this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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Why?
Why are we selfish? Some sort of a mistake of evolution perhaps.
I disagree with that being an intrinsic quality shared genetically by all of humanity, burned into our DNA. Rather, our ideas are shaped by material conditions, and thus different aspects are expressed more and less in different systems, ergo selfishness is not an iron-clad law.
Further, my point is more about asking why Communism can't work because people are selfish. To me, that's a telltale sign of not engaging with Marxist theory or how AES states are run.
Science shows that humans as a species have been able to develop and thrive due to cooperative pro social instincts. This has been proven in studies of children. Our greed driven society beats this inherent impulse out of people to 'prepare them'.
Sure, cooperation is clearly an evolutionary trait also, and seems like a much more useful one than greed. It seems that socities need a bit of both to thrive, or do you have examples of known societies that worked primarily on co-operation, even for the leaders?