It's never enough

Watching the news, the underlying theme of a lot of the reports is that there's never enough of something.  On any day there are dozens of pressure groups all saying that not enough money is being given to this or that cause.  Or not enough action is being taken to tackle some problem. There's not enough change in a situation, or it's not happening fast enough.

Watching the news shows what a cantankerous, dissatisfied species humans are.  We fight wars because we don't have enough land, or enough of some precious resource that the other guy owns.  We never have enough money, or enough stuff.

Part of this drive for more is an intellectualised form of Darwin's "survival of the fittest" idea.  If we have that bright shiny spaceship, that planet full of resources, then maybe we'll be shown as the fittest and she'll choose us.  Like bower birds, males amass the interstellar equivalent of bright plumage and a dazzling home with beautiful flowers in it, in the hope of attracting a female,

I wonder how we'd react if we ever found a species that had a concept of "enough".  Perhaps their laws would limit the amount of money or credit they could own.  Perhaps anything they earn over a set level gets automatically redirected to help the less wealthy.  How would that affect their culture?  Would their companies be admired for the most ecologically sound manufacturing techniques instead of the size of their bottom lines? 

The retail sector would be vastly different without the drive for constant conspicuous consumption.  And what about the way they choose their mates?  If the equivalent of having a shiny red sports car doesn't draw in the females, then what does?  Kindness?  Wisdom?  Mental strength?  

A species that had enough would have very different drives from humans.  My only worry is what would happen if humans discovered them.  It could well prove that their life of enough wouldn't be enough to keep humans at bay.