Humanities greatest motivator?

[N-7]

Greed is what makes the clock tick and keeps the world running.

[Rendia]

That's an easy one Genn. Fear.

[Forfax]

That's an easy one Genn. Fear.

How can fear be a motivator?

Fear is our biggest enemy in life , surely not our best motivator.

[Rendia]

How can fear be a motivator?

Fear is our biggest enemy in life , surely not our best motivator.

Fear of rejection makes you work harder to become better in the eyes of the person you are trying to gain the approval of.

Fear of difference has caused more wars than we are able to count.

Fear of death leads us to try to make ourselves live longer.

Fear of poverty leads us to work harder to accomplish more to become as wealthy as we can.

And on and on.

[Korgoth]

Fear of rejection makes you work harder to become better in the eyes of the person you are trying to gain the approval of.

Fear of difference has caused more wars than we are able to count.

Fear of death leads us to try to make ourselves live longer.

Fear of poverty leads us to work harder to accomplish more to become as wealthy as we can.

And on and on.

Hate of Fear... Hate is the great motivator. You can look for food because you hate the feeling you get when you starve. You go look for a mate because you hate not being able to satiate your lust. Hate being in fear of your neighbor, so you slam a spear into his chest.

Hate is everything.

[Deleted]

War/revenge.

We strive on it.

[Deleted]

1. Cash
2. Money
3. Currency
4. etc

[Rendia]

Hate of Fear... Hate is the great motivator. You can look for food because you hate the feeling you get when you starve. You go look for a mate because you hate not being able to satiate your lust. Hate being in fear of your neighbor, so you slam a spear into his chest.

Hate is everything.

But you only hate it because you fear it. :P

[gpherder]

What do you think it is?

Fear?
Love?
Lust?
Hate?
Revenge?

As a species, our primary and deeply instinctual motivation is the continuation of our species, plain and simple. This is, in fact, the primary motivation of every living species we know of - any species which loses this motivation moves rapidly towards extinction. Look at, for instance, the giant panda...beautiful animal, well worth preserving - but it seemingly has lost much of its motivation towards reproduction, at least in captivity. As much as we fight to preserve it, we might not be successful (which would be a mortal travesty).

As individuals, our first instinctual motivation is reproduction of our particular genes. However, being an intelligent species, our intellect can override our instincts. Thus every individual could potentially have any primary motivator you listed, or any number of other primary motivators.

Note that there is a difference between our species' instinctual motivator, and our personal instinctual motivator. We can suborn our personal motivator, but the day our species finds a way to redirect its over-all motivator, we will be heading directly down the path to extinction.

[skrump]

I would think fear, closely followed by lust
and I don't mean lust in a purely sexual way either, people lust for money/power and to stamp out anything they don't like/agree with

But yeah everyone fears a potential downturn in the quality of their lives and that is the motivation to work harder.

[Deleted]

Nothing trumps the opiate.

[Itisamuh]

I would say envy, tied closely to greed. Even the most seemingly selfless person wants to be better off, or at least as well off, as those around him. Competition fuels striving for improvement. This covers money, hobbies, sex partners, friends, etc. Pretty much everything.

[Grummgug]

Obviously there is only answer: dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical the brain releases as a reward. It is pleasure. It IS the motivator.

[SodiumChloride]

Depends on the individual.

A spieces (and each member of the spieces) survives because a it has instincts that push it to survive. Those without the instincts to stay alive and reproduce, they leave the gene pool sooner or later - either by not staying alive long enough to reproduce or simply by not reproducing.

[Deleted]

Maslow's hierarchy of needs I believe is the correct answer :}.

I disagree with a lot of it.

Basic life needs are probably correct except sex.. lack of those have lead to many discoveries and innovations.
Safety - also agreed. But after that, the driving force behind innovations is pure old fashioned greed and lust for power.

No one has ever discovered anything because they wanted sex or to belong in a group.

As for pure motivation even if it doesnt lead to anything other than fulfilling some need, Id still remove sex and maybe replace it with a need for family or to have offspring. Safety comes before that in any case and then greed. Offer someone a choice between a billion dollars and any of those other things and you can be sure what most would pick. The others also differ from person to person. Some want to help others even when their own more important needs arent met and some dont care at all about beauty or achievement or their status.

[jbombard]

I disagree with a lot of it.

Basic life needs are probably correct except sex.. lack of those have lead to many discoveries and innovations.
Safety - also agreed. But after that, the driving force behind innovations is pure old fashioned greed and lust for power.

No one has ever discovered anything because they wanted sex or to belong in a group.

As for pure motivation even if it doesnt lead to anything other than fulfilling some need, Id still remove sex and maybe replace it with a need for family or to have offspring. Safety comes before that in any case and then greed. Offer someone a choice between a billion dollars and any of those other things and you can be sure what most would pick. The others also differ from person to person. Some want to help others even when their own more important needs arent met and some dont care at all about beauty or achievement or their status.

I agree with most of it. Survival is the greatest motivator without doubt. If you are being chased by bear you aren't going to stop for a quickie regardless of how hot the person is.

Sex however is a powerful motivator. Something doesn't necessarily have to motivate you to discover to be a motivator. Sex can motivate you to kill someone or do something you wouldn't normally do. Note however we are talking basic needs, which means you need a certain amount not an abundance, so how much you need or where that line is is not indicated or easily measured, and likely different for each person. (not just talking about sex, how much food do you need before you start thinking about safety or family, food doesn't always come before those things. the more you have the lesser the importance)

[chaotus]

Sex. Psychologically everything you do is an attempt to consume more resources in order to have a higher chance at procreation. The type of resource you consume may change but in the end it's always about sex.

[Deleted]

General necessity, the compulsion to procreate, survival instinct (fight or flight being activated), hunger, curiosity (the craving to understand and see patterns in the world around us). Probably ranked in that order...

[Korgoth]

But you only hate it because you fear it. :P

I dont hate starving because I fear it. I hate it because it hurts. I also really dont fear having a boner, but I hate having blue balls. Fear is just the brain telling us strongly that something is bad; but hate is the motivator that pushes us to deal with it. If you didnt hate being afraid, fear would not work.

[Sorrior]

I'd have to say its probably love that drives us. Corny, but true.

Gotta agree here...I swear the crap i'd do to earn the affections of the one i love....Lets just say i wouldn't care if i were fighting a god i'd still do it...

I think alot of people underestimate how much a person will and even CAN do to try and wil their loves heart.