Being needed
Nov. 13th, 2012 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackOne of the slightly less intuitive human needs is "being needed". I'm not quite sure how that fits in the traditional hierarchy of needs entries "achievement", "problem-solving", "respect", "self-respect", etc, but I think it does somehow.
Implications of this:
* An easy pointless job with no responsibility is not actually paradise. It's a lot better than not having a job, or having a hard pointless job with no responsibility, and if you're just struggling to survive at all, it is paradise. But even if you're not at risk of losing your job or stagnating your career, many people will still be horribly unsatisfied with this.
* "Group X shouldn't complain about not being entitled to serve in the military because it's dangerous" isn't a good argument. Yeah, there's lots of reasons NOT to serve in the military, but there are reasons TO, and saying "don't worry your pretty little head, we'll protect you, just stay at home and enslave yourself to some member of the majority group" is NOT an acceptable answer to "I want to serve my country, why can't I?"
* Utopias are hard, because if you just give people infinite leisure, they'll be unsatisfied. (I'm not sure either "a life of suffering and struggle" or "completely artificial challenges" are the right answer, but there may be a good answer somewhere between those extremes.)
* Life goals often include "doing something worthwhile" as well as "lots of enjoyment" and "lots of respect" in some proportion
* ETA: When people have screwed up their life (homeless, in prison, etc), sometimes just giving them a kitten to look after will make them a lot better. (Warning: there's a minority of people for whom this turns out badly.)
Implications of this:
* An easy pointless job with no responsibility is not actually paradise. It's a lot better than not having a job, or having a hard pointless job with no responsibility, and if you're just struggling to survive at all, it is paradise. But even if you're not at risk of losing your job or stagnating your career, many people will still be horribly unsatisfied with this.
* "Group X shouldn't complain about not being entitled to serve in the military because it's dangerous" isn't a good argument. Yeah, there's lots of reasons NOT to serve in the military, but there are reasons TO, and saying "don't worry your pretty little head, we'll protect you, just stay at home and enslave yourself to some member of the majority group" is NOT an acceptable answer to "I want to serve my country, why can't I?"
* Utopias are hard, because if you just give people infinite leisure, they'll be unsatisfied. (I'm not sure either "a life of suffering and struggle" or "completely artificial challenges" are the right answer, but there may be a good answer somewhere between those extremes.)
* Life goals often include "doing something worthwhile" as well as "lots of enjoyment" and "lots of respect" in some proportion
* ETA: When people have screwed up their life (homeless, in prison, etc), sometimes just giving them a kitten to look after will make them a lot better. (Warning: there's a minority of people for whom this turns out badly.)
no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 02:07 pm (UTC)