Why road trips are so satisfying

Tuesday, September 4, 2007 by Dave Winer.

Carl Sagan in his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot, explains why human beings find road trips so satifsying. 

The earth's climate is always changing, even before global warming, a rain forest would turn into a desert because the weather pattern changed. Or some animal or plant that you're depending on for food or shelter or trade, might suffer or go extinct. Or a volcano might turn up right in the middle of your civilization.  

Leaving one place for another is a big part of being human. And the reason we like travelling so much is that evolution culled out those of us who didn't.  

And maybe this also answers the question why, when I travel, I'm always thinking about what it would be like to live there. It's not my mind that's wondering, it's evolution's mind.