According to some behavioral experts, a person’s core character solidifies early in life. Yet, when we look closely, we see that all human beings are fundamentally alike in certain ways and distinctly different in others.
Nature grants each of us unique talents, tendencies, and inclinations. Society, however, constantly tries to sort and box us into standardized categories.
This creates an ongoing push-pull tension between who we truly are and the demands of social life. At one extreme, we crave deeply personalized experiences (such as tailored education or precision medicine); at the other, we’re pushed toward uniform, one-size-fits-all systems and services.