Driven: How Human Nature Shapes our Choices

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CULTURE, SKILLS, EMOTIONS: OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

Any merely superficial ordering of life that leaves its deepest needs unsatisfied is as ineffectual as if no attempt at order had ever been made.

—I CHING

The four independent drives and related skill sets were critical to human evolution. Once these drives and skills were firmly and innately implanted in the brain, the stage was set for the takeoff in human cultural development. With their drive to learn and related skill sets such as language and abstract reasoning, humans could invent and design all varieties of new artifacts.¹ They could reach out to explore the entire globe. They could eventually domesticate a variety of plants and animals, greatly increasing their available resources. ...