Sure this is long, but I didn't know where else to put it

Anyone who has taken an intro class of psychology can tell you of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which basically states that humans have levels of needs, and once one set of needs is fulfilled, the next higher level kicks in. This idea is usually represented by a pyramid, with the lower level needs on the bottom of the pyramid, while those higher needs are higher up the pyramid. Unless those needs on the lower levels are fulfilled, one is not concerned about the higher needs. For instance, if one does not have anything to eat, one is not concerned about sex, morality, self-esteem, or much of anything else. On the other hand, if you have you physiological needs met (i.e. Food, air, water, sex, friendship, etc.) you will be able to move onto higher levels of self-actualization. While there are plenty of detractors of his theory, and refinements, I do like this theory because it makes a lot of intuitive sense.

But, I've been thinking, if this theory, at least broadly, applies to humans, what about society at large? Well, think about it, for almost all of human history humans have been part of society, and if you asked most people throughout history they would have considered themselves as part of their society, whether it be a village, town, group, etc. However, within the past few hundred years, at least in America, and other western nations, humans have been taught that the individual is all that matters, and as individuals, we are separate from everyone else. While this is all well and good, it hardly seems to fit within human behavior. Humans thrive on others. Even introverts such as myself need other humans around. We are not a bunch of individuals, but rather a group of people who depend on each other, and need each other to survive. Psychological tests have shown that without other people, humans actually go rather insane. So, obviously, we are not just a bunch of individuals, but rather parts of a whole society, whether that society be a tribe, village, town, city, state, or nation.

So, what does this mean, and how am I tying all this in with Maslow? Well, at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we find physical needs, and then at the top we find self-actualization. If you look at humans history, we find a constant quest for more physical things. More food, more clothing, just more things. There were of course small groups of people within most societies who were able to pursue self-actualization, but society as a whole was still far down Maslow's hierarchy. But, recently, say in the past 50-100 years, Western societies have moved far beyond this constant quest for physical needs. We have more food, clothing, shelters, etc. than any other society up to this point. And what's more, there are fewer people needed to produce these vast amounts than ever before. So, what do we do with this remarkable position we find ourselves? We continue to quest for more productivity, for the ability to make more with less. And why do we do this? So we can have even more stuff. You can't really blame us for doing this. I'd say that it is probably in our nature to do so, since all throughout human history this has been a constant struggle for us, so of course we are going to continue to do so, even when we have little need to increase productivity. What does this mean? We have moved above the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy, not as individuals, but as a society as a whole.

Throughout history there of course has been individuals and classes who were able to leave behind the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy, but ours is the first to ever reach such a state as a society as a whole. Thus, it would seem appropriate that as a society we must, together, rise up Maslow's pyramid to reach some sort of society-actualization. What does that mean? Maybe, as a society, we can use our resources and vast productive capabilities to reach some sort of actualization. Instead of just producing more and more we can do something, or perhaps many things, that can change the world, benefit humanity. We of course have done some. After WWII, it seemed like we wanted to do this. We had the might and will to do spectacular things. We could bring democracy and peace to the world. We didn't of course, instead we used our position, and continue to do so, to increase our productivity. But think about what we could do! Think about what we've already done.

We went to the moon. The fucking moon! It was the first time a human walked on something other than the earth. The first time when something other than the earth was not the biggest influence, gravity wise, on a human. We went to the fucking moon! We also wiped polio out of America, tuberculosis, the scourge of humans for generations, is now all but a memory in America. When we want to, we can do so much. And not only can we, but I believe we as a people want to. When JFK said we were going to the moon people cheered. Sure, there was the underlying idea that we needed to do it before the Russians got there, but I doubt there were many people thinking about Russians when they saw Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon and utter those famous words “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. No, there were probably thinking “We landed on the fucking moon!” Even when they had nothing to do with it, they swelled with pride, they felt more fulfilled, more actualized as a society.

Landing on the moon, curing diseases, etc. were isolated incidents, but why can't we strive for such things continuously and purposefully. Set up research labs to cure other diseases, expand our explorations into the solar system and the universe even further. I know you are probably thinking that we could, but that it would just cost too much, but that's my point. Yes, it would cost a lot, but we could do it. We have the money, the productivity, the resources, sure we would have to divert some of these things to improving the world, but wouldn't it be worth it? Sure, we'd have a few less doodads and widgets floating around, but we could without those, and think what we would gain. Not only cures and greater enlightenment, but also society-actualization, which, after all, is what this post has been about since the beginning.