I read somewhere that…
Actually I’ll interrupt that thought with a memory- I had a friend who would make up reasonable sounding facts all the time and claim he’d read it in a book once. It became a matter of fascinating urban legend, this book. Must have been a hell of a book to be full of so many interesting and plausible yet probably fictitious factoids. A third of the population have superflous nipples. Monkeys and dolphins are the only other species that have sex for pleasure but male lions can do it 50 times in a day. Not only is Tom Cruise bisexual he likes ’em young. And so forth…
Meanwhile, back at the post:
I read somewhere that the most basic motivator for human behaviour is sex. Our most primal urge is to bump uglies. Naturally your first instinct as a normal, hot blooded human is to agree wholeheartedly. mmmboobies. But I just don’t think so.
I can’t remember the specifics, which really makes this post a little flabby, especially if I’m remembering it incorrectly, but there was talk about other base motivators like hunger and shelter and maybe even shiny things. Millions, billions even, has been spent in the study of why we do what we do. Most of that money has been spent by ad agencies. True story. Billions. This is the reason most ads are trying to sell you laundry detergent or motor oil using sex.
As another aside this is why, culturally, we now have such an exponentially greater problem with guns and gangs in North America, and specifically the US, compared to the rest of the world. The entertainment industry, prevented from explicitly using sex to put us in the theatre seats, has had to fine tune the exploitation of the next-door neighbour of sex: violence. If you can’t show people fucking you can still show them fucking each other up. And spitting on the corpses. Violence = sex. But that’s another post.
This sorta brings me back on point, if from the opposite side. Sex is not the bottom line in People Programming. The prime motivator is punishment avoidance. It seems like a contradiction at first: if punishment avoidance is Reason Number One for behaviour then why are we so willing to let Hollywood convince us that violence is sexy? Why do guys take girls to horror movies? Why, in pop culture, is ‘hero’ synonymous with ‘ass-kicker’, and even worse, ‘vigilante’, and why do these rowdy bastards form the archetype for sexy manliness? Why do you have to break a guy in half for kicking sand on your blanket in order to be considered sexy by the opposite sex?
I am so wandering off point again. Save all that for another post. Sometimes these things try to write themselves and you have to be assertive.
Right. Punishment avoidance as the Prime Motivator:
It has often been observed that a vast percentage of the work force does exactly good enough a job to keep that job (while honestly believing that they are working harder than most). People will make a reasonable effort to make it to work on time not because it will get them laid but to avoid being late… and in trouble. It’s just less hassle to be on time than to deal with a lecture on punctuality.
That’s the proof for me right there. It’s not that I’m talking about Getting Killed level punishment or even Getting Fired. Just… anything that makes us uncomfortable. And it pervades everything we do. There’s the black & white picture I could paint: if you have to decide between a nice round of mattress dancing or getting the hell out of the building because it’s on fire… only the most tragic of Online Gaming Nerds would really have to think about that one.
And then there’s the millions of even smaller choices we make without noticing, from waiting for the crossing signal to tipping the cabbie. We choose to avoid punishment on any level all the time, and not just from external sources. We punish ourselves ruthlessly. Just ask a Roman Catholic about Guilt.
We will go miles out of our way if it means we don’t have to face a punishment we personally consider worse. And yes, it’s completely relative. I’ll walk through a dark alley to avoid the psycho ex-girlfriend. I’ll put off filing my taxes because I owe $200. I’ll drink. I’ll eat junk food.
Or to put it another way: we have no trouble facing the possibility of punishment later if it means being a little more comfortable now.
Somewhere in the revelation that human behaviour is primarily based on staying comfortable there is the key to world peace and a clean environment but to get there we humans need to find a sense of scale. Because being comfortable now is preferable to being comfortable in a hundred years. Apathy over involvement. Destruction over instruction. Hindsight over forethought.
Not a very cheery post, I guess. But it does illuminate my ancient creeping dissatisfaction with human nature. There are a lot of people I love but I don’t care much for humanity. Until there comes a day when prevalent thought changes from “Fuck it” to “Fix it” those of us that care will have to… what… keep on keeping on.
Good post. I politely differ. It’s my contention that indeed the most basic primordial desire is to propagate the species. This alone influences, mostly subconciously, ensuing actions. Where you choose to live, how you protect where you live, who you choose as a mate (or love), how you protect those who you love…all have to do with propagating the species. There’s a vast choice in how individuals go about doing all of the above. Some live in sleeping bags under an awning on the streets of LA. Some live in more sophisticated dwellings – enclosed in brick and cement. But on both ends of the spectrum, each individual protects this environment because primordially they have to have a place in which they propagate. Same with loved ones. Loved ones come in all shapes and sizes, but at the most basic level we protect in order to ensure the existence of our genes. Add to this innumerable other things – desire to satiate hunger, quench thirst, clothe yourself, acquire material possessions…even taking someone on for invading your turf…at the most basic level, they are all in attempt to keep your genes going.
Then, evolution. Things can come easily to a select majority like food, clothing, shelter. In fact, finding a mate has become a little easier. The primordial desire is quieted to practically an inaudible whisper..replaced by the ad agencies, the brand names, the influence of the rich, the affluence of the famous. Like you say, this is people programming – convincing us that we need things we don’t necessarily need, telling us repeatedly that our purpose isn’t anything to do with propagating the species, but it’s about fitting in, standing out, making a difference, keeping status quo, individualism, conformity, having the coolest latest gadget, taking a stand against the mega-corp that has a monopoly on cool gadgets…and on and on and on.
I agree whole-heartedly – our culture teaches us these behaviours. And our culture has taught us unequivocally that punishment avoidance is a prime motivator. (Or should be…)
It’s disappointing that so much time and energy is spent in the US convincing people to be individuals first and foremost and not a unified whole. This is in stark contrast to so many other countries…and really if people would come together and find solutions to things together…it would be much better for everyone’s present (and future) genes! :)
But as sentient beings, the most basic motivator is in fact sex. It’s just culturally we’ve been taught differently.
COMMENT:
Sentience and sex are very rarely related.
Thanks for the opinion, Craig. You made a lot of good points about human behaviour. I have to reassert my previous example though. In a burning burning building you’ll still turn down Charlize Theron.
To extrapolate on your own theory we do build our lives around propagation. Reproduction, and even sex appeal, however, will *always* take second place to self preservation. You have to grant that. We aren’t like the praying mantis that willingly goes to bed with Mrs Praying Mantis and gets his head lopped off mid-coitus.
That said, I have to go one further- you’ll turn down a one-night stand so you don’t have to give her breakfast the next morning. Or at least I have.
You said we protect our loved ones so we can reproduce. True. But we bring them flowers not so they’ll have sex with us but so they’ll let us out of the doghouse. And then have sex with us.
We like sex. Sex is good. We do spend an enormous amount of energy getting sex. But we will always give up sex if the consequences of having sex outweigh the benefits of getting it.
And that, for me, is that.
That’s the essence of what I’m trying to say, Maigen. You say you do all sorts of things that make you happy- wouldn’t you say that not doing them would make you uncomfortable, less happy?
I can go one step further and say there is no such thing as an altruistic act, because all acts are selfish in that we do them because we are motivated to, and not acting would make us unhappy, or less comfortable.
We are, in the end, selfish individuals. It’s how we apply that selfishness that separates the sinners from the saints.
“But we will always give up sex if the consequences of having sex outweigh the benefits of getting it.”
I just wanted to interject – the above statement only applies if you have a slightly above average level of intelligence. The ‘average’ male *would* actually have sex, even if there was the distinct possibility that Charlize was really an alien out to kill them (or something like that).
I don’t think that the average man would do that because their main driving force and thought is to propagate their genes and the species – it’s because they’re essentially stupid.
“But as sentient beings, the most basic motivator is in fact sex. It’s just culturally we’ve been taught differently.”
I think culturally, we’ve forgotten what actually does drive us to keep on living. Sex is a motivator, yes, if your life is a never ending episode of The Man Show and Miller Lite commercials.
Believe me – I’m not saying I have the answers. But I feel I have a completely different stance because I’m not the one out there trying to propagate my seed or what have you. I don’t work because I am trying to escape punishment, or because I need to procreate. I don’t make dinner, wash dishes, take a walk, see a sunset or hold hands because of either of those things. I do it because it makes me happy. It makes me happy to ‘feather my nest’ and create meaningful relationships with other people. I guess that’s my reason for keeping on.