Makiism Defined

A personal philosophy, by Ian MacLeod

There has been a lot of interest in Makiism among my friends and colleagues. I have created this blog as a place to explain and develop the thinking around this simple philosophy.

Makiism attempts to explain our behaviour with the smallest possible set of independent "rules", the combination of which create the complexity of the experience we live and observe. The development of this thinking was motivated by the basic concept of emergence, in which very complex systems are shown to emerge from a small set of relatively simpler interactions. This prompted the challenge: What are the simple set of interactions that result in “human behaviour”?

Note that Makiism is not intended to be a comprehensive explanation of every detail we observe in human behaviour. Rather, it aims to be simple, and in this simplicity, Makiism is practical.

Makiism's intentional simplicity may seem too 'clinical', or perhaps even dismissive in its application to the rich experience of our lives. In fact I have found quite the opposite. Through Makiism I have developed a deeper understanding of anxiety when I feel it, or observe it in others, and I have enjoyed a heightened sense of joy when happiness touches me, and touches others. Makiism has helped me move more quickly through anxiety and linger more on happiness, and thereby better enjoy the experience of life.

Makiism

At the most basic level, William Irvine (On Desire: Why We Want What We Want) shows how everything we do is motivated either by the pursuit of happiness, or the avoidance of discomfort. Everything – every action, every communication, every breath, every decision - everything. Makiism expands on this concept one level further to ask what makes us happy, and what causes us discomfort? In answering these two questions as simply as possible, Makiism explains our behaviour through two distinct dimensions of discomfort, and three dimensions of happiness.

We avoid discomfort

Physical and sensual discomfort – pain, itch, hunger, suffocation, etc. – all the physical sensations that cause our brain and nervous system to respond automatically (with little or no cognitive thought).

Anxiety - Our brains create anxiety when we fail to achieve one of the dimensions of happiness, or we anticipate that we will fail (fear of failure). Anxiety is also created if we anticipate that physical discomfort might occur (fear of discomfort).

We pursue happiness

Sensual pleasure - Our brain rewards us with a sense of happiness in response to pleasurable sensual stimulation – massage, music, sex, beautiful visual experiences, pleasurable aromas, etc. These sensual signals trigger patterns in our brain that reward us with a sense of happiness. The "happiness patterns" come either pre-wired into us (sexual attraction, for example), or have grown and developed from happy experiences in our past.

We like to figure stuff out - When we solve a problem, our brain rewards us with a sensation of happiness. Small problems, big problems, puzzles, the meaning of life, science, organizing, Makiism, etc. This dimension is one of the important characteristics that distinguish our species. Just as dogs are distinguished by an incredible sense of smell, and bats are distinguished by a sonar system that let's them "see" (see this interesting talk by Dawkins on TED), we are distinguished by our incredible ability to figure stuff out. And we are driven to figure stuff out simply because it makes us happy.

Social status - This is recognition by others (and ourselves) that we are good or "better" at something, or important to them – that we “rise above”. The most powerful "status" happiness comes when we experience and give trust. The happiness that comes from the status dimension is what makes us a social species. Note that I like to term this the "Maki" dimension as the term “status” has a number of different connotations to different people.

That’s it...

From the perspective of Makiism, all behaviour we observe in humans is the result of our desire to achieve a maximum of things that make us happy (sensual pleasure, figuring stuff out, social status) and a minimum of things that cause discomfort (pain, anxiety). These five dimensions have emerged (evolved) because they have proven successful, and make us successful as a species.