Maslow’s Hierarchy of Fictional Genres

Idiosophy is a blog site  “maintained by Joe Hoffman, former physicist, current modeling and simulation engineer, foil and épée fencer and coach, and vegetable gardener.” As he explains on his blog , we need never live in darkness again. The internet can provide us with information, discussions, ideas and people such as he who has a passion for physics, literature and nature. The internet has a vast array of knowledgeable and experienced people who can looks at things in compelx ways and share those ideas. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is a stalwart of motivational theory in psychology. But what if we applied it to literature? Joe Hoffman’s clarity around the concept of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs of Fictional Genres is well worth the read.His discussion is well thought out and interesting.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 2017

This revamped version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been making the rounds. I found this one on Twitter by Morten Øverbye. It’s something which has sparked some good discussion on his feed. Adding battery and wifi to the hierarchy of needs acknowledges we have become technology dependent. Does it mean we can’t be stable and secure without them? Is it a first world problem? To have battery there is a bold statement about how we have failed to address the basic requirement of a technology society. We are constantly interrupted by failing batteries, batteries which have a short life, places which don’t sell the batteries we need,waiting for the right battery to be delivered. It really is an implementation problem in our technology paradigm. As for wifi, yes, we are looking for that everywhere, but we also have mobile coverage which can alleviate the problem if we have the money to pay for it. Do we need batteries and wifi before food and water? I think not, but as someone points out , we might need our location services to find food and water. Interesting remodelled hierarchy to ponder and a sign we are changing as a society and that Maslow’s will need to be upgraded.