The new year is well and truly over, and most Australians are back to their normal lives. Which is another way of saying that the vast majority of people have given up on their New Year resolutions. It is a pity that many people give up their resolutions so easily, as they can provide a fork in the road leading to better outcomes.
Why is it that we don’t choose to do what we know is good for us? I think we all know the answer to that – it is all too difficult! It is easy to succumb to short-term gratification and give in to our basic human nature.
If you don’t believe in a non-corporeal world beyond this one, if you don’t believe in gods, spirits, or other supernatural beings or phenomena, then it follows that you must believe that human nature is determined by our physical attributes. What we feel, what we think and what we do are driven by what we are.
And what are we? We are the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution – from small groups of hunter gatherers to, in the last ten millennia, settlers in cities, towns and villages, surviving on subsistence farming. These experiences have shaped our genome. It has resulted in our remarkable success as a species. And it is this success that will cause our civilisations to collapse in the near future.
“Hope? Hope is funny. Hope is not a plan. Actually, it’s just a trick. A ruse.” (James, by Percival Everett, 2024).
There is no agency in our genetic evolution other than to survive and reproduce. Evolution is a process, not a destination. The species survives or it doesn’t. We may be the most sophisticated level of lifeform on Earth, but if we destroy the biosphere we will become extinct as so many lifeforms have done before us.
The decisions we make, both conscious and unconscious, determine our behaviour. At the basic level, they are driven by our survival instincts, not on an individual level but on a species level. It is extremely hard to escape our genetic programming.
Greed, ruthlessness, persistence, dominance and cooperation help humans find the basic essentials for life, like water, food, shelter, a safe place to sleep. Lust, possessiveness, infidelity, dominance and even violence help humans to find a mate, have sex and pass on their genes.
Strong pair bonds and caring relationships with family members help humans look after the vulnerable throughout a childhood which is exceptionally long. Enduring love is essential for the continuity of the species.
We may think we are autonomous, powerful individuals doing our own “thing”, but we are social animals. No matter how self-reliant we are, if we are isolated from other people for any length of time, most people start longing for human contact and suffer physical and mental disorders from isolation. We are puny creatures and have a powerful need to belong.
For over 90 per cent of the time Homo sapiens have been around, we have been hunters and gatherers living in small groups. We can probably thank this heritage for our willingness to help others including strangers, and work cooperatively and value equitable relationships.
When humans settled down in large groups, and could own things, it changed the power dynamic in relationships. If you have something, someone is likely to want to take it from you to increase their chance of survival. Wars are one way of doing this. Thus, humans became the greatest threat to other humans.
Aggression, dominance, seeking status and privilege increases the chances of survival. For a group, a strong leader makes members feel more secure. People with lower status will accept hierarchies and rules because they provide a sense of order and these people know their place.
Most humans are capable of behaving cruelly, discriminating against, and showing indifference to those viewed as weaker or as a threat, within and outside the group. It also leads to most humans becoming possessions.
“I hated the world that wouldn’t let me apply justice without the certain retaliation of injustice (James, by Percival Everett, 2024).
Self-actualisation, striving to be the greatest of all time, or at least the best a person can be, helps humans feel less insignificant. Whilst having such a purpose in life can lead to excellence and prestige, it can over emphasise competition and individual achievement. Egotism at the moment seems to be getting in the way of our survival.
Harnessing the curiosity of humans has led to exploration, creative endeavours and life-improving inventions. Using our tremendous brain power has exponentially increased knowledge and problem-solving capabilities. It has also produced our ability to rationalise just about anything.
Deep thinking about issues can help humans gain insights that help them transcend the limitations of innate behaviour and deep-seated prejudices. It enables humans to explore other ways of living, to enjoy beauty and peace and simple things in life.
If we think rationally we can see we are part of an enormous web of interdependent living things on a fragile and unusual planet. In reality, there is no good and bad – people are just living things with a range of characteristics leading them to do what they can to survive and thrive.
What is more important than assigning blame is to focus on the outcomes we want for the future and how we can modify our behaviour to achieve them for the sake of our species and all other living things.
Overall, there are a limited number of motivators for human behaviour. Humans make decisions to help them stay alive, have sex and a family, be as secure as possible, find love, belong to a group, achieve, use their brain power, and, for some, enjoy the moment and transcend the limits of human nature to see the wider picture.
These simple drivers of our behaviour interact in complex ways rather like a beautiful Mandelbrot set which repeats its pattern at many levels, although not quite in the same way.
Throughout history, certain trends have repeated over and over again in different settings and levels but with the same general outcomes. On the whole, short periods of change result in greater openness, intellectual development, tolerance and freedom. Those in control are threatened. As a result, there is a retreat into long periods of repression, restriction, forced cooperation and inhumane treatment.
“After being cruel, the most notable white attribute was gullibility” (James, by Percival Everett, 2024).
It is hard to predict what humans are going to do in a particular circumstance. Our individual choices at a particular time and place are like the proverbial butterfly which flaps its wings and tips the balance so that a cyclone develops elsewhere.
The individual factors are just too many and too complex to be able to predict accurately, and we must succumb to the ramifications of chaos theory. The decisions we make often rest on a knife edge, because life is complex and messy.
We are driven by conflicting desires and affected by external factors such as our upbringing, culture, education and by chance. We may impulsively act on our most basic instincts and be swayed by our prejudices and fears. We may rationalise our choices or, if we are conscientious, base them on the best available evidence. Our individual choices are important and can change the world. Each is a fork in the road.
Do we choose the road less travelled?
Published 17 March 2025.
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Photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash.
