Scott M. Stolz

2025-05-01 13:59:51

Scott M. Stolz

scott@loves.tech

Necessity is the mother of all invention. Laziness is its father.

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2025-05-04 11:47:30

Ema エマ

ema@utasansh.in

Well, I live in a hierarchy-less society. I have no boss.
I never use the words necessity or to be necessary. Instead, I use need(s), to need and to be needed by.
I studied 5 years at the Federal Institutes of Technology Lausanne and Zurich, and later I worked 10 years in city planning, where I wrote reports and talked with citizens and politicians. One might think, in such circumstances I would have used the words necessity or to be necessary. I never did.

It's easy:

The world needs peace and a massive reduction in burning fossile carbon. The forest needs a buffer to the housings. The citizens of Basel need a quiet neighbourhood and recreation areas. We, the workers in our city planning company, need to generate an income to pay ourselves a salary to live.

If one cannot replace the words necessity or to be necessary by need(s) or to need / to be needed by in what they are about to say, then I advice them to change their live. If they insist on keeping using those words, I start thinking that they are dishonest, that they are hiding their true intentions.

The words need(s) or to need / to be needed by imply that there is a needer. That the needer is known, named, mentioned, talked about.

To know the needer, you need to care.

It might be that one could replace the words above by to want / to be wanted by. That's also fine, because that's honest and that names the wanting subject, in contrast to necessity / to be necessary.

2025-05-06 02:50:04

Scott M. Stolz

scott@loves.tech

@Ema エマ Interesting. So needed and necessary are two different things.

For example, we'd say something like "it was necessary to perform surgery to save his life."

The surgery wasn't necessary because we cared. The surgery was necessary because of health reasons. The surgeon may have performed surgery because they cared, but surgery was still necessary whether someone cared or not.

The word necessary is not related to hierarchy. It means "if this is not done, there will be consequences."

If you don't eat, you'll starve, therefore eating food is a necessity. If you don't have heat in winter, you'll freeze, so therefore heat in winter is necessary for survival.

I think we use the term necessary differently than you do.

2025-05-06 03:52:45

Scott M. Stolz

scott@loves.tech

@Ema エマ I'm wondering if the definitions and connotations are different in our countries.

Necessary means there will be consequences, most likely severe consequences, if something is not done. It was necessary to change lanes to avoid the pedestrian. It was necessary to evacuate because of the storm.

Need is usually associated a person or group of people. He needs help. She needs the keys to the car. They need this change in policy for (whatever) reason. So if you say you need something, there is usually someone who needs it.

So if the boss needed something, it's because he wants you to do something. But if it is necessary, then it's probably something that potentially has consequences if not done, like following safety procedures. So both words can be used but with different meanings or connotations.

That is the most common usage of those words in my culture. But many people use these words interchangeably, as if they mean the same thing.