Post Feb 22, 2000
We homo sapiens, (and in fact many animals) are selfish and competitive. This causes us to have access to works of great value and requiring creativity (Amazon, General Motors, The Ring of the Nibelung, the internet, portfolios and trusts). But the process is not uniform —think of the homeless on the streets of San Francisco, the people who are displaced, or killed in the various power struggles in the world, those of us who die because of the expense of medical care, and those of us, who for one reason or another, are denied education. The area where I live and used to work ( Stanford) is packed with “successful” people, Students have an excellent opportunity to mingle with these people (many of our faculty members have started successful companies and invented successful products, and we have a highly ranked business schools and many classes in entrepreneurship), but many (most?) people have not been equipped with the tools necessary to be admitted, or the money necessary to attend the Stanfords of the world. We are truly animals that have and have not, and our history has shown that in such situations there is revolution.
In our first few million years, there were relatively few of us homo sapiens. In our hunting-gathering days, although time, knowledge, and hard work were necessary to find it, estimates have been made that although life was difficult (no Pickups, TV’s, or electric cave cleaners), there was probably enough of what we needed to go around. In families and small tribes, our tendency is to cooperate within the family or tribe, and compete with other ones. This is not completely true, because probably siblings always competed with each other, and people competed for mates and position, but although traces of violence have been found in the remnants of cultures living hundreds of thousands of years ago, it is probable that selfishness and competitiveness grew in our species over time. Certainly the rapid disappearance of Homo Neanderthalis has traces of genocide. And when we settled down, invented money, and began growing food and making products compatible with spending time in one place, there were objects and supplies worth stealing, and therefore an incentive for more crime.
In times of scarcity, it is useful to have stored up necessities and be able to defend them— to be selfish— and competitiveness is a goad to storing up more. The ant is perhaps more selfish than the grasshopper, and maybe even more competitive. And we animals in general seem to be wired to compete for such things as status, mates, and such things as food and shelter if they are in short supply. But how about money and power. What is with Donald Trump? He has both. Why does he want more? The answer is complex – a combination of ego, insecurity, and lots of other psychological negatives. He can no longer wander around killing his competitors, so he must do it through titles. net worth, and a lot of publicity. Because of where I live and what I do, I have had the opportunity to mingle with a lot of wealthy and influential people. In general, they are nice people, but one could not say they are happier than others. In fact, many of them are , if not still earning money, working hard to figure out what to do with it before they die. I knew at least a couple of them, who were politically very conservative, wanted to start a foundation to help conservative causes. But they were very aware that conservative people (Ford, Sloan, Rockefeller, etc.) who had done so before, had created foundations that had become what they considered liberal. Worry, worry. One of them finally donated a vast sum to various conservative study centers, but then realized that most of them were associated with universities—well known liberal enclaves.
I am a fan of individuals that have “earned” vast wealth, because it does eventually end up in liberal institutions, where most of my jobs have been. But what happens if this competition and selfishness happens on a grand scale? Seems like it might lead to wars. Japan and Germany in the 1930’s? Wars of independence? Russia in the future? The costs here are enormous, and the results muddy the water for years. The Russian desire to re-assemble the Soviet Union under a capitalist flag is an example. They have the right to try to do that, but U.S. resistance might result in a mess.
And competition and selfishness at a global scale may be good for business (if you win), but if a “strong” leader or two are involved, competition and selfishness, may result in a dark cloud hanging over many people. As mentioned before, the 1930’s are sometimes referred to as the age of dictators. Dictators are certainly motivated by competition and selfishness, and attract followers. That can result in things such as World War II, with sixty million people killed, many cities destroyed, large numbers of people displaced, bankruptcy occurring, re-drawing of national lines, and a great loss of historical treasures.
I must admit I am biased by having lived a long and wonderful life beginning in post-depression Southern California in a small house (900 sq. feet) on a small orange orchard (20 acres) next to a small town (1000 people) living a then typical farmer life —lots of physical work, marginal schools, but in a beautiful setting). I am very aware of the tendency of people to look at the past and remember the good better than the bad, since I am one of them. But it was a time of cooperation as well as competition, covering the cost of living rather than trying to acquire net worth, and requiring a large amount of smaller scale creativity (building your house, making your tools and entertainment, killing insects and gophers that would destroy your crop, etc.). But it has been swept up in the rapid “development” of Southern California. Needless to say, the orange groves are now gone (the last one was operated by my brother), many of them replaced by huge warehouses, and “low-cost” housing developments, and the town has grown to over 100,000 people rather rapidly, with associated increases in traffic, crime, and attractiveness in the area. Is this perhaps an example of what happens to creativity when the competitiveness and selfishness in our country call the shots?
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