HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Q. Why do humans do the things they do?
A? It is a matter of balance between competing sets of forces.

Consider:

Postulate #1 -- Like all things, there has to be balance between (a) a fear of the unknown and (b) a desire to explore the unknown: Fear causes us to move away from the unknown. A desire to explore causes us to move toward the unknown

Postulate #2 -- There has to be a balance between (a) groupishness and (b) selfishness. Humans are obviously social animals -- there must have been advantages in early times to run with a group. Groups are simply safer. But humans are also self-centered.

Postulate #3 -- There has to be a balance between (a) being goal directed and (b) being safety directed. Moving toward something is goal directed -- while moving away from something is safety directed.

Postulate #4 -- There are probably many additional reasonable postulates based on balance. Taken together they may explain much about human behavior.

Random thought:

I have developed my own simple theory that "Balance" is the key ingredient of everything -- because "balance" is essential to stability. I developed that theory years ago when I was building model airplane gliders (which fly well only when balanced). I now realize balance is important to everything except evolution, where balance must be absent for evolution to take place. I have since come to believe that the two basic groups of people are those who like balance (stability) in everything and those who like evolution (change). The conflict between these two groups is based on human nature and drives much of human life.

MRC