Peter Whybrow: UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine

Dr. Whybrow poses the question, “Are we Americans becoming the first addicts of the technological age?” Despite an astonishing appetite for life, more and more Americans are feeling overworked and dissatisfied in the world’s most affluent nation, epidemic rates of stress, anxiety, depression, obesity, and time urgency are now grudgingly accepted as part of everyday existence—they signal the American Dream gone awry. Drawing upon economics, history, evolutionary psychology, and scientific case studies, Dr. Whybrow ground the extraordinary achievements and excessive consumption of the American nation in an understanding of the biology of human craving and the reward system of the brain—offering a comprehensive physical explanation for the addictive mania of consumerism. Whybrow shows how human biology is ill equipped to cope with the demands of the 24/7, global, information-saturated, rapid-fire culture we not only have created but also have come to crave. Dr. Whybrow concludes with a discussion of how one may step back from this treadmill to live a healthful life. But he also offers a cautionary tale: As a society if we do not learn to curtail our cravings, we may be entering a self-destructive phase. Fundamental to change will be an objective evaluation of the laissez-faire market ideology and a reinvigoration of our role as citizens in this driven consumer culture.