![]() ![]() Nor do we think of that clean air or clean water as belonging to someone. Nobody has to print flyers explaining that it’s nice for people to take a stroll in the park or to breathe in clean air. Why don’t we make much more of this? Perhaps the things we share don’t seem that remarkable. Facebook would be worth much less without the pictures and videos that millions of users share for free. Consider how many companies are utterly dependent on the generosity of their customers. This communal basis is a vital mainstay of capitalism. On a day-to-day basis we share more with each other than we keep to ourselves. Someone who is initially seen as unrealistic and naive. Trust often begins when someone dares to go against the flow. ![]() ![]() What if negative ideas around human nature are actually a form of pluralistic ignorance? Could our fear that most people are out to maximise their own gain be born of the assumption that that’s what other’s think? And then we adopt a more cynical view, when, deep down most of us are yearning for a life of more kindness and solidarity? Like hatred, trust can also be contagious. In this world, it’s the survival of the shameless. In this type of world, it’s not the friendliest or most empathic leaders who rise to the top, but their opposites. Could you tell a lie and then tell another without missing a beat? Most people would be consumed by shame. ![]() Politicians not hindered by shame can do outrageous things. 4-8% of CEOs have sociopathy, compared to 1% in general population. But in our modern sprawling organisations, sociopaths actually seem to be one step ahead on the career ladder. They’d be cast out of the group and left to die alone. Such individuals would not last long in nomadic tribes. Whether because they are drugged on power or are a minority born with sociopathological traits. Unfortunately there are people who are incapable of feeling shame. In the telltale way that that they flush when they realise they are the subject of gossip. People who feel shame regulate themselves. Shame is more effective than regulations or censure. Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregmanįor millennia, shaming was a sure way to tame our leaders. According to research cited by Bregman, becoming pastoralists meant the end of protofeminism, the beginnings of the patriarchy and the beginnings of infectious diseases spread by farmed animals along with STDs. He believed that once humans went from being hunter gatherers to being settled in place and farming, that this is when things really began to fall apart. He rejected the idea of the march of civilisation being a good thing. Many ‘realistic’ writers of Rousseau’s time considered him to be a naive romantic. You are lost, if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong equally to us all, and the earth itself to nobody” Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman How many wars, how many murders, how many misfortunes and horrors would that man have saved the human species, who pulling up the stakes or filling up the ditches should have cried to his fellows. “The first man, who, after enclosing a piece of land, took it into his head to say ‘This is mine’ and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society. Hobbes (bleak humanity) versus Rousseau (hopeful humanityīregman breaks down history of human civilisation into two different kinds of philosophy one from Thomas Hobbes (bleak and dark) and the other from Jean-Jacques Rousseau (much more optimistic). Bregman writes in a breezy, easy to read and entertaining way and dissects some heavy topics such as psychological torture experiments and high profile murder cases, to reach new conclusions about the humans who were culpable in these scenarios. Yet this is not an overly schmaltzy narrative with false optimism. This book delivers exactly what it says it does on the cover, it painstakingly uncovers the potential that humans have for creating love and beauty, instead of war and destruction. A hopeful history of humanity? During the time of COVID, climate change and mass animal extinction? However, there was a kernel of hope within me that really wanted for this concept to be true. I was initially skeptical about this book. Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Spirituality, Anthropology, Culture, Politics, History ![]()
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