Humans often pursue idiosyncratic goals that appear remote from functional ends, including information gain. We suggest that this is valuable because goals (even prima facie foolish or unachievable ones) contain structured information that scaffolds thinking and planning. By evaluating hypotheses and plans with respect to their goals, humans can discover new ideas that go beyond prior knowledge and observable evidence. These hypotheses and plans can be transmitted independently of their original motivations, adapted across generations, and serve as an engine of cultural evolution. Here, we review recent empirical and computational research underlying goal generation and planning and discuss the ways that the flexibility of our motivational system supports cognitive gains for both individuals and societies.

中文翻译：

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赞扬愚蠢：灵活的目标和人类认知


人类经常追求看似远离功能目的的特殊目标，包括信息获取。我们认为这是有价值的，因为目标（即使是表面上愚蠢或无法实现的目标）包含支撑思考和计划的结构化信息。通过根据其目标评估假设和计划，人类可以发现超越现有知识和可观察证据的新想法。这些假设和计划可以独立于其原始动机而传播，可以代代相传，并作为文化进化的引擎。在这里，我们回顾了最近作为目标生成和规划基础的实证和计算研究，并讨论了我们的动机系统的灵活性如何支持个人和社会的认知收益。