❶ When you are alive, survival is indispensable.
Optional Proof by Contradiction
Suppose survival is dispensable and we dispense with survival; then we are no longer alive. QED
❷ To survive, you have unmet needs.
Analysis
We just need to note that humans have physiological and psychological needs that they need to meet to feel content.
❸ When you are alive, it is preferable to minimise unmet needs to not minimising them.
Proof by Contradiction
Suppose minimising unmet needs is not preferable; then we tolerate at least one unmet need with Strategy X; it is self-evidently favourable to get rid of this unmet need; let’s call this Strategy Y.
Y is clearly more favourable than X.
Contradiction; QED.
❹ At a context (time, space, psychological states, etc.), minimising unmet needs is the currently optimal strategy for an individual.
Analysis
Definition: Cognition is the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension.
Definition: Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts (descriptive knowledge), skills (procedural knowledge), or objects (acquaintance knowledge).
Definition: Comprehension is the ability to compress data.
Suppose the individual is not currently aware of the optimal strategy in the universe.
We have “at fault” either Cognition or the context for Cognition, i.e. current environment.
We can change/mould our environment/context via behaviours.
Given that we can’t cover all context, the optimal is, in fact, unknowable.
While aware of the above, the optimal strategy must involve continuously hone Cognition and behave per Cognition.
Let’s call this a Growth need, and it is currently unmet.
Therefore, at any given time/place/context, minimising unmet needs is the currently optimal strategy for an individual.
The more discontented we are, the more willing we are to grow continuously.
[Tips] Current Science: Knowledge can be acquired in many different ways and from many sources, including but not limited to perception, reason, memory, testimony, scientific inquiry, education, and practice. The philosophical study of knowledge is called epistemology.
P.S. To know the optimal strategy in the Universe, we need to be omnipotent (to mould context), omnipresent (to cover all context) and omniscient (to have the perfect cognitive ability), so we effectively need to be God-like.
P.S. The existence of God is a translogical topic and hence out of scope for this article.
