So, for whatever it’s worth, I think “why?” or really just ”?” comes closest to being an ultimate goal for humans. Our minds seem oriented towards resolving confusion (i.e. predictive coding, minimization of prediction error). It’s not literally the only thing making us go (we’re all the descendants of creatures who were compelled enough to survive and reproduce that we’re here, and we carry in us the marks of whatever made them do that), but it’s a huge part of it, especially for the naturally self-reflective parts of the mind that notice and produce things like existential crises.
That’s not to say resolving confusion/curiosity is absolutely and essentially ultimate in some way independent of human existence, but at least within the context of human being it’s deeply, if obliquely, lying behind much of our activity.
So, for whatever it’s worth, I think “why?” or really just ”?” comes closest to being an ultimate goal for humans. Our minds seem oriented towards resolving confusion (i.e. predictive coding, minimization of prediction error). It’s not literally the only thing making us go (we’re all the descendants of creatures who were compelled enough to survive and reproduce that we’re here, and we carry in us the marks of whatever made them do that), but it’s a huge part of it, especially for the naturally self-reflective parts of the mind that notice and produce things like existential crises.
That’s not to say resolving confusion/curiosity is absolutely and essentially ultimate in some way independent of human existence, but at least within the context of human being it’s deeply, if obliquely, lying behind much of our activity.