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Right by Definition
The risks and benefits of safety.
Can the factors that make us human be harnessed to improve our lives and possibly the chances of the survival of our species? These include our survival mechanisms of self-efficacy and beliefs which are based on our biology and evolution.
Introduction
Humans find themselves in a unique evolutionary circumstance. What has served Homo sapiens in its rapid evolution to dominance may be putting it at risk of individual and collective decline. Humans have built an increasingly complex environment; an environment to which it is ill-suited.
To cope in this complex environment, humans simplify, filtering out the unnecessary and giving up “self-efficacy.” Disruption to this simplification is thus a challenge to survival, whether real or perceived.
Simplifying, by aligning with a leader or a group and outsourcing the burden of decision making is a mechanism for safety and survival. The risk however is the loss of self-efficacy and the weakening of the life force.
What follows is my exploration of the make-up of humans and how our survival mechanisms affect our life-force.
Safety in Numbers
My 80-year old mother lives on her own in South Africa. All three of her…
