# The Human Imperative We as humans tend to think of ourselves as unique. We tend to think of the variety of people that we meet as different from each other. From time to time we identify similarities between groups of people. To account for those we have theories of psychology, cognition and personality to organize and categorize these differences. ## What humans have in common In my opinion, most people lose track of what all of us have in common with other people (and even animals). For the most part we all have brains, similar brain structure, similar bodies, the same body parts, and generally similar desires. Above all we share the desire to survive. Most people will go to great length to feel safe and secure if they feel threatened. Once we _feel_ secure in our ability to survive, we have the desire to prosper. We want to maximize our well-being as best as we can. Broadly I describe the human imperative as the instinct and desire to **survive and prosper.** And I believe it must be deeply embedded into us through the structure of our brains. The impulse for fear and greed, the related parts of the brain, and the desire to survive and the desire to prosper. ## Problems with the simple human imperative There are mainly two problems with this simplification: 1. Our ability to survive and prosper is limited by knowledge and beliefs The information people are exposed to, and beliefs they hold influence how they perceive and act on these things. For example, the belief in God and greater wellbeing in afterlife will convince some people to do things that are counterproductive to their imperative. They just don't have the knowledge or ability to know that (Jihadism, Crusades, Nazism, Ideological Extremism). 2. Sometimes we can't help ourselves There are occasions when people knowingly engage in destructive behaviour, yet they can't stop themselves. Alcoholism, drug-abuse, and anger issues all fall into those categories. These types of behaviours must be related to the structure of the brain and something going wrong. Our conscious mind knows these are not good for us in the long-term, but we cannot override the behaviour in the short term. There is something about the discrepancy between short and long term horizons. Our brain convinces itself to engage in this behaviour even though we know its destructive in the long-term, for short term 'well-being'/pleasure. Maybe the answer to this can be found in Neuroscience and Neuroeconomics. ## Related - [[Neuroeconomics]] - [[Neuroscience]] - [[Cognition]] - [[Motivation]] - [[Addiction]] - [[The Dynamic Society]] - [[Ideology]]