Maybe the other way around? Like the genes that survived were the ones that coded for curiosity in terms of food; encouraging early humans to explore and find more nutrient rich food to feed bigger brains. So not that our bodies ‘told us’, but we selected for the humans with those genes, and they were the ones that won out in the end.

Psycho mantis?

I agree, that’s a good way to put it

Yes this. And is a drug that makes you happy really science fiction? There are plenty that work on dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin receptors. Though I suppose happiness is something more nebulous and complex than a handful of chemicals.

I think Red Faction still does a better job of it, because it blends the destruction and physics into one system. i.e. buildings will topple the second they become unstable, rather than only becoming a physics object once they’re fully separated.