I came here to mention the story of those castaway boys and the contrast to the different story in The Lord of the Flies. Turns out I was confused about the relationship between those two things, but I agree with the overall point that so much of "human nature" and whether people are selfish or altruistic depends on the context and the s…
I came here to mention the story of those castaway boys and the contrast to the different story in The Lord of the Flies. Turns out I was confused about the relationship between those two things, but I agree with the overall point that so much of "human nature" and whether people are selfish or altruistic depends on the context and the structure of each situation. The modern world is filled with a lot of contexts that promote selfishness, and this is only made worse by in-groups and out-groups. But there are many contexts where altruism thrives. Plus, humans never would have made it out of the caves without a base level of cooperation.
Yes, I agree! Whether we are more selfish or altruistic depends on our surroundings. We can engineer better surroundings and increase altruism. Or worsen them and increase selfishness. We've seen both things happen!
I came here to mention the story of those castaway boys and the contrast to the different story in The Lord of the Flies. Turns out I was confused about the relationship between those two things, but I agree with the overall point that so much of "human nature" and whether people are selfish or altruistic depends on the context and the structure of each situation. The modern world is filled with a lot of contexts that promote selfishness, and this is only made worse by in-groups and out-groups. But there are many contexts where altruism thrives. Plus, humans never would have made it out of the caves without a base level of cooperation.
Yes, I agree! Whether we are more selfish or altruistic depends on our surroundings. We can engineer better surroundings and increase altruism. Or worsen them and increase selfishness. We've seen both things happen!