Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" vs Pinar's "Democracy of Needs" Theory

In the absence of knowledge, we human beings "LOVE" to believe in truths. We connect a couple of dots and if the theory or story is plausible, there you go...now it is the truth, since we believe so...

Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" is no different. It is a theory, not a proven fact...We still do not know to this day, yet we "think" it makes sense. Why not? There is a hierarchy of what motivates the homo saphiens. The animalistic drives are in the bottom, has a huge space in this triangle and self-actualization, etc...all the great inventions of our minds are at the top of this visual pyramid, with a small space devoted to it, telling us that only a fraction of homo saphiens evolved to make it up to the top! Very plausible story. We love to think in terms of hierarchies. Why? Because it is linear and easy for our brains. Not because it is the way life is...Hierachies are a way to organize life and homo sapiens power and work distribution. That's it....it literally exists as a concept in our brains...because it is a useful thinking tool.

We put some color to this pyramid, boom now there is no reason to believe that it does not exist...it is truth, indeed...it has a plausible story, the rainbow colors and a pyramid...yes now we believe in this....

In light of what i have gatherered regarding how our brains work and how life is, i do not buy-in to Maslow's theory any more. Instead i propose 'Democracy of Needs' (Hopefully one day, i will be credited as the person, who coined the term:)) Ecosystem of Needs would be more appropriate, yet not as catchy counterpart to Maslow's theory, hence let's go with the term 'Democracy of Needs'...

Since this is a blog entry, i will not write a book here (which i might do one day, time availing):
Very shortly, how our brain works [according to 'General Theory of Love' and various internet sites i read so far] is my theory's foundation blocks, since once we understand how it works, all the rest, i.e., drives, motivations etc, will flow naturally

1 - Reptilian brain: core, automatic functions, very primitive, no emotions, no brotherhood concept, a lizard can eat its baby to nourish itself

2 - Limbic Brain: emotional regulator, "fight or flight" mechanism, brotherhood concept is developed...hopefully we fight together:) very crucial for humans to survive...In front of a dinasour, we had to choose from 'fight' of 'flight' options...for instance 'negotiate' was not an option:) so as humans we do need each other indeed....very old part of the brain....what makes us distinct from the reptilians is not the fact that we laugh...it is the fact that we love our babies and literally not eat them! According to the book 'General Theory of Love' (wonderfully written, fast paced book on why human beings love and need to love each other), love is the main life energy we have....love connects us to the rest of humanity, which we cannot survive without...

3 - Neo-cortex: tool making part of the brain, very very useful for precision tasks like throwing an arrow...Imagine if the men from our tribe neeeded to game hunt a deer, they would need to "plan" this incidence, since they do not have many chances to hunt the deer...so they begin to talk and plan about this experience by drawing an image of the deer on sand....here we go 'neocortex' is developed:) This part of the brain has the capacity to symbolize and make abstractions to plan an action....beyond that it is very useful to web a logic of arguements to convince others...

According to one theory, neo-cortex gives us the capacity to lie, as well....which is a preferred characteristic by females, i.e., the males who has a bigger neo cortex has become popular...which further led the way for homo saphiens to have bigger neo cortex as the time passed...due to this selection of males by the females. Why is this the case? Why do females prefer males who can lie...??? Can the answer be, even if the males cheated, they could conceal it very well:), thanks to their neo-cortex....lol... this would also suggest that negotiation is also as a result of our neo-cortex:)

So the story of triune brain is: our reptilian brain was not enough for humans to survive, they needed 'others/ group' to survive, i.e., we are tribal animals. After that given our physical weakness (for instance we do not have physical skills like a cheetah to run after a deer), we needed to make tools, first to warm ourselves in the cold nights, and second of all plan how to hunt the deer down for our next party, since we do not have vast resources, and deers are not plenty around...this planning / forecasting part of our brain later on evolved to link the concepts created in our brains needed for planning purposes into logic and symbolically presented language..which then led to our ability to convince a person, people and then masses....so to my mind persuasion is a by-product our tool making habits...which got favored by the females...and still is...

So, what are the interlinkages amongst these brain areas? First of all, they co-exist...co-live...We can link Maslow's needs to these 3 brain categories, not one to one, yet we can fit them to at least one of these brain areas....Yet let's say we are not hungry any more, our reptilian brain does not switch off and let the limbic brain take control...once limbic brain is happy, it begins to self-actualize itself.. this is not the case.Emprically we find see that people who self-actualize are usually the un-happiest...An other counter evidence, would be babies (based on "General Theory of Love"), who are fed properly, but deprived of their mothers' love, die....we cannot live without love....maslow believes that food is the requirement, the rest builds on that...possible, yet improbable...to my mind...

Just because we have food, does not mean that we can now go into the next level of 'love' and then to self-actualization.... this is not a computer game, where we need to pass through many stages to achieve our ideal end...the matter of the fact is we need food and love and tools all AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Even, i can claim that love is what we need...the rest eating and tool making are just sub-serviant to this...There is no hierarchy, there is an ecosystem of drives..our brains and evolution are not one dimensional, our brains actually carries itself what it needed to survive throughout the history... The brain parts are not designed to work in harmony, they are layered on top of each other, depending on the need of times. They actually might conflict with each other, perhaps most of the time, no wonder our inner voices....We all need these 3 systems to work together...

The non-existance of hierarchy does not mean that there is no center-piece in this ecosystem. More and more i am convinced that love is in the middle...this is the capacity we developed to CARE for each other, SACRIFICE for each other, SHARE with each other! This is the basic motivation....

How about the main need? I believe we are driven by only one thing, which is to re-create our own existence, similar to a tree so to speak...we are part of the nature....and all beings in the nature have so far had one drive, which is 'TO BE'... And for our being, unlike a tree, we need to love each other...."All we need is love" already told to our world by Beatles...i agree with them.

What makes us believe Maslow found the truth? Our neo-cortex again...since our neo-cortex receives external stimulus and evaluates to its own existing concepts/ tools/ symbols/ abstractions so Maslow's theory with a pyramid, hierarchy and color is very possible to our 'Thinking' neo-cortex..it fits into the templates it has created to perceive and explain this world....

What makes me, then to posit that Maslow is mistaken? My limbic brain:) Because unlike neo-cortex, limbic brain carries the essence of who we are and "feels" that hierarchy of needs is improbable. Neo-cortex calls this intuition...ability to sense and know without reasoning:) Even neo-cortex acknowledges that limbic brain does not need it at all times....

Hope-fully scientists will prove the workings of the brain, so that we feel that our drive to love is legitimized....and do not need to invest in lonely self-actualization paths...since we will know that once we love, we self-actualize...once we love the people we are with, once we love what we do, once we love our children, parents, friends once we love people from other civilizations, we are our self now....no need to climb Everest...we just need to love, love, love...and love...