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It's all spinning wheels and self-doubt until the first pot of coffee.

Hereditary Neophilia

Heard an excellent interview with Dr. Peter Whybrow on Tech Nation this week, podcast by ITConversations. The idea of America as a nation of restless manic wanderers who've self-selected for genes influencing such behavior just fascinates me.

One of the zingers that hit me, paraphrased, was that while it's true a lot of people came here to escape religious persecution--the key thing is that the people who came here left there, which leaves the rest of the people under the same conditions who stayed behind.

Depending upon your opinion of the influence genetics have on personality, this sort of decision--to leave everything or stay put--just has to have been a powerful filter. If neophilia is carried at all by heredity, it has to have had a powerful influence on the development of people here.

I think I might just have to read American Mania--seems like it would tie in a lot with what I've been thinking about lately, with regard to this country, my life, ambition, neophilia, and satiation.

Archived Comments

  • Ian
    Does neophilia apply to technolust? If so, it would explain Japan.
  • robin
    Dr. Whybrow grabbed me with his accurate "information affluence" quote the other night when he was a featured guest on the radio show, "Coast to Coast". It's true, we Americans are informationally affluent with radios, tv's, cell phones, computers, etc. Great blog! It's in my favorites, now. Thanks!