Assessment 8 out of 10
This is one of those books I wouldn’t have read without the book club. It comes across as a serious work by a serious thinker.
Dopamine is a chemical messenger. A variant of one of five dopamine receptors apparently appeared 50,000 years ago. (How do they know?) This it is suggested resulted in people being more impulsive, curious or likely to venture. Testing the oldest cohort, those over 90, found 62% had the explorers’ version of the dopamine receptor. This doesn’t prove it leads to greater longevity, people with it may just exercise & think more.
The network theory of migration suggests migrants follow those who have already moved, speak the same language etc, but is there an inheritable tendency to migrate? Research on the 1.5m Scandinavians who emigrated to the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries shows that those with less common first names, a proxy for individualism in the family, were more likely to move than those who stayed behind. Those who remained were those who created the social democratic Scandinavian states. Quebecois young opportunity seekers from the 1830s ventured further upriver, married earlier and had more children average 9.1 compared to 7.1 for those who stayed down river. Both, we would consider overlarge families.
DNA suggests rather than modern humans spreading out of Africa, populations moved back & forth within & between continents.
Decision making is based on our expectations of what will happen adjusted for experience, predictive processing. On there & back journeys the way out, exploring, always seems to take longer than the way back, exploitation. Contrasting exploration (random or a preference for the uncertain?) and exploitation, Longline Fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico comprised those who explored & those who exploited fishing grounds they knew. There was little difference in their profits until in 2009 prime fishing grounds were shutdown. 50% of boats just stopped, Venturers, who had explored more widely, prospered, exploiting their knowledge & experience. This may be an example of the Porter Hypothesis suggesting strict environmental regulation leads to efficiency.
The Financé Problem having tested 37% of those available, take the next who seems better than those tested, but when do you stop searching and how do you know the potential number from which you test 37%? Children explore, adults exploit. There is a thesis that the goal of exploration/play is not just personal development but that of society. This must raise questions about the net outcome of “health & safety” restrictions on children’s & young people’s freedom. Analysis of artists & researchers show a propensity to explore, which narrows into focus.
Donald Rumsfeld referred to the unknown unknowns & where did that get us? A significant escalation of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was triggered by a misanalysis of North Vietnamese naval intentions and actions, in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August 1964.
Hutchinson claims most of us have made our musical play list choices by age 30. I must either be an explorer or a slow learner.
Patterns of exploration follow the edge, the exploration of Australia, or venture into the interior. Two methods of exploration, to go from A to B to C or to establish your position in the landscape, use different areas of the brain. The first is quicker but risks missing the turning, Burke and Willis returning from crossing Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria missed the turning & perished. A pattern is of explorers going out again until they fail. And what is unknown? Mackenzie’s exploration of the Canadian north seems to have been in reality a relay from tribe to tribe.
From the 1960s there has been a decline in participation, watching sports, not playing them, and fewer in town bands, leading to reduction in social cohesion, developing how we play together. Evidence from IQ tests, suggests we are getting brighter, but from Torrance tests less creative. Analysis suggests academic papers are getting less disruptive.
Hutchinson concludes minimise regret, Je ne regrette rien. To travel is what matters, not to arrive. Are blank spots on the map really disappearing? There remain opportunities if you seek adventures from your front door.
Of Books, Bikes & Islands 