Scarcity

Biological Parallel

When water holes dry in drought, elephants march 50+ miles to reach remaining sources, prioritizing scarce water over abundant forage. Scarcity signals existential risk—organisms that failed to respond to dwindling resources died. This creates scarcity bias: rare resources trigger urgency and competitive acquisition even when abundance exists elsewhere. Limited-time offers exploit this ancient panic. The brain treats artificial scarcity (2 seats left!) like genuine resource collapse.