Do We Blame The Brain Or The System That Shaped It

On this episode of Curiosity Theory, Dr. Dakotah Tyler and Justin Shaifer explore CTE, ADHD, and how society explains behavior in athletes and high-performance environments.

Dakotah shares his personal experience with concussions, being evaluated for CTE, and later being diagnosed with severe ADHD as an adult. Together, they discuss why CTE is often used as a catch-all explanation for extreme behavior, and why that framing can ignore deeper factors like identity loss, emotional development, and systemic incentives in sports culture.

The episode also examines ADHD through an evolutionary lens, including the hunter-gatherer hypothesis, risk-taking, creativity, and why certain cognitive traits struggle in modern systems while thriving in uncertainty. The conversation expands into loss aversion, minimalism, masculinity, and whether technology could ever replace the human meaning embedded in sport.

It’s a thoughtful, nuanced discussion about neuroscience, evolution, and seeing people as more than diagnoses.

Visit our Merch Store
 https://www.curiositytheorypod.com/merch

Join our Patreon
 https://www.patreon.com/c/CuriosityTheory

Follow the show
 @curiositytheorypod

Hosted by Dr. Dakotah Tyler and Justin Shaifer

Stay curious.