The Explorer's Gene

December 9, 2024
Outside columnist Hutchinson (Endure) offers an enlightening if overstuffed examination of why humans are “drawn to the unknown.” Unpacking the anthropological origins of the urge to explore, he explains how early humans’ “adaptive flexibility” drove them across oceans and helped them to survive in new and challenging environments, while the evolution of more complex planning skills and language enabled longer voyages. Such adventuring aided the evolution of the so-called “explorer’s gene,” a variant of dopamine receptor DRD4 that motivates people to seek out “unexpected rewards” and is especially prevalent in populations whose ancestors crossed vast distances, like the Cheyenne and the Mayans. Yet despite its many benefits—including providing personal growth and meaning—exploring has become increasingly difficult in a world rendered safer and less mysterious by technology, Hutchinson argues. His guidelines for finding rewarding sites of exploration include “choosing optimistically” in order to reduce regret and tackling challenges that meet an “intermediate level of novelty and complexity.” Hutchinson’s research fascinates, though the sheer volume of studies he cites—including a 2011 experiment in which preschoolers who weren’t taught how to use a toy played with it longer and were more likely to discover its different features than those who were given instructions—can obscure the book’s argumentative through line. Still, this is an intriguing argument for taking the road less traveled.

February 15, 2025
Looking at why humans roam. Hutchinson is both a runner and a writer. Although his 2018 book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, sold well, he found himself ignoring opportunities to exploit the success. Then, perhaps influenced by a modest bank balance, he wondered why his attention kept wandering. He had discovered philosophy's ancient explore-exploit dilemma. You can exploit the resources you have or explore in search of an outcome that's uncertain but may be better. You can't do both. Business books belabor this point, but Hutchinson delivers a rare focus on individuals. He reviews three clues suggesting that we are natural-born explorers. Anthropological clues help reveal how humans spread across the earth. Biological clues help explain how exploration has affected our genes and vice versa. The third clue is neurological: a new theory of the brain called predictive processing. Taken together, they make an ingenious and convincing case that we find it rewarding to seek out the unknown. We push into new territories even when we're comfortable where we are. Other animals don't do this. While there is no smoking-gun "explorer's gene," many gene variants exist that encourage novelty seeking. Neuroscientists discovered that the brain does not simply receive information from the senses; it generates signals about what it expects to happen. This "predictive processing" saves work (brains evolved for survival, not accuracy), and the brain usually predicts correctly. It doesn't like surprises. Fortunately for the reader, Hutchinson's broad definition of his subject allows him to dip heavily into behavioral psychology, gambling, business, aging, evolution, and urban planning, all of which feed our yearning to make the future better, provided the risks aren't too great. The latter half of the book delivers insights into even less tangible forms: creativity, art, research, play. Good science behind the urge to travel or stay put.

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