Economics

Economics has much to say about The Human Condition because economics dominates modern life. Important themes:

• How the markets work because of human nature, how competitive status-striving and social cooperation interact synergistically to create cultural evolution (both social and technical) which has entirely transformed the human environment (see Genetic-Cultural Coevolution). This differs in several ways from standard economic assumptions, most obviously because economists have chosen a wildly inaccurate model of human behavior, but also because economic behavior needs to be understood as a social process (see Market as Culture). There's a lot more going on than just the market and the individual.
• How economic life is also deceptively unsatisfying because our instincts entice us in to pouring our efforts into paid work, but the expected increase in happiness is not forthcoming. Once we satisfy our basic need for food, clothing and shelter, we pour most of our money into trying to win the status game, which is a zero-sum game that only a few can win. See Value, happiness and Hedonic treadmill.
• A particular area of interest is the idea of sustainable economics. The idea that we should reduce our consumption and not strive so hard for greater happiness is compatible with the idea that we should reduce our consumption so as to not deplete our resources or degrade our environment.

See also: