> [WS:] I think it is more than just an instinct to win - which I tend to
> agree with you that it is probably hard-wired in our brains through
> evolution. However, I think there is another component to it, the
> instinctive expectation of "manna falling from the sky." I think we
> acquired that instinct during our hunting and gathering past, where
> serendipitous discoveries (rather than mastery and transformation of one's
> surroundings) was the matter of survival. One can conjecture that people
> who developed emotional expectation for "manna falling from the sky" i.e.
> getting something highly prized by sheer luck - also had a better chance of
> surviving the harsh conditions during shortages.
Even as a sociobiological just-so story, this is pretty goofy. Let's see: if people sit around waiting for something good to happen due to pure luck (say, a tasty deer wanders into camp), those people are likely to have better reproductive success than people who actively go out and hunt and gather food. Wha---? It's much more plausible to argue that natural selection favors those who develop skills and knowledge that ensure survival of self and family. Reliance on "sheer luck" is way, way down on the list of the survival strategies.
Miles