Our Curiosity With the Ocean: a Hunter’s Perspective

What drives our curiosity with the ocean? It’s tough to say, exactly. But we’re taking a stab at it from a unique perspective.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.

John f. kennedy

What is it about the fascination of the underwater world? Is it the depths? The unknown? The mystery of what lies below? It’s tough to say. But it seems, however, human beings have a general curiosity that’s built deep within us.

After all, we’re all descendants of a group of ancient homo-sapiens leaving the comfort of modern-day Africa for the unknown. What was it that drove those humans out of the jungle and into Asia, over the Bering Straight, and eventually into South America? What was the motivation? Did curiosity have something to do with it? If so, what was that curiosity driven by?

An ocean of curiosity

Although we can’t say for sure, the reason why humans originally may have ventured from Africa was to seek more resources, particularly food from the ocean.

Following coastlines from Africa’s west coast, up to the Middle East, India, and before separating down into Indonesia and up into the Bering Strait to the New World, humans have always had a deep connection with the ocean. It was a haven for food, life, and prosperity.

In fact, the ocean played an integral part in evolving ancient humans into what history refers to as hunter-gatherers.

Hunter-gatherers by nature

According to History.com, hunter-gatherers were “prehistoric nomadic groups that harnessed the use of fire, developed intricate knowledge of plant life and refined technology for hunting and domestic purposes as they spread from Africa to Asia, Europe and beyond.”

In essence, hunting has always been apart of human DNA since the time of hunter-gatherers (and beyond). Our existence, well-being, and natural state depended on hunting. And many of those groups of humans hunted the coastlines they often traveled along.

Hunting may drive our curiosity

Mario Livio, the author of “Why? What Makes Us Curious“, makes a point about the evolutionary reasoning behind our curiosity in an interview with Public Radio International. He explains how humans needed to be curious about their surroundings to survive the rigors of the pre-modern world.

If you weren’t curious, you might fall off that cliff; you might get bitten by that snake; you might not find your prey just over that hill; or you won’teat if you don’t discover what’s on the ocean floor.

It makes sense. Essentially, a kill or be killed mantra.

Could it be, seeking resources, such as animals to hunt, lays at the genetic base to our curiosity? Were our ancestors incessantly curious so they could eat that day? It seems highly likely. After all, you’ll never know what food lies at the bottom of the ocean until you go and see for yourself.

Our curiosity with the ocean today

Today, as divers, have you ever caught yourself wondering what’s inside that shipwreck? What lives within that coral reef system? What’s inside that cave? Clearly, we are inherently curious beings. But what drives that curiosity?

I can’t imagine many divers would say that it’s their “deep rooted instinct to hunt”.

However, if it were 15,000 years ago, when the first humans were arriving to the New World, the explanation would certainly be “to eat what’s inside”. In fact, in many parts of the world, this is still the case.

So have we actually changed? Or has modern society made things so easy for us that we don’t even entertain the idea? After all, Walmart is having a killer sale on fish fillets this weekend.