But the flipside of focus is a vast blindness. You can’t have one without the other. Which might explain a lot. It’s a strong argument for widespread use of drugs like weed and shrooms.
But the flipside of focus is a vast blindness. You can’t have one without the other. Which might explain a lot. It’s a strong argument for widespread use of drugs like weed and shrooms.
It might actually be the oposite. An ancient human trying to dig a hole with their hands got bored or frustrated by the task and started using a stick to make it easier. Whereas something like a dog will keep focused on digging that hole until its exhausted or got what it was after.
So you’re thinking that boredom, and possibly abandonment of the project, is what delivered the insight? And too much focus would inhibit this revelation.
Hmm. Interesting point.
Not boredom or project abandonment, but our ability to actively think of ways to improve the way we do things. Figuring out tools is a huge deal.
But also, the ability to sweat is a large part of why we’re the dominant species. We literally jogged animals to death. That, and the ability to use fire and cook our food which makes the nutrients more bioavailable so we didn’t have to work so hard to stay fed, and could devote extra energy to things other than survival.
Generally, too much focus on something is not a great thing. For example, have you ever spent a lot of time figuring out a problem, only for someone to come along and point out the solution that’s been staring you in the face the whole time?
I’d also like to add working together helped us succeed. Some humans would hunt while others tended fires, weaved baskets, prepared food and other tasks. Splitting that labor and skill across the group let the whole group benefit from it.