Evolutionary mismatch is a concept in biology that refers to evolved traits that were once advantageous but became maladaptive due to changes in the environment.
In recent years, our environment has changed so fast that our genes are working against us.
The primary change is that dopamine went from being scarce to abundant. But our brains behave as if dopamine is still scarce — constant scrolling, addiction, sugar, porn, etc.
In the past, it was beneficial to overindulge (because things were scarce) — now it’s a pathology.
This is likely a strong contributing factor to the obesity and mental health epidemics. Our nervous system didn’t evolve in this environment.
For the sake of precision:
Dopamine itself is not becoming more abundant — the ability to *easily* reward oneself is becoming more abundant. More frequent rewards cause more frequent dopamine spikes and more short-term thinking (causing us to seek short-term pleasure over long-term value creation).
