ABSTRACT
The roots of Well-Being Systems, in particular Continuity-related needs, reach all the way down to the beginnings of life itself. This chapter begins by providing a thumbnail sketch of the evolutionary origins of life and Continuity-related Well-Being Systems and some basics about how these Systems work. It then illustrates what Continuity-related choice-making looks like. The chapter provides two examples of human Continuity-related Well-Being Systems in action. The first example focuses on the extreme situation when the needs of a single Continuity-related Well-Being System dominate the life of the individual while the second example highlights how all Well-Being Systems, even those related to the most basic physiological processes, can and do adapt to the demands and realities of environmental conditions. The profound effects of starvation clearly illustrate how the needs of Continuity can dominate choice-making, totally overwhelming other need-driven Well-Being Systems, even other Continuity-related Systems.
