Chapter 9 : Survival Instinct is no Longer Needed

Let’s dig a little deeper on our behaviour. Does our decision really make sense ?

My name is Augustin Vallée. I am a 24 year old, French aerospace engineer. Like many people I don’t want to keep living in this world. At least on the path we are on right now. I see where we will end up in a few years and I don’t want my future to be like that. I am using Medium as an outlet to give you my point of view and most importantly as a place to have a conversation with you. I want to find ways to make the world a better place and I need your help.

To get to the deeper reason of our entire decision making system we have to go way back. In a time where animals and humans were the exact same thing, millions of years ago. At this time, life wasn’t easy nor comfortable. Staying alive was the main focus.

Like every animal we had to go search for our food, always being careful about predators. We were far away from the top of the food chain. We didn’t know how to build houses or weapons. Exactly like todays monkeys we were smart, but only knew how to create basic tools.

Survival instinct was required in order to stay alive. It was the main thing to worry about. The only focus was eat without being eaten. Something like that is so important that it is still encored deep down in our brain even today.

Next time you are making a life changing decision, really think about the deeper reason for your choice. Most of the time you will be able to go back to survival instinct. We tend to choose the safest path. The one that will ensure us a steady place to live and raise our family. That will put us food on the table without much effort.

This is why we value money so much today. It is our survival tool. It can give us a house, food, safety and comfort. It is a modern life line to keep us alive as long as possible. In some countries, it even determines our ability to pay for our health. It is driving every single part of our world.

Our modern survival instinct tells us to have as much money as possible for the same reasons we needed to be strong before. To defend our territory, family and our won lives. Wars are just consequences of this leftover instinct. Like a lion is ready to kill whoever enter his territory and threaten his family, we fight for our territory, values and freedom.

But does it really make sense today to still be driven by this millions years old thinking ? Not really, we created a lot of tools to make us safer. We don’t have to hunt for food, we can stay in places safe of all predators. Humans became smart enough to talk with each other and settle arguments without needing a fight.

We see more and more examples of people making decisions that doesn’t seem to make sense because they are not the safest one. Yet, the risk pays off much more. The outcome of getting out of our comfort is worth so much more than the risk. Death isn’t as easy as it was before. Even loosing some years of comfort won’t get you killed or in a dangerous enough position.

Where this survival instinct become dangerous is when it is combined with fear. Poor decisions are made, wars are started, people get divided. The same thing that was supposed to keep us alive before makes us more vulnerable today. Our modern survival depends on the unity and growth as one. Surviving isn’t a selfish process anymore, like it was millions of years ago, and still is for animals besides humans.

It takes a lot of effort to go against an instinct, something that have been living inside of us for thousands of years. Yet it is all worth it to get to the next step of humanity. We now know that it is dangerous to keep fighting with each other. Global environmental, social and many other issues can’t be dealt with properly if we stay divided.

Our survival now depends on our ability to put our short term comfort aside for the greater good. In the end the outcome will be exactly what we are looking for, a peaceful, safe place to raise our family and live as long as possible. The only difference is that humans are able to think on a longer term than animals and see the long term benefit of a short term sacrifice.

Next time you make an important decision think of it like chocolate. It is good in the short term, but if you keep having it, wouldn’t it hurt you more later on ? We know that this little pleasure isn’t good for us, the comfort our survival instinct pushes us towards is the exact same thing. Let’s put the more advanced part of our brain in the spotlight to take us to the next step of humanity.

I want to build a place where we can discuss this war and find a strategy to get all of us out of it as soon as possible and with long term solutions. I can’t do it alone and I need your help. Let’s start a conversation right here to find a way to put those thoughts into actions. Go read my previous stories and give me your feedback.