Night Waves - 05/01/2009

Matthew Sweet talks to behavioural biologist Paul Martin about society's changing attitudes to pleasure and the scientific reasons for our hedonistic impulses. In his book Sex Drugs and Chocolate, Martin asks is pleasure selfish and are we selfish to pursue it? He considers pleasure-seekers from Nero to Elvis and pleasure's opposites - boredom, unhappiness - chemical pleasures, sex and addiction.