I wonder if this doesn't have some survival value for Homo sapiens? If people are bored, it often means that they are secure and well off. At that point, to maximize the survival of the species, perhaps it would be of strategic value to send people off exploring to create new settlements?
From the standpoint of genes, in small settlements, there would tend to be some inter-relatedness, so this would be a way for genes to distribute copies of themselves geographically.
This could even have memetic (in the academic/generic Richard Dawkins sense) survival implications. In the same way that established villages could send out dissidents like "seeds" to start new settlements, perhaps internet forums do something analogous?
(I have another horrible sounding idea: Perhaps the penchant for little children to grab things to put into their mouths is a way for 1) the most expendable members of the community to act as inadvertent food tasters/poison detectors for the group and 2) a late filter to knock inattentive parents out of the gene pool. I know it's all evolutionary "just so stories," but it's fun to speculate.)
Little children putting stuff in their mouths has an immediate use. I discovered this with a child that lacked this stage of development. It's important to their eating. Babies learn to eat whatever they're fed. If they're fed spicy food, Thai hot, that's their normal. Being willing to taste/try anything makes this pretty easy. And, overall, babies are hard.
From the standpoint of genes, in small settlements, there would tend to be some inter-relatedness, so this would be a way for genes to distribute copies of themselves geographically.
This could even have memetic (in the academic/generic Richard Dawkins sense) survival implications. In the same way that established villages could send out dissidents like "seeds" to start new settlements, perhaps internet forums do something analogous?
(I have another horrible sounding idea: Perhaps the penchant for little children to grab things to put into their mouths is a way for 1) the most expendable members of the community to act as inadvertent food tasters/poison detectors for the group and 2) a late filter to knock inattentive parents out of the gene pool. I know it's all evolutionary "just so stories," but it's fun to speculate.)