Humanity’s constant and, by the laws of physics, the unavoidable inclination is to minimize energy use. We naturally take the shortest route between two points. Just like a rock flying through space moves along a straight line, our bodies and minds naturally seek the shortest distance, shortest time, least energy consumption, or least costly manner to complete all tasks facing us. This is “the principle of least action.” This principle goes a long way to explaining the Left’s hostility to Jews and support for Hamas and its fellow travelers.

The following are five random examples that help explain how the principle of least action works to control human behavior:

• We prefer keyless entry into our cars rather than expending excess energy required when we use a key.
• Places such as Holland and Canada are rapidly opting for legalized euthanasia and assisted death because it saves labor, energy, and money.
• Once we master a task, such as tying our shoelaces, we use the learned method forever after because it’s easier than learning a new way, including a more efficient way.
• We get our news from the usual sources, which are consistent in their points of view, so our brains do not have to constantly rewire themselves to account for dissonant information, thus reducing energy usage.
• Procrastination

Image by AI.

Humans will always opt to conserve energy, and that proves to be true in the West’s interactions with the violence we see from those siding with Hamas. A rowdy pro-Hamas demonstration was taking place in London. There was a better behaved smaller pro-Israel demonstration standing on the sidelines. The police, holding their clubs and shields, stood between the two groups, but somehow, they faced the pro-Israel group.

Someone in authority had decided that facing the Jews and their sympathizers would be less likely to provoke a violent confrontation. The game was not to protect the pro-Israel group but to protect the policemen by ignoring the more threatening and dangerous circumstances presented by Hamas supporters.

The police threatened the group least likely to attack them, thus limiting the energy they would expend in doing their job. This is a vivid example of current anti-Semitic trends because threatening or attacking Jews, compared to anyone else, is less likely to yield damage to the attacker.

Siding with the party that will cause the greatest damage is another gambit that reflects ‘least action.’ Such an approach underlies much of realpolitik. The primitive brilliance of Iran in threatening to dismember and destroy Israel and the United States lies in their accidental understanding of the principle of least action. Our imaginations run wild, filling in the details of Iran attacking the United States with its only goal of inflicting damage and death. Better to pay the tyrant now and live under a distant and uncertain threat of nuclear confrontation with Iran.

This understanding brings us to the person who coined the term, The Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt. She said famously, “Failure to think is the source of evil.” Even as an erudite philosopher and psychoanalyst, she could not have appreciated the depth of her own statement. Until we place her meme in the context of the principle of least action, we cannot properly appreciate its tenacious grasp on our lives.

Thinking is an energy-intensive activity requiring robust creatures with the rich energy resources that accompany youth. Einstein addressed the matter succinctly: To make progress (in physics) everyone has to die. He recognized that habit and creativity were at opposite poles. Older folks are good at transmitting what they know, but younger beings have the momentary privilege of seeing things differently, thus sparking innovation.

‘Different’ does not imply ‘right’ or ‘accurate’ or ‘efficacious.’ It implies only ‘different.’ The fight is between thinking and habit, i.e., between expending extra energy and ‘least action’ as we try to approach the truth in which we live. Second by second, we fight to understand the problems we face before falling back into energy-saving mode. This fight is continuous, indeed, eternal. From the instant of creation, this is how the world and all its inhabitants were destined to be.

Finally, as a bonus, I want to share with you a beautiful video from Israel, a society that must avoid the principle of least action if it wishes to survive: