I think about this sometimes, but not often and not in any great depth, because it’s incredibly, horribly depressing.
But when I do, I wonder, what is the default nature of people? Are we inherently generous or inherently selfish? The latter seems better-suited to survival, but since humans are also social, the former would seem to be necessary, too. The general attitude of “I got mine!” would appear to be self-defeating over the long term.
Are we maybe both generous and selfish and these values shift, they ebb and flow over generations, swinging one way, then the other? Does the key to our continued progress–however slow it may seem at times–lie in never swinging too far toward selfish?
I don’t know. All I do know is Trump still hasn’t been kidnapped by Bigfoot, so something is obviously wrong.
My only answer is to be nice to people and hope that due to the butterfly effect, everything will work out A-OK! Somehow.
