“But there is no real evidence that intrinsic motivation even exists.”<p>Yes, there is.<p>I have a Labrador dog, every time she watches a puddle, she wants to get in. Most Labrador dogs do the same with every source of water. I have not told my dog to like water.<p>Dogs also respond naturally to bunnies in the field.<p>We are not that different from dogs. I need to know how things work internally, I disassembled every electronic machine in my house when I was a kid because I HAD TO KNOW how those things worked, and nobody told me to do it, on the contrary I was punished by my parents as some of those did not come back to live(until I learned to do it well).<p>No matter the punishment I will do it anyway because there was something inside me that pushed me. I got so good that I will disassemble something and nobody will notice.<p>I have met people that needed to dance, or paint, or play music or create no matter how badly paid they were.