I don’t mean food or sex or addictions of various kinds. The glutton can only eat his fill. The lustful fall asleep after they orgasm. And addicts fall into a stupor or perhaps even death after partaking of more drug or drink than the body or brain can process. All of these are satiable desires.
No, I am talking about acquisitiveness, vanity, rivalry, and power. I read a FB item today that briefly summarized Bertrand Russell’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. In his speech, he addressed these four insatiable desires and argued that they were behind all human behavior – good and evil.
Acquisitiveness, the desire for things, can range from the drive to secure health and safety for oneself and/or family to the mindless amassing of wealth and things. I remember writing an essay on acquisitiveness sometime after I retired. My essay posed the question, “How much is enough?” I assure you that the answer to this question depends on who you ask. I know how much enough is, and I have it. Yet for others, like American or Russian oligarchs, any answer other than Everything will not be enough.
Vanity, the need to be loved and admired, is an essential part of the human psyche – subtle in some and insatiable in others. It can behave as a powerful motivator that makes us study, achieve, accomplish, create and demonstrate kindness and generosity. Insatiable vanity can make us narcissistic, self-important, and cruel without measure. Politicians like Donald Trump and thin-skinned oligarchs like Elon Musk show us the effects of insatiable vanity daily.
Rivalry, the desire to prevail, can makes us competitive or simply cruel. The need can be so strong that some are willing to lose much of what they have as long as they can ensure that others have nothing. Individuals driven by insatiable rivalry compete not against their former selves, as many of us do, but against everyone else; the most pathological of them strive not to simply win but to vanquish.
Finally, there is power. In our world, power and money are closely linked. Yet, they are different, one can pursue money mindlessly and not do what those with an insatiable desire for power do. Those addicted to power revel in being able to make others do what they demand. Authoritarians relish the subjugation of others – they use their power just for the sake of feeling superior. Here we find Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Elon Musk and others. Nothing short of Omnipotence is enough to satisfy those with an insatiable desire for power.
I have enough stuff, and what remains of my future is reasonably secure. My vanity is more than satiated by my family and friends. Of rivalry, I know enough – years ago, a had a sibling rivalry with my brother. As for power, I have just enough to sustain the illusion of free will; I can go my own way because I choose to go that direction rather than because I am required or forced in that direction.
You will likely recall that Bertrand Russell was a Mathematician, Philosopher and writer who often commented on Science, Religion, Philosophy and just about everything else. His mentor and later collaborator, Alfred North Whitehead, was also a polymath like Russell. Together, Whitehead and Russell wrote a three-volume treatise on Mathematics titled Principia Mathematica that took them years to complete. Despite being a math major in college, I have never read it, but if I should ever acquire it, I know that it is exceedingly unlikely that I will be able to comprehend it.