Ilya Kolmanovsky on the brain, stress, and intuition

Ilya Kolmanovsky on the brain, stress, and intuition
In October, an interesting meeting with Ilya Kolmanovsky took place in Manhattan. He was born into a family of psychologists, holds a PhD in biology, graduated from Moscow State University, and is a popularizer of science, now living in London. Some listened to his podcast, "The Naked Mole Rat." His lectures and podcasts are listened to by thousands of people worldwide, and now New Yorkers had the chance to hear the scientist in person. He gave just one lecture and the next day left for London, where he currently lives and works.
The hall, designed for approximately 500 people, was almost full, which speaks volumes. Not everyone can gather such an audience: young Russian-speaking people, working, intelligent, educated Russian-speaking people on 42nd Street in the heart of Manhattan. Doctors, psychologists, IT specialists, brokers, managers of large companies attended—educated, thoughtful people seeking answers to questions like:
How to make a stressful life easier, because in America money doesn't grow on trees, you have to work hard, how to cope with stress, how to make decisions in a time of change, during immigration, how to develop intuition, and is it necessary to take antidepressants so widely?
Next to me sat a young woman who works on Wall Street, and a little further away, a manager of an international corporation, who admitted that constant stress had become part of her life. The atmosphere was surprisingly warm, and everyone listened attentively and with interest, reacting quickly and asking questions. I also asked a question, which Ilya called serious and most interesting. I've long been interested in antidepressants, which I personally have never taken, but 40 years ago in Kharkiv, at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, they were studying Soviet drugs capable of influencing human behavior. Ten years later, they began developing Soviet antidepressants for the treatment of depression in immigrants, which was a hot topic at the time. Vladimir Gavenko, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry, later became the head of the Department of Psychiatry at Kharkiv Medical Institute. But that was a long time ago, and there wasn't a wide selection of antidepressants. However, according to open sources and online materials, in the US, 10 to 12% of the population takes antidepressants. What does a person who studies the brain and emotions think about this? I recorded his answer, which you can listen to on YouTube Channel Lagunova News. And as they say, you'll hear it from the source.
Ilya answered with his characteristic humor and precision of thought:
"Twenty years from now, looking back, we'll be considered naive, almost medieval people who treated the soul as clumsily as they once treated illnesses with toads. And yet, traces of antidepressants are already being found in London's sewers—that's how many people are taking them."
He spoke of the brain simply and engagingly, as a living being within us, constantly engaged in internal bargaining before every decision. "Different forces are arguing over who will prevail," Kolmanovsky explained, "and our brain often falls into traps. But by understanding these mechanisms, we can learn to make more conscious decisions."
It was a truly scientific stand-up comedy show—witty, insightful, with vivid examples and unexpected conclusions. Ilya discussed how dopamine and serotonin work, why stress interferes with clear thinking, and why it's sometimes helpful to "sleep on a problem"—after all, as the saying goes, "the morning is wiser than the evening." When asked about hyperactivity in children, how to raise a genius, and how to develop intuition, he believed that heredity is a very important and significant factor.
Marina Lagunova