A Basic Trait of Humans and the Implications it Carries

The Bible starts with what writers wanted readers to believe, humans carry a flaw that must constantly be addressed. It is sin. We could be living yet in the Garden of Eden were it not for Eve's sin. Her sin was so bad it infects every human even before we are born. 

Philosophers, doctors, religious gurus of many stripes have weighed in on what they think is central to the human mind. Sigmund Freud thought our minds centered on sex. I read that writing claiming to quote Jesus had him referring to the evils of money more than any topic. Other fields put a magnifying glass on one or another part of humans, the desire for war for example, and conclude this or that one guides all the others.

My discipline, economics, the microeconomics branch of it, does this also. Microeconomics is within the behavioral sciences along with sociology and psychology. It says there is a human trait that is central to understanding most everything else involving humans. Humans, it says, are insatiable. That is, they want and want without end. They, as a group, are never satisfied with what they have, they always want more.

This trait is about humans as a group. We all know of individuals and groups that claim to eschew consumer goods and take pride in "going without." But this is not the summation of all humans. In sum, humans want more.   

While we can see this in advertising and malls and Amazon, its presence in most dramatically seen in the earth and its environment. We've all heard about spoiling our light with all the carbon we make. I've just been reading a book about roads. All over the globe, societies since the Romans have been building roads. Today roads have invaded plains, forests and mountains. Cars and trucks are advertised that will take you "off road" to grind up soil and vegetation making new roads. The effect of these roads is to interrupt the lives of animals and insects killing off large portions of them. This, in turn, affects food production and may impact humans in ways not anticipated.

Insatiable humans affect religion. Several religious people have visited this blog to explain birth control and abortion are not necessary because the earth can support many more billions of people. The problem, these religious people say, is not population size but the consumption by humans. If each of us took less space billions more of us could squeeze into planet earth. 

From what we know of humans, however, it is not possible for humans to stop demanding more and more. Economists are correct is assuming humans will do this forever. This means the only way for earth to accommodate future humans is for there to be fewer of them.