"What is the most important thing that every human being needs?" I guess that's an important question every one of us have asked ourselves at some point in our lives. "What do I want in life? What do I need? What do I do to get what I want? How do I become great?", are all questions we have all posed to our inner minds right before we fell asleep.
I have thought about these things for a while, and I came up with a theory about needs and wants. For every human, there is a fine line that divides his needs from his wants. Once these needs are fulfilled, he goes on to get what he wants. And that line is subjective - ever-changing with time, space, thought and emotion. So, what is that we all need that is never changing? I came up with a hypothesis. Just like any other idea we have already had we but never published because it's not our field, this has already been published by some domain expert decades ago.
Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of needs" is strikingly similar to my theory of human needs and wants.
If you read the Wikipedia article about it here, and look at the criticism section, you will find that, surprisingly, it didn't receive any logical or rational criticism. Someone said there exists no such hierarchy and our needs are non-hierarchical, and dismissed it saying it cannot be proved. "So narrow-minded", I thought. Maybe he should have just said "That theory is not falsifiable, hence not scientific." Unfortunately, that guy didn't provide any alternative hypotheses that ARE falsifiable. And he says poverty is any of these needs being unfulfilled. I thought the definition of poverty was the inadequate availability of fundamental human needs like food, water, clothing and shelter.
It's very interesting when Marlow says that self-transcendence exceeds self-actualization, and that too, near the end of his life. Reminds me of our duties to do something about global warming, it does.
I have thought about these things for a while, and I came up with a theory about needs and wants. For every human, there is a fine line that divides his needs from his wants. Once these needs are fulfilled, he goes on to get what he wants. And that line is subjective - ever-changing with time, space, thought and emotion. So, what is that we all need that is never changing? I came up with a hypothesis. Just like any other idea we have already had we but never published because it's not our field, this has already been published by some domain expert decades ago.
Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of needs" is strikingly similar to my theory of human needs and wants.
If you read the Wikipedia article about it here, and look at the criticism section, you will find that, surprisingly, it didn't receive any logical or rational criticism. Someone said there exists no such hierarchy and our needs are non-hierarchical, and dismissed it saying it cannot be proved. "So narrow-minded", I thought. Maybe he should have just said "That theory is not falsifiable, hence not scientific." Unfortunately, that guy didn't provide any alternative hypotheses that ARE falsifiable. And he says poverty is any of these needs being unfulfilled. I thought the definition of poverty was the inadequate availability of fundamental human needs like food, water, clothing and shelter.
It's very interesting when Marlow says that self-transcendence exceeds self-actualization, and that too, near the end of his life. Reminds me of our duties to do something about global warming, it does.
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