An Exercise In Discovery

What happens when we try...

I began this substack as a space in which I explore the journey of not only my manhood, but also the overall meaning of manhood in the 21st century. Recently, however, I have done far more contemplation on the theme of my generation (Gen Z) as a whole and how we are supposed to find purpose in this dystopian reality.

The issue of incentives and rewards has been most pressing in recent times. I believe these two factors of our lives are the key problems of Life in the 21st century. If we manage to fix how we interact with them, we have a real shot at peace of mind and success.

In a podcast episode, the evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein articulated the dilemma perfectly. “We used to live in a World where the Environment itself provided the Incentive Structure”. That is to say, if you did not hunt, you would suffer the consequences of hunger and starvation. Our Ancestors were naturally incentivised to develop skills and invest in the “right kinda stuff” like discipline, communicative abilities, and hard work. That is the world that we, too, are designed to thrive in. But some time ago, we were removed from that environment and placed into another that had a flawed incentive structure.

One would think that in this day and age, with an abundance of technology and information, it would be exceptionally effortless to gain wisdom and insight, develop ideas and businesses, and be an overall productive member of society. But as we all know, this is not the case. The Reality is a stark contrast to that. We have an abundance of lost, dumb and lazy people. What’s worse, the majority of those people can be found in the generation that should be entering the workforce now. However, I have noticed an odd phenomenon in many people. Nothing is sticking. No ideas. No motivation. No inspiration. Even for those who spend their time “productively,” consuming information, somehow, knowledge and insights elude them.

Weinstein shared an interesting observation from his time as a college professor that shines some light on this matter and highlights the link between Intelligence and Incentives. He recognised that “what made people smart was an interaction with the world that rewarded them when they figured something out and very often that was the physical world.” Weinstein dubbed this an “Exercise in discovery”, in which the participant invokes feedback from their environment, which then translates knowledge into insight. Therein lies the crux of our state.

In this perverted, soft and distorted reality we call contemporary life, we have unknowingly traded the exercise of discovery for an exercise in consumption. Instead of interacting with the real world, we have settled for a representation of it in which we can hypothesise and theorise solutions. But in this model, we lack the key to learning and development. Feedback. This leads us to become consumers instead of producers. Furthermore, the way the online world is presented to us is highly demotivating. We see some experts do something that previously seemed impossible to us in a 30-second clip using tools, props or locations that we could never interact with. That does not invite participation or spark excitement. It demotivates us as we lack a clear pathway to proficiency. Instead, we abandon the idea of perfection and settle for consuming the related content. To our chemically composed brain, it makes little difference if we participate or consume. The reward is similar. But in that moment, we have been robbed. Not only did we surrender our ambitions, but worse yet, our potential capabilities were stolen from us and with that, our independence. To give examples, we have replaced playing sport for watching sport, composing music for consuming music and probably worst of all, Sex for Porn.

The Solution? I believe it’s pretty simple. Simple but most definitely not easy. On the Contrary, it is most likely the most difficult task any generation of humans has ever had to do. We need to fight against our human instincts and chemical wiring. We humans have been designed to chase dopamine. Way before Andrew Huberman and Anna Lembke were around, Dopamine had been a hot topic. If I understand the Neuroscience correctly, Dopamine is our fuel to do anything. Work, sport, dating, chores, you name it. The issue, however, is that to get the reward of dopamine, it always involved a tricky task. Hunt the Tiger, and you get the meat and that lovely hit of Dopamine. Unfortunately, it has become far easier nowadays. We just have to head to the shops and buy a bag of crisps to get that same hit of the good stuff.

Photo by Noble Mitchell on Unsplash

The first step to combat the issue is to be conscious. To be aware of how we spend our time, when do we opt for “passive” dopamine instead of an active "exercise in discovery”? And most importantly, take time to think about what goal is worth aiming for? Worth fighting for? Because if you do not aim at something, you will get overwhelmed by everything and when your neurochemical cravings come knocking the goal of being “successful” won’t mean shit.

Secondly, you have to start. You have to try. It will be really difficult. With all the short clips of success and perfection, we have forgotten how long it takes to actually reach that state of excellence. If it is a worthwhile goal, it will probably take an entire lifetime. But every time we interact with the world, we will get feedback, which brings insight, taking us one step closer to understanding the world.

I, too, have been battling with incentives and rewards. I have felt the disconnect and, for a long time, suffered from a lack of discovery. In the last year, I made a critical decision to make the journey back to the real world. I moved to the Bavarian Alps and began my journey as a Carpenter. Although I am enjoying it, I still find that in other aspects of my life, I am pulled back into the realm of lifeless consuming. I’ve been wanting to learn how to fish, gain another skill and put fresh food on the table. In Germany, you need a license to fish, which requires you to go to seminars and sit an exam. This has been a goal for months, and every evening when I return from work, I see the lads fishing at sunset at the lakeside. Instead of enquiring how, where and when I can do the required schooling, I walk past in a rush to get back home and “wind down”, perhaps watch some fishing videos on YouTube.

There are too many examples where we sacrifice the joys of living for the comfort of consuming. Instead, let us opt for the magic of discovery.