Good listen as always 😁 however I’ve just read a book that contradicts a few of your points such as “human have an innate disposition towards rivalry” and “it’s inevitable that some form of inequality will result, regardless of capitalism”.
It speaks about how it’s not in human nature to be materialistic and competitive, and that it was the introduction of agriculture and farming that started bringing a land-possession mindset. And speaking in terms of the entire human history, it’s not that long ago. The growth of agriculture catapulted our advancement, however the speed that it’s been done in hasn’t allowed us to catch up in an evolutionary way.
I would 100% recommend that you give it a read! I think you’d really enjoy the message and it’s a good read: Humankind by Rutger Bregman
Thank you for your feedback! I haven't read Humankind, but I've glanced at several summaries of it. I think I largely agree that humans are surprisingly much more civilized and benevolent than we would expect, as demonstrated in many catastrophic historical events – although I'd still cast serious doubt on that assumption after the massive toilet paper shortage during COVID. He also did a great job of deconstructing dubious/fake studies on the malevolent aspect of human nature, such as the Stanford prison & Milgram's electric shock experiment. However, I'm much more suspicious of his claims about hunter-gatherer "egalitarian societies", first because other scientists find the complete opposite, (e.g. The Better Angels of Our Nature by Seven Pinker), and also because it's really difficult to draw solid conclusions about hunter-gatherer lifestyles, there's very little information to strongly suggest one hypothesis over another, and conversely I find evolutionary biology much more convincing because it can be mathematically validated through hypothesis testing, (e.g. Tit-for-Tat).
Good listen as always 😁 however I’ve just read a book that contradicts a few of your points such as “human have an innate disposition towards rivalry” and “it’s inevitable that some form of inequality will result, regardless of capitalism”.
It speaks about how it’s not in human nature to be materialistic and competitive, and that it was the introduction of agriculture and farming that started bringing a land-possession mindset. And speaking in terms of the entire human history, it’s not that long ago. The growth of agriculture catapulted our advancement, however the speed that it’s been done in hasn’t allowed us to catch up in an evolutionary way.
I would 100% recommend that you give it a read! I think you’d really enjoy the message and it’s a good read: Humankind by Rutger Bregman
Bessie ❤️
Thank you for your feedback! I haven't read Humankind, but I've glanced at several summaries of it. I think I largely agree that humans are surprisingly much more civilized and benevolent than we would expect, as demonstrated in many catastrophic historical events – although I'd still cast serious doubt on that assumption after the massive toilet paper shortage during COVID. He also did a great job of deconstructing dubious/fake studies on the malevolent aspect of human nature, such as the Stanford prison & Milgram's electric shock experiment. However, I'm much more suspicious of his claims about hunter-gatherer "egalitarian societies", first because other scientists find the complete opposite, (e.g. The Better Angels of Our Nature by Seven Pinker), and also because it's really difficult to draw solid conclusions about hunter-gatherer lifestyles, there's very little information to strongly suggest one hypothesis over another, and conversely I find evolutionary biology much more convincing because it can be mathematically validated through hypothesis testing, (e.g. Tit-for-Tat).