Historians’s reports show that humankind evolved in the what and how, but not the why we do things. The “what and how” connected to the technology of things; the “why” connected to the moral motivations.
Since the hunter-gatherer times, humanity went through historical revolutions in farming, industry, railways, electricity, internal combustion, information, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. In the process, science eradicated diseases, multiplied food, and reached the stars.
On motivations, people did not change since the beginning of times. “Why” questions posed by ancient philosophers remain unanswered; Greek mythological dramas reappear in diverse religions and societies throughout time; stories of heroism, family bond, revenge, betrayal, power coup, and unconditional love are recurrent themes in any group, tribe or kingdom ever described. Although moral evolved, culture and education are constantly required to tame human instincts. Abhorrent, animalistic behavior still emerge in war, famine, plague, and overcrowding. Prisons are examples of how people lose humanity in certain context.
Evolution is a slow experiment that take millions of years. Men used weapons for hunting only seventy thousand years ago, feeling safe as hunter, not pray. Our species topped the food chain too fast; knowledge gave power to a fearful beast overreacting to the mere perception of danger. Humans are still fragile creatures whose instincts never changed; their biological requirements influence decisions and stories they tell themselves.
Few, basic archetypal stories animate the dynamics of moral decisions. Sibling rivalry: conflicts between close relations. The hero defeating the monster: triumph over evil or challenge; need for security and order. The struggle for purity: primal instincts avoiding disease and maintaining group cohesion, manifest in social dynamics of “us-versus-them.” The struggle for dominance: competition for status and control, a core dynamic in social hierarchies. The sexual selection: Oedipus complex, conflict between sexes for mating rights.
These archetypal stories explain human nature throughout History. Examples of decisions in grand scale: Eve challenging God in the Garden of Eden; kingdoms fighting for dominance in the ancient world; betrayal plots in medieval courts; matters of war and peace; bitter rivalry in modern politics. Real or fiction, storylines follow the archetypes defined by instinct. Aesop’s Fables, ancient philosophy, Shakespeare’s plays, modern novels, and Hollywood dramas repeat the pattern, indicating that imagination is weaker than primal instinct, the “why” of things.
The Unconscious Skill 