People with ADHD are dopamine-starved and there’s been a theory that it’s down due to genetic diversity in ancient human tribes:
A certain percentage of the human population would be night owls for watching the tribe at night, and later on, functioning as city guard, and the ADHD crowd?
They were the explorers and seekers, finding new routes, new trade opportunities, unhappy with sitting in one place for any extended length of time.
It only stands to reason, that in a time of turmoil or crisis, you’d have the dopamine-starved percentage of the population suddenly locked in, it’s what they’re meant for
That’s a nice story, but it reeks of trying to set a narrative to evolution.
Meanwhile, for the actual evolutionary process ADHD doesn’t have to be beneficial at all. As long as it’s a not-too-crippling side-effect of beneficial mutations, it gets a pass.
But then why are we bringing evolution into this story? ADHD is highlighting a problem with a way faster process than that one. Specifically, how the hell are we modifying our societies that a significant percentage of population whose behaviour you can find enshrined in anecdotes suddenly finds themselves constantly overwhelmed by normalcy?
PS: Dopamine starvation hypothesis doesn’t seem to have evidence backing it and looks to originate from influencers, not scientific process.
It doesn’t have to have an evolutionary narrative, it’s part of the variation that evolution can act on though and what is beneficial or deleterious depends on the circumstances individuals and populations find themselves in.
Reality is, outside of speciation events, vast majority of traits are neutral. And humanity hasn’t really faced a speciation event yet. We’re isolated as a species on our branch because everything else either died out or merged with us, not because we got forced through an evolutionary bottleneck.
It’s compelling to try and attribute inquisitiveness and borderline suicidal drive to explore to ADHD, but such attribution can be made to a number of traits with the same level of credibility - namely, “we don’t know but it sounds nice”.
Everything sucks, there’s too much stimulus, and nobody has any idea what’s going on? For you, it was the most important day of your life. For me, it was a Tuesday
At least you knew it was a Tuesday… I could look at the calendar five times and still not know which day it is. Can describe the plot of a movie I watched once or tell you how to navigate a town I haven’t been to in over a decade so it balances out
People with ADHD are dopamine-starved and there’s been a theory that it’s down due to genetic diversity in ancient human tribes:
A certain percentage of the human population would be night owls for watching the tribe at night, and later on, functioning as city guard, and the ADHD crowd?
They were the explorers and seekers, finding new routes, new trade opportunities, unhappy with sitting in one place for any extended length of time.
It only stands to reason, that in a time of turmoil or crisis, you’d have the dopamine-starved percentage of the population suddenly locked in, it’s what they’re meant for
That’s a nice story, but it reeks of trying to set a narrative to evolution.
Meanwhile, for the actual evolutionary process ADHD doesn’t have to be beneficial at all. As long as it’s a not-too-crippling side-effect of beneficial mutations, it gets a pass.
But then why are we bringing evolution into this story? ADHD is highlighting a problem with a way faster process than that one. Specifically, how the hell are we modifying our societies that a significant percentage of population whose behaviour you can find enshrined in anecdotes suddenly finds themselves constantly overwhelmed by normalcy?
PS: Dopamine starvation hypothesis doesn’t seem to have evidence backing it and looks to originate from influencers, not scientific process.
PPS: Self-correction, dopamine theory is older than influencing - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1652243/. Yes, I’ve got ADHD, how did you know?
It doesn’t have to have an evolutionary narrative, it’s part of the variation that evolution can act on though and what is beneficial or deleterious depends on the circumstances individuals and populations find themselves in.
Reality is, outside of speciation events, vast majority of traits are neutral. And humanity hasn’t really faced a speciation event yet. We’re isolated as a species on our branch because everything else either died out or merged with us, not because we got forced through an evolutionary bottleneck.
It’s compelling to try and attribute inquisitiveness and borderline suicidal drive to explore to ADHD, but such attribution can be made to a number of traits with the same level of credibility - namely, “we don’t know but it sounds nice”.
“idk” is a much more boring post than a bit of speculation with some minor scientific backing (from studies and theories on ants).
Everything sucks, there’s too much stimulus, and nobody has any idea what’s going on? For you, it was the most important day of your life. For me, it was a Tuesday
At least you knew it was a Tuesday… I could look at the calendar five times and still not know which day it is. Can describe the plot of a movie I watched once or tell you how to navigate a town I haven’t been to in over a decade so it balances out