A couple of days ago I found this desire path. a desire path is a shortcut carved into the ground from hundreds of thousands of human feet eroding the perfectly cut grass.
To me, Desire Paths can quantify and model many aspects of humanity. The first that comes to mind is the concept of the Path of Least Resistance
In physics, the path of least resistance can be used to model the movement of many fluids or forces in nature, water flows downwards along the steepest gradient. When you drop a ball it falls at ~9.8 m/s until it hits the ground. However, humans are not driven by gravity, and when you bring up free will it adds some complexity to the question "what is the path of least resistance for us?"
We are fundamentally driven by Dopamine, the universal neurotransmitter that used to guide us to survival as caveman. As cavemen, if we did something that would increase our chances of survival and having offspring, dopamine go up and up! Back then, we needed to converse as much energy as possible. However, we are now in a world of energy surplus but our brains are still wired to converse energy. Also, there is Zipf's Theory which states that we choose behaviors that take the least effort(food delivery apps, dating apps, etc.) Then there are other forms of Paths of least resistance that show up in our daily lives. Take entertainment, we went from live shows -> movies -> TV -> Tiktok REALLY fast. We also went from saying "this shit" to "ts". Is this more efficient though? definitely saves time for us.
Sometimes, walking the desire path means putting yourself out into the world and allowing other people to see you. This can be scary at first, until you think about how much time the desire path is saving you.