as we get further and further from our ancestral environment we have more and more of a disconnect between what we desire and seek out vs what we find satisfying but somehow aren't motivated to do

otoh we have ~endless motivation to seek out sweet n fatty foods, high-payoff gambles and social adulation, even when the quantity we're receiving is no longer doing us any good

this is adaptive in the ancestral environment- take advantage of rare opportunities when they arise without wasting neurons on a more complex formula for desiring things the environment already limits

i think people would be happier if our modern lives defaulted to patterns of abundance and scarcity that match our ape-brained intuitions

i also think that old-money culture has partially solved this by attaching expectation & status to things that are more satisfying than exciting or that blend both together. ie playing polo- you get nature, exercise and social connection with your team, motivated by the risk, competition and status attached to playing