who is boss here

When more than one person is involved, a mental mechanism gets activated to provide answer to a question that might be phrased "who is boss here."

Much of people's actions seem to be motivated in establishing that answer of "who is boss here." The "here" can refer to a zone of life activity, and different people can be "boss" of the different "zones" or territories, creating a hierarchy of bossyness. The "boss" establishes what is permitted for another person to do, including the other's option of activity or inactivity.

The higher levels of bossyness are established by who apparently can alter another's bodily options or resources: ability to "overpower" another, thus determines who is "boss" of the other.

Once overpowered, what does the larger do to the smaller? This fantasy implication provides the fear that rules the other person; rarely is there actual physical confrontation. A "challenge" is an activity to establish whose is the "larger." Usually a few trouncings to prove the ability to harm the other's life, sets the standard of who is boss of whom, and thus prepares the specific way for what happens from then on, and thus to whose benefit activities goes.

Larger physical body and muscles usually can overpower another's body to render the other powerless, and thus is "boss" due to larger body and muscles. However, the larger body and muscles are of little use in a world of the far more powerful muscles of technology's engines of car and jet aircraft. Thus the larger body and muscles are not economical or efficient of life's resources, except for the implication of assaultive control potential on another person.

Knowledge providing weaponry making and usage, such as the bow and arrow, can render useless the muscles of any man, so "knowledge" becomes zones of bosses too. Who presumably "knows more" becomes a boss level like muscle size, also ruling by implication.

Also, consider religion's declaration of an invisible pervasive entity to be top boss, having the higher interests of mankind and the world environmental context as motivation, instead of the selfish motives of living people-type bosses.

And physical nature can suddenly awake and temporarily become "top boss" such as in earthquakes or hurricanes, but has little interest in controlling reproduction options, unlike people's interests in "who is boss here."

Is it possible to have the "boss" be a "mutual goal" instead of a person, enabling purer motives? "Getting closer to the mutual goal" being the guide of the group? There would still be the problems of the ancient heritage of "larger muscular" individuals attempting to overpower to take goodies away, in the form of forcibly controlling what "the mutual goal" is. Yet, it might be a step in a more wholesome direction, for civilization's long term enhancement.