Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Humans display an uncommonly intense epistemic drive-a motivation to understand that extends well beyond immediate survival.The Re-Connection Hypothesis proposes that this drive ultimately guides Homo sapiens to discover and ritually employ N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT).Rather than postulating that the brain must "self-flood," we argue that cortical circuitry is pre-tooled-analogous to dormant Wi-Fi hardware-to respond to modest, externally supplied DMT and switch awareness to a non-material information domain we term the Transcendent.Three empirical anchors motivate the model:1. Conserved expression of the DMT-synthesising enzyme INMT across mammals.2. Widespread occurrence of DMT-rich plants. Reproducible network-reset phenomenology at low-moderate exogenous doses.Drawing on signalling-bias pharmacology, receptor-reserve experiments, and ethnobotanical convergences, we articulate testable predictions-including a "low-threshold, high-gain" 5-HT2Acircuit assay-and sketch preregistered study designs.By integrating biochemistry, cognitive neuroscience, and cultural data, we outline a coherent research programme for evaluating possible teleological features of human curiosity.Information-seeking behaviours enhance fitness in many species yet typically yield short-term gains-better foraging, predator avoidance, mate choice.Human curiosity differs both quantitatively and qualitatively.Psychometric instruments such as Need for Cognition (Cacioppo & Petty 1982) reveal stable enjoyment of effortful reasoning; population means far exceed daily-survival demands.Reinforcement-learning studies show that humans sacrifice primary rewards for abstract information that cannot alter future outcomes (Gottlieb & Oudeyer 2018).Archaeological evidence reinforces the point: ochre engraving (>100 kya), the Löwenmensch figurine (40 kya), and megalithic star observatories (~7 kya) represent costly investments in symbolism and cosmology long before surplus agriculture.
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4409996489