Survival Mode

All models are imperfect representations of the world, built to answer a question.

While the question is always — how can I meet my needs? — Maslow’s hierarchy reminds us that some needs are more urgent than others.

Which needs our model of the world tries to address depends on how secure we feel. If you’re on the brink of starvation, it would be foolish to be worried about your PhD dissertation on Kant.

For our purposes, we’ll simplify Maslow’s hierarchy into three modes that humans can exist in: survival mode, exploration mode, and transcendence mode.

Each mode of existence represents the level of safety and security we feel – what needs we feel at risk of not meeting?

In survival mode, we are in “war time” – we are not safe.

• We assume imminent threat, and remain hypervigilant to changing conditions

• We fixate attention on the things we need most to survive

• We hoard resources – viewing them as a “zero sum” game

• We prioritize ourselves over others, viewing connections as instrumental to our survival (but not valuable in themselves)

• We exploit “good enough” strategies we know to be safe and effective.

• We avoid wasting energy on non-essential activities

Therefore the key question in survival mode is “am I OK?”.

Until that question can be answered confidently in the affirmative, it’s the only question that matters.