In 1943, an American psychologist named Abraham Maslow published a paper that would quietly reshape how we understand human behaviour. The core idea: human needs do not all compete equally. They are arranged in a hierarchy — a rough order of priority — and the ones lower down must be roughly satisfied before the ones higher up become significant motivators. He described five levels. At the base: physiological needs. Food, water, warmth, sleep, rest. When these are severely unmet, nothing else matters. A person who is truly starving does not think about their reputation or their purpose. They think about food. Every capacity — intelligence, creativity, social instinct — gets redirected toward survival. Above that: safety needs. Once the body is fed, the mind turns to security. Predictability. Order. A world that can be counted on. This is why people value stable jobs, why children thrive on routines, why uncertainty feels threatening even when nothing is physically wrong. Above that: love and belonging. Once safety is reasonably secured, the need for connection surfaces. Not just romance — friendship, family, a group you belong to. A place in the world where you are known. Above that: esteem. Not just being liked, but being respected. Confidence in yourself, recognition from others, a sense that what you do has worth. And at the top: self-actualisation. The drive to become everything you are capable of being. "What a man can be, he must be," Maslow wrote. Here is the crucial insight: a satisfied need stops motivating. Once you have enough food, food stops driving your decisions. The next level takes over. This keeps repeating upward — which is why human wanting never quite ends, and why the same person can feel completely different needs at different points in their life.