet this guy is fun at parties" moment.

It's all incredibly ridiculous. If this man were really on a "dopamine fast", the conversation still would have ended, but not in the same way.

It would have ended because he would be wiggling around on the floor and making noises like a dying cat. His basal ganglia, starved of dopamine, would not be able to make any of the neural connections they need to coordinate any of the muscle movements in his body, including the muscles needed for speech. This guy seems like he was more interested in informing this person that he was fasting than actually keeping his "fast".

This incident reminds me of the Desert Fathers, the early christian monks who lived in the desert in Egypt. They took fasting very seriously as a way of keeping their religious purity. Many of their parables caution against keeping your fast for show. Here's one:

"Once two brothers went to visit an old man. It was not the old man’s habit, however, to eat every day. When he saw the brothers, he welcomed them with joy, and said: “Fasting has its own reward, but if you eat for the sake of love, you satisfy two commandments, for you give up your own will and also fulfill the commandment to refresh others.”

From "The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks" https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Fathers-Sayings-Christian-Clas...

[rpmisms]

The desert fathers. No matter what you think of Christianity, you have to wonder at their willpower and love for others.