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Perspective Shift:
- Dopamine didn’t just help us evolve — it is evolution. We tend to think of evolutionary breakthroughs as slow genetic changes. But sometimes, consciousness leaps forward not through new genes, but through new environments that activate existing potential. The seafood-rich shores of South Africa didn’t mutate our DNA — they lit up our brains with dopamine, catalyzing symbolic thought, culture, and self-awareness. Evolution didn’t change the hardware — it changed the neurochemical fuel.
- Geography is destiny — and neurobiology is geography. Where we live shapes what we eat. What we eat shapes how we think. A drought pushes humanity to the coast; iodine-rich seafood floods our brains; dopamine surges; symbolic thought and burial rituals emerge. Geography isn’t just a backdrop — it’s an evolutionary accelerator. The landscape is the mindscape.
- Modernity is a dopamine trap: more stimulation, less satisfaction. We live in a culture that hyper-concentrates dopamine triggers — TikTok, porn, sugar, news, notifications — and feeds them back to us endlessly. But the more we stimulate dopamine externally, the less satisfaction we feel internally. This is the paradox of modern life: we’ve mistaken excitation for fulfillment, and it’s slowly isolating us from our own humanity.
- You don’t need a new brain — you need a new story. Our capacities for meaning-making, depth, and connection have been in place for over 120,000 years. The difference between archaic humans and modern humans isn’t new wiring — it’s the activation of what’s already there. The next leap in consciousness won’t be genetic either — it’ll come from choosing different containers, narratives, and cultural practices. We evolve by telling better stories about who we are.
- The Big Bang is still banging. We often talk about consciousness “awakening” as something that happened long ago — the birth of language, the rise of religion, the Enlightenment. But we are still in the explosion. From seafood to smartphones, from the FOXP2 gene to AI — the story is still unfolding. The Cambrian explosion of consciousness is now.
In this sweeping, provocative, and often wildly entertaining conversation, Dr. Keith Witt joins Corey deVos to trace the story of human evolution through the unlikely lens of dopamine — the neurotransmitter most responsible for our novelty-seeking, exploratory, and meaning-making behavior.
But this isn’t just a neurochemical deep dive. It’s a four-quadrant masterclass, connecting the dots between biology, culture, geography, spirituality, and the future of consciousness itself. Drawing on the work of Fred Previc (The Dopaminergic Mind in Human Evolution and History) and Alex Hutchinson (The Explorer Gene), Keith tells the story of two “punctuated” evolutionary leaps that redefined what it means to be human — not through slow genetic drift, but through sudden neurobiological ignition.
The first explosion came 70,000 years ago, as climate shifts forced early humans toward the South African coast. There, a seafood-rich diet flooded their brains with iodine, essential fatty acids, and — critically — dopamine. This wasn’t a genetic mutation, but an environmental activation of already latent capacities. In a relatively short evolutionary window, humans began making jewelry, burying their dead with intention, creating tools, mining, and trading — signs of symbolic consciousness and a shared cultural interior. This, Keith argues, was the real Big Bang of human interiority.
The second pulse came 40,000–50,000 years ago, with a mutation in the DRD4 gene, which regulates dopamine sensitivity. The result? Hyper-curious, hyper-driven humans who couldn’t help but explore, invent, and conquer. These were the people who populated every ecosystem on the planet — but they were also the architects of domination hierarchies, empire, and environmental destruction.
Fast-forward to 2025, and the dopamine dial has been cranked to 11. Social media, pornography, processed food, smartphones, instant gratification — we are now a culture drunk on stimulation but starving for connection. Keith explores how this dopaminergic overdrive is linked to rising rates of ADHD, autism, social isolation, and addiction. But he also shows how it’s part of a larger evolutionary arc: as every new developmental stage creates new capacities, it also births new pathologies.
So what’s the way forward?
Through polarity thinking, integral practice, and new cultural containers, we can begin to re-harmonize our neurobiology with our relationships, our spirituality, and our planetary home. Therapy becomes a sacred technology of intimacy. Conscious parenting becomes a form of activism. Integral awareness becomes a survival skill.
This episode is a tour de force — part history lesson, part neuroscience primer, part spiritual invocation. Keith and Corey don’t just describe the human story — they locate you inside it, inviting you to step consciously into this next unfolding wave.
Because, as Corey reminds us again and again: the Big Bang is still banging.
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About Keith Witt
Dr. Keith Witt is a Licensed Psychologist, teacher, and author who has lived and worked in Santa Barbara, CA. for over forty years. Dr. Witt is also the founder of The School of Love.
About Corey deVos
Corey W. deVos is editor and producer of Integral Life. He has worked for Integral Institute/Integal Life since Spring of 2003, and has been a student of integral theory and practice since 1996. Corey is also a professional woodworker, and many of his artworks can be found in his VisionLogix art gallery.