| Disclaimer, I am not an expert in these fields, and while I have some academic-ey looking references, the references are also on the periphery of their respective fields, so like.. big grain of salt, maybe several. --- You can't, but you don't have to "want more" in the same "direction". I think this article by Nathaniel Travis gives a lot of insight into the human condition with a remarkably simple premise: [1] https://nathanieltravis.com/2022/01/17/is-human-behavior-jus... The reason we can't ever be entirely satisfied is our fundamental control loop cannot consider scale (and for good reason if you think about it for a few minutes). So no matter how good things are, you will always sensibly consider how things could be better, no matter how little it would actually improve your day to day (if at all). Fortunately, it does seem we have some control over what it is we expect to gain, so I would suggest you start "tumbling" vigorously in ways that are not detrimental to your current life and you may come upon something that really sparks an interest (at least enough of one). I suspect there's also a darker parallel with these systems and give-up-itis, in which a lack of dopamine from the prefrontal cortex seems to cause stasis and eventually death or suicide as the basal ganglia loses the ability to perform self-directed activity (the control loop has shut down) [2]. This isn't entirely different from a bacteria failing to find a gradient and simply waiting out the situation. But from our highly derived perspective, waiting out a situation when we are the only thing that can create situations is not a useful feedback loop. [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030698771... |