What is it with our propensity to continuously distill experiences?

I’ve thought about this question before but was inspired to ask it after watching “Big Wave Riders”, a documentary about the evolution of big wave (20+ ft) surfing. The documentary begins by explaining that native Hawaiians (and other islanders, I imagine) surfed conventionally for nearly a millennia. Then, westerners discovered surfing and within 10 or 20 years there were 2 million surfers and surfing pioneers seeking bigger and bigger waves until we’re to the point that the biggest waves surfed require specialized boards and jet skis to tow the surfer into the wave (because the waves move too fast to paddle into).

What caused us to accelerate the surfing experience?

Same thing with drugs. Traditional Columbians treat the cocoa leaf as a gift from nature/God and a natural stimulant. We turn it into crack. A recent UK article talks about the increased risks of psychosis from “skunk” weed that contains 5 times the THC as old school marijuana (and has all but replaced old school marijuana in the marketplace).

Why does our culture value the extreme experience over the “normative” or natural experience and why (presumably) are other cultures content with what they’ve had historically?

A related thought—I heard this woman being interviewed on our local public radio and she talked about how western children will say they think with their brains and Tibetan (i.e. eastern) children will say they think with their hearts. What does it look like to think with your heart, and is this the essential difference?

Hell, even Fluther is like conversation on steroids. I have nothing to say to a lot of people IRL because there’s no new or relevant information to exchange.

Put the puzzle together for me.

edit:: I guess the availability/application of technology is a common denominator/catalyst among everything I mentioned. Is that it or is there more