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posted by Fnord666 on Friday July 14 2017, @05:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-see dept.

As human beings, what drives us to higher levels of existence? Once we have satisfied the basics - food, shelter, a mate, children - then what? For many it's the idea of self-actualization, or realizing our full potential. But what does self-actualization look like? How do we know when we are doing it? Researchers recently published a new series of studies on what people think it means to be self-actualized.

But what does self-actualization look like? How do we know when we are doing it? When are we trying to realize our highest potential? Self-actualization is a popular idea -- in psychology, business, education and the multi-million dollar self-help industry. Everyone, it seems, wants to realize his or her full potential.

[...] By finding mates, keeping mates and caring for children, people might feel self-actualized, and they might also be furthering exactly those biologically relevant outcomes that lead to getting their genes into next generations.

[...] Or as Krems explained: "For real people, pursuing self-actualization might further biologically relevant goals."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170712145639.htm

[Also Covered By]: Individual perceptions of self-actualization: What motivates fulfilling one's full potential?

[Abstract]: Individual Perceptions of Self-Actualization: What Functional Motives Are Linked to Fulfilling One's Full Potential?

How would you go about achieving self-actualization ? Is self-actualization a relevant goal in this day and age ?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @05:41PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @05:41PM (#539227)

    The question is "Why do you strive?" The OP gave a simple evolutionary description for why that is the case, and he's probably right.

    As the other poster wrote: You don't even need to make it about "having kids"; it's enough that people strive, because that striving might mean they'll go looking for a mate (or 2 or 3), thereby increasing the chances of an accidental pregnancy.

    Your genes have programmed you to be a machine that does things to increase the propagation of those genes, even if you aren't aware of this insidious purpose.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday July 15 2017, @11:35AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 15 2017, @11:35AM (#539512) Journal
    Or it could be like computing. Any sufficiently complex system of computing can emulation a Turing machine and hence, up to memory and time constraints, is capable of any computation. Perhaps any sufficiently complex and sentient being is aware of itself and aware of how it could be better.
  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday July 16 2017, @07:13AM

    by Bot (3902) on Sunday July 16 2017, @07:13AM (#539830) Journal

    > genes programmed you
    this is a chicken and egg rationalization. Selection operates on both genes and complete organisms.

    --
    Account abandoned.