Maslow's forgotten pinnacle: Self-transcendence - Big Think
A great deal of attention is paid to self-actualization, the pinnacle of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. But Maslow actually intended to add another layer to his now-famous pyramid: Self-transcendence. This concept actually fits much better with my cyberpunk tastes. My favourite Cyberpunk movie Ghost in the Shells ends at exactly this type of self-transcendence. Every version of the anime incorporated some level of transcendence. A hungry person is less likely to be very different from an animal. They just need food to eat and water to drink. After fulfilling all that, there are the next levels. Cyberpunk deals with a self-aactualisation of human civilization. What if we come to a point where humans can design even their own bodies to their liking. Altered Carbon is another amazing gem that deal with the technology to store, carry and transfer human mind to bodies of their liking living forever young and healthy. What's the point of existing after reaching this point?
What if I say the entire point lies right after all these world shattering achievements. When we have everything we realize that what really matters is the transcendence. But that's too big to handle for many and they omit the final revisions of Abraham Maslow
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Arthur C. Clarke's 2nd Law
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