In computer science, a greedy algorithm is simple: at every step, you pick the option that looks best right now. You don’t simulate the whole game, you don’t rewind—you just choose the locally optimal move, again and again. It’s fast, it’s intuitive, and for many problems it actually finds the global optimum.
Greedy works. Take the best option in front of you. Repeat. Evolution did exactly that—survive this moment, get calories now, avoid the predator. It’s why we’re here.
The catch
Greedy climbs the nearest hill. It doesn’t ask if there’s a happier one—and we don’t mean long-term happiness, just the next bump of feeling good. So you end up on a local maximum: happier than your neighbors right now, but not the lasting kind. To reach that you’d have to go down first. Evolution rarely rewards that. Your brain doesn’t either.
When it bites
Career: next raise, next title. Relationship: next dopamine hit, next “win.” Health: next quick fix. Each step is rational. The path is a slow curve into a plateau you didn’t mean to choose.
Greedy is evolutionary. Knowing you might be on a small hill—and that getting to a bigger one could require a temporary step down—is the upgrade.