Si - the function of basic survival here and now (analysis of Talanov's questionnaires statistics)

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Let me start with the background.

The two sensory functions, Se and Si, are related in nature as two main strategies for obtaining food - predation (Se) and herbivory (Si). The survival of a predator depends more on how strong and agile it is, so that it can ultimately be successful in hunting high-calorie and large (commensurate with its size) game. The herbivorous strategy is completely different, namely, in obtaining a low-calorie resource scattered throughout the territory and its subsequent long and routine processing (including the digestion process itself) to extract the maximum amount of nutrients from it.

Considering that any resource is initially scattered, and that it takes effort and time to collect it, it should be recognized that evolutionarily Si must be the most ancient of the functions, associated with the most basic need inherent in all living things - namely, the need to eat - to absorb, excrete and accumulate nutrients.

Of course, the dominance of one function is never absolute. In nature, in the life of any individual, be it a predator or a herbivore, there are always periods when the opposite function is activated. Between the moments when it is necessary to strain all your strength to make a decisive throw, predators also rest and digest what they have eaten (and at such moments they are really more peaceful).
On the contrary, even herbivores become active during breeding seasons and begin to compete more actively with each other, even to the point of direct clashes.
Nevertheless, it can be said that the survival of some species is still more focused on fights, while others are focused on peaceful work and avoiding any skirmishes, as in principle they can only cause harm, but are not capable of bringing any benefit.

People are about the same. Se is focused on quick actions in situations of increased risk, but also increased payment for their efforts in case of success. Si is for routine processing of relatively modest resources. Se historically turns out to be more developed in tribes and peoples engaged in hunting and cattle breeding, Si - in gatherers and farmers. This trend can be seen today - people with strong Se often prefer hunting and breeding large livestock to gardening, with strong Si, on the contrary, they like to tinker with plants and small animals.

Cooperation between Si and Ne makes sense in a world where the resource is scattered, poor, and must first be sought after, and then painstakingly processed, separating the wheat from the chaff. Here, Ne, due to its developed search instinct, helps to quickly find new “pastures” and food sources, and Si, in turn, works on the spot with what has already been found (Ne itself is useless in such matters, and with its clumsiness can only accidentally harm, spoil the little that it managed to find).
Cooperation between Se and Ni, on the contrary, is more effective in a resource-rich environment, where the resource is already concentrated, and it must be recaptured and held by force and cunning. Se here specializes in the direct physical seizure of resources and territory, while Ni chooses a victim (testing someone else’s strength or weakness with provocations), the moment for an attack, and also helps to evacuate and disguise itself in order to wait it out and lick its wounds in case of failure.

Thus, the original differences between the “judicious” and “decisive” quadras go back to prehistoric times. Judicious species and populations more effectively fight against difficult natural conditions (without wasting time and energy on skirmishes with each other), decisive ones are more successful in clashes with their neighbors. As a result, the former are more often producers of the primary resource (including human resources themselves - due to higher love of children Si and Ne), the latter - capture the tops of the “food pyramids” (for humans - government and big business) and spend society’s resources on creating “show-offs” (megaprojects) of various kinds.

What is the special role of the Si function?

The level of Si power is manifested primarily in how much the subject is ready to give up achieving distant goals for the sake of satisfying his basic vital needs (rest, sleep, food intake and other pleasures).

A strong Si lives by small goals, the achievement of which does not require much time and effort. Such people prefer not to know anything about the distant future at all, so as not to burden their heads with unnecessary problems and not to spoil their mood. The world of Si is a world of endless “today”, in which time is cyclical, the future repeats the past, and nothing fundamentally changes, accumulates or is wasted during the transition from one cycle to another, even if matter constantly flows and takes different forms. The most appropriate word for such a state is homeostasis, that is, an equilibrium state of metabolism. It is this state that maximally contributes to the preservation of everything that already exists, and where there is preservation, there are pleasant sensations - literally, a signal to the body that everything is fine with it.

On the contrary, weak Si, being conjugated with strong Ni (in its creative, extrovert-rational form) foresees the distant future. Instead of relaxedly consuming all available resources here and now, weak Si reveals a readiness to strain and limit itself for a long time in consumption and the pleasures associated with it, in order to move in the desired direction all this time. No, it cannot be said that weak Si is ascetic by nature; ideological asceticism - not even expecting future personal “reward” - this is more related to statics, to the functions of Di, Ne, Ti.
Here it’s more likely we are talking about the ability to postpone pleasure for a long time in order to then receive it in a many times greater volume. Instead of a thousand small momentary goals and pleasures, weak Si plans to achieve one, distant and grandiose goal, requiring super-efforts and a large amount of resources, but also promising a many times greater return (and the accompanying especially strong “high” from the realization that everything worked out).

The closest example in the animal world is the flight of birds from wintering grounds to nesting grounds and back. Requiring enormous expenditures of energy and being associated with great risks, nevertheless, such a strategy can give a significant advantage in certain conditions. The same is true for people - when those with a strong Si, having settled into an easy job, spend their entire lives relaxed with a middle level of income, those with a weak Si spend a lot of time and effort on obtaining additional education and a career in order to eventually have a chance to break into the elite, which has access to significantly greater resources.

However, by launching a game ahead, a weak Si thereby makes it clear to everyone that long-term goals are also real, and even more, often preferable. Looking at this, neighbors gradually begin to get involved in this game. More and more resources are concentrated in the funds of future mega-projects and political-religious messianic cults - most often inspired by the most ideological representatives of the painful Si. It cannot be said that all these mega-projects and cults are initially a deception, like financial pyramids, but it should always be remembered that painful Si is most often associated with a strong Ni, which is not alien to both elements of deception and self-deception. Therefore, it is not surprising that both in cases of a sharp rise and success of such projects, and in their deafening collapse and bankruptcy, the resource drawn into mega-projects due to self-restraint in consumption by ordinary people ends up in the hands of those who were better than others able to see the future and therefore correctly assessed the risks. And these are - yes, that’s right, most often the owners of creative Ni / painful Si. Thus, a deficit of Si, as well as an excess of Se, in general plays on the property stratification of society and the difficulty of access of ordinary members to the resource.

However, unlike the strong Se, which prefers to firmly hold on to everything it has managed to capture, the weak Si has the ability to get involved in ever new adventures. A series of ups and downs accelerates the flow of historical time in a society led by the weak Si, making the normal, measured life of the average person and the reproduction of the population as such impossible. In the best case, such a society becomes a locomotive of development, sucking in human resources from its neighbors; in the worst case, it breaks down from super-effort, and, as with any excessive dominance of the “decisive”, it destroys itself.

Main personality traits associated with the Si function (in order of the correlation with the profile of “pure Si”)
The number after the property indicates the correlation of the property with the socionic profile of this cluster as a whole.

1 Convenience is more important than beauty

2 Lives here and now

3 Likes to create comfort for himself and others

4 Good coordination of body movements in space

5 Doesn’t plan for the future

6 Harmony of sensations is important to him

7 Avoiding difficult, energy-intensive tasks

8 Hedonism - savoring sensations

9 Avoiding unpleasant thoughts

10 A bird in the hand is better than a pie in the sky

11 Does not cause accidental harm

12 Relaxation

13 Calm mood

14 Takes care of resource reserves

“Jo, my Si is stronger than I thought. Though I deliberately like sensations that are painful sometimes, in doses I can control. Masochistic Si valuer, yaaay.”
As can be seen from the table (line 8), the savoring of sensations - painful or pleasant, it does not matter here - is primarily the responsibility of the dynamic feature. That is, if it is excessively manifested, then one can be combined with the other - most often, apparently, this happens with IEIs, who, in terms of the balance of judicious and decisive traits, are most often shifted to the neutral area, revealing in themselves traits of both poles, but in terms of the statics-dynamics balance, on the contrary, are very bright dynamics.

“so basically, if I like any sensations, that’s strong Si. Strong Si can come with good Ni. The IEI shows both Si and Ni, but is more drawn towards a neutral state, not excessively seeking one over the other? And I didn’t understand the rest.”
Not exactly. If you like any sensations, both pleasant and unpleasant, it means that you have strong socionic dynamics traits. Both Si and Ni are dynamic functions. Yes, for Si this is more typical, but for Ni it is not excluded either. Thus, based on this property alone, it is impossible to say for sure what prevails in you - Ni or Si. It is only possible to say that dynamic functions prevail over static ones in you. The balance of Ni and Si is best determined by those properties that clearly separate these functions from each other - that is, if we take my table, these are lines 1,2,3,4,6,9,13 - those where the contribution to Si of predominantly sensory and judicious properties is considered.

“In model A, preference for Ni implies lack of preference for Si, so it’s technically either-or.”
If we contrast not functions, but small groups of “victims” (Ni) and “caring” (Si), then, indeed, the antagonism is 100%. But in Ni and Si, in they program forms, both carry introversion, dynamics, irrationality (the so-called “susceptibility-adaptive temperament”). That is, both Ni and Si gravitate toward relaxation, contemplation, passivity and laziness, and in this way they discover something in common.

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