You’re walking on the street and you see a person struggling to carry some bags to the car. What happens at that point? Why some people will help that person and others won’t? Assume you don’t know that person. Why would you help someone you don’t know? Any human knows what suffering is, and hence knows that person is suffering. But how much is that person really suffering? How much do you suffer when you struggle to carry bags?

People must make decisions on how to manage situations they experience continually during their lives. The final decisions are often subject to certain characteristics of situations: The time limit on the decision-making process. This limit may be self-imposed or dictated by the situation. Example: a decision on taking an exit in a highway; the distance between the car and the exit, the speed of the car, and other parameters determine the time limit.

Evolution has led humanity to possess an exceptional degree of consciousness. The perception of individual existence is a common trait in other animals. Humanity however has a distinct capability to analyse the role and destiny of the species holistically, both within local and global environments. This capability is supported by at least two important human traits: Culture transfer: subsequent generations can critically analyse and build upon previous bodies of knowledge. This creates a stream of questions, answers and revisions running in parallel to history.