Podcast Summary:

Intelligence Squared
Episode: Why Are We So Addicted to Everything? With Nicklas Brendborg
Host: Dr. Emma Weinel
Guest: Nicklas Brendborg
Date: November 12, 2025

Overview

This episode features Danish scientist and author Nicklas Brendborg discussing his book Super Stimulated: How Our Biology is Being Manipulated to Create Bad Habits and What We Can Do About It. The conversation explores how modern life hijacks our evolutionary instincts through "super stimuli"—intense versions of things we evolved to crave—leading to overconsumption, addiction, and new forms of dissatisfaction. The discussion is wide-ranging, covering food, sex, social media, and technology, while considering both the dangers and ways to reclaim agency.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Are Super Stimuli? (05:15)

• Definition and Origins:

  • Brendborg introduces ‘super stimuli’ (or ‘supernormal stimuli’), a term coined by a Dutch scientist who in the 1970s showed that exaggerations of natural rewards (e.g., birds preferring oversized fake eggs) can override instinctual behaviors.
  • Brendborg’s claim: The same principle now applies to humans—modern companies create exaggerated versions of things we naturally crave, from food to digital media, creating widespread overconsumption and addiction.

• Quote:

  “It’s not a lot of different health crises, it’s just the same thing repeated in different areas...the underlying theme here is what’s called a super stimuli.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 07:28

2. Super Stimuli in Food: The Construction of Overeating (09:22)

• Food Engineering:

  • Modern food is optimized to maximize reward and reduce satiety, incentivizing overconsumption.
  • Industrial foods amplify aspects our brains are predisposed to enjoy (sweetness, saltiness, fat), often far beyond natural sources.

• Desensitization:

  • Overexposure leads the reward system to down-regulate: people need more of the same to achieve the same pleasure, fostering a reinforcing cycle.
  • The process is reversible: e.g., cutting out sugar makes less-sweet foods taste sweeter again over time.

• Quote:

  “When you make the strawberry-flavored candy...you just exaggerate [the rewarding part] as much as possible to make a super stimuli. And you can do that with added sugar today.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 10:39

• Genetic Vulnerability:

  • Not everyone responds equally; variations in reward pathways and impulse control mean some people are much more prone to overeating or addiction.

3. Sex, Technology, and the Exaggeration of Instincts (16:58)

• Supernormal Stimulation of Sex Drive:

  • The sex industry (especially online pornography and dating apps) exploits the same principles, offering carefully crafted, exaggerated versions of intimacy and attraction.

• Desensitization in Relationships:

  • There’s concern technology is making real-life intimacy less rewarding, contributing to loneliness, fewer relationships, and declining birth rates globally.

• Quote:

  "The same way strawberry candy relates to strawberries, that’s basically the way pornography relates to real sex.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 18:27

• Societal Impact:

  • Growing numbers of singles and declining fertility rates highlight changes in human connection, now observed in middle- and lower-income countries as well.

4. Digital Super Stimuli: Social Media and Screens (28:57)

• Screens as Carriers of Reward:

  • Screens centralize many forms of super stimuli—food adverts, pornography, social validation, entertainment—amplified by algorithms.

• Social Media Optimization:

  • Platforms refine products in real time, constantly experimenting to maximize user engagement.
  • The “like” mechanism and follower counts act as potent, concentrated social rewards, surpassing what’s possible in everyday interactions.

• Quote:

  “In social media we just found a way to make a super stimuli of that… When Facebook introduced the like button…you get 100 people at the same time recognizing you.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 30:36

• Highlight Bias and Social Comparison:

  • Algorithms will always select for the most exciting, attractive, or impressive content, regardless of user intention, fueling cycles of inadequacy.

• Quote:

  “The way the algorithm optimizes...is that they earn money from showing you ads. So the more screen time you have, the more ads you see and the more money they make.” — Nicklas Brendborg, 33:50

5. Tolerating Boredom and Resensitization (35:05)

• The Value of Boredom:

  • Chronic stimulation reduces attention spans and enjoyment of slower or less intense activities (like reading, movie-watching, learning an instrument).
  • Intentional “dopamine fasts” (periods away from hyper-rewarding activities) help the brain resensitize.

• Quote:

  “Apparently now for some people...watching a movie, that’s something that requires willpower to do.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 37:18

6. Artificial Intelligence: The Next Level of Super Stimuli (38:09)

• Emergence of AI-Based Super Stimuli:

  • AI-generated entertainment (e.g., OpenAI’s Sora 2 for TikTok-like video) will out-optimize even current algorithms, perpetually tweaking content based on user engagement.
  • AI ‘companions’ can already be tailored to be more rewarding than real relationships.

• Optimization Techniques:

  • Example: Children’s content producers now measure and minimize moments when attention wanders, using real-time feedback to further refine and capture attention.

• Quote:

  “Once AI-generated videos become good enough…it could tweak that point in a billion different ways, test it on all these users and basically make each individual video more attractive.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 40:07

7. Outlining Hope and Strategies for Reclaiming Control (41:55)

• Pharmaceutical Innovations:

  • Drugs like GLP-1 agonists (for weight loss) show it’s possible to modulate reward pathways in ways that counteract super stimuli, hinting at future interventions for other forms of overconsumption.

• Behavioral Solutions:

  • Simple interventions—making phones grayscale, using focus apps, or even having two phones (one for work, one for entertainment)—help reduce overexposure and encourage healthier habits.
  • Most importantly, simply understanding how super stimuli operate empowers people to recognize and resist manipulation.

• Social Bifurcation:

  • A split is emerging: some will use technology as a tool and thrive; others, especially those with fewer resources, risk being trapped in “the super stimuli machine.”

• Quote:

  “Just being aware of this fact makes it so much easier to control...The more people that are aware and want to change it, that also increases...the market for helping these people.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 47:20

• Analogy with Tobacco:

  • Success against cigarette addiction was grounded in public education and regulation, not just willpower. The same may be possible with super stimuli when awareness is raised and systemic incentives change.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the universality of super stimuli:

  “There’s basically an industry for every single instinct we have.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 18:11

• On algorithm-driven attention:

  “When you make social media, the experiment is ongoing forever.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 33:12

• On reversibility and hope:

  “It is possible to resensitize yourself so that you don’t really need this strong of a stimuli.”
  — Nicklas Brendborg, 43:33

Key Timestamps

• 05:15– Super stimuli explained
• 09:22– How food is engineered as a super stimulus
• 13:16– Ultra-processed food and health impacts
• 16:58– Sex, relationships, and technological super stimuli
• 22:41– Impacts of regulation on access and desensitization
• 29:19– Screens, social media, and algorithmic optimization
• 35:32– The cost of constant stimulation and the case for boredom
• 38:33– Artificial intelligence as the new frontier
• 42:22– Optimism, pharmaceutical intervention, and behavioral strategies
• 46:41– The tobacco industry analogy and the power of awareness

Conclusion

Brendborg draws from evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and real-world trends to argue that “addiction” is not a collection of isolated crises, but the result of our biology being hijacked by environments saturated with super stimuli. These forces are powerful but not inescapable: awareness, behavioral changes, and even policy can help individuals and societies reclaim agency over health and happiness.

For a deeper dive and practical tips, consider reading Nicklas Brendborg’s book, Super Stimulated.