The reason why it doesn't make sense is because you're leaving that very reason out when you make your "basics" list. You're not taking into account the millions of years of evolution it has taken to get to this point. You're treating people like unthinking machines, rather than evolving, intelligent beings. You're even disqualifying your answer by giving people other options. You insist that the basics should keep people happy, but go on to show that "bonuses," which are the beneficial social and environmental factors you deride as nothing more than just that, are what keep people happy. This is a MASSIVE flaw in your argument. Your initial premise has failed, and has been shown to be wrong. This means you need to go back and re-evaluate your hypothesis.
Maybe the OP should try living with just those four things for a while and see how well it works out. Start with the computer. Turn it off now.
Mongolian cat: "Himalayan, what is best in life?" Himalayan cat: "The open steppe, the twitter of birds, and the wind in your fur." Mongolian cat: "Wrong. Persian, what is best in life?" Persian cat: "A warm pillow. A ball of yarn. Canned tuna." Mongolian cat: "That is also wrong. Siamese cat, what is best in life?" Siamese cat: "A tongue bath. A soft lap. Ear rubs." Mongolian cat: "Wrong. Conan, what is best in life?" Conan the kitty: "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women." Mongolian cat: "That is good. That is good."
What if you have to work 7 days a week at a soul crushing unhealthy job in order to buy one of your essentials (food, shelter) for your children so they don't die from lack of essentials? Lots of people live very hard lives trying to have clean water, food and shelter. You present it as if you can just have them like breathing, but that is a luxury for many people.
Part of the problem is that you forgot one. This is called the Rule of 3s. You can survive approximately: * 3 minutes without air * 3 hours without shelter * 3 days without water * 3 weeks without food * 3 months without hope That may be generalizing, but why do you get up in the morning (or afternoon if you work the late shift)? It's not just to work, is it? To be hopeful, you have to be able to look forward to something. Of course, being thankful for what you have helps, too.
^ Oh come on. 3 hours without shelter means your leather and furs are totally inadequate for your climate. I like sleeping in the brush by laying down in the woods and passing out. Tents are for sissies, a conclusion I reached when my tent flap got jammed fully open and I laid back and stared at the sky in a Marlboro sleeping bag from the Salvation Army ($5!) that wouldn't incubate an egg. It was 20F outside. Not the most pleasant night, but the hangover was worse than the cold. In our ancestral climate what would even be the point of a shelter except to concentrate cooking smoke to potentially fatal levels? In warm climates we demand shelter to keep our fancy things dry and to keep people from stealing our stuff. In case you've never been swimming, humans are actually waterproof. Indians didn't drive RV's across the Bering land bridge to get to the Americas, they walked, through the arctic, wearing hides. We love shelters, and everything about them, but they aren't actually very necessary unless the weather is really, really nasty.
^Clothing, in this case, is counted as shelter. Make sense now? Think of it as more "3 hours without protection from the elements". And to be fair, this is the first time I've heard it included in the rule of 3's.
Here in Southern California, it would take an awfully long time to die from exposure if you had no shelter and you went around naked. You'd almost certainly be arrested before that could happen.