This should be getting more upvotes. It's a very interesting topic that provides a framework for understanding our society better and ourselves.
Some of it is interesting and worth considering but the "reptile brain" mumbo jumbo is based on the discredited Triurne Brain Hypothesis, which is not supported by modern neurological or anatomical science.
Quasi-scientific at best. The original "research" is interesting, but I don't think it's applicable to humans or any other higher brained mammal. The brain can certainly handle eating candy (ever heard of natives eating honey?), sitting motionless for hours, 'super cuteness' and 'distractions'. While the first half does have scientific research behind it, the second half is lacking, and relies on conjecture. "Will power" is junk thinking.
Candy and honey are not the same thing.
Nowhere in the article do I claim that we "can't handle" any of those things.
I found myself unable to resist clicking on this tantalizing link.
Ehm. Our brain was not built. And it is more of a modem with firmware, than some programs running on massively parallel wetware. Just think about our responses to formation of melanin in response of changes in daylight.