Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000004403 StartFragment:0000001901 EndFragment:0000004367
According to this article humans are innately drawn toward equality and fairness. This contradicts everything I’ve ever observed in society and the article acknowledged this irony with some shocking statistics. The average income in the US currently is 10 million dollars and rising, yet kindergartners in studies will sacrifice their own resources (candy) to prevent any other kindergartner from having more than the others. On one hand, does our equality-driven instinct really matter if it is opposite to modern reality? It doesn't really matter what scientists say about our instincts if reality is that there is an enormous wealth gap during an awful recession.
On the other hand it is very interesting to know that this inclination is one of the traits that sets humans apart from other forms of life. One example of this the article gave is that chimps will not work together to carry something too heavy for one chimp. This lack of collaboration seems downright stupid to a human and relates to our need for fairness and equality as well. We aren't disposed to say "if I can't have it nobody will" but rather lean towards "Let's share!" Yet if we have this need for equality why is there so much prejudice in the world? And the article also says that prejudice doesn't even make economic sense. A life form can dominate its environment and live successfully when " it is no longer possible to succeed at the expense of your group." So we have everything pointing us in the direction of equality and collaboration, yet those are not the central values of our world.
The article did a good job of making me think about the study it presented but I think the author got caught up in the single study, didn't do further research, and failed to present an argument against the study. This was really confusing because reality is so different from how the article suggests it should be.
1 comment:
Wow, this article sounds very interesting (I didn't read it before commenting on your post). I find the whole thing to be funny because everything is almost contradicting its self. While it says humans strive to be equal and share, we have such a wide gap in our economy.
Maybe there's the idea that when we need help, or even when we're younger, we tend to share and want the best for everyone else. But, when we figure out how to provide for ourself without any help we don't care about help or sharing with others, or even excepting the help.
Hence, the economic gap , almost making humans at one point in our lives just like the chimps.
Truthfully I hope they go deeper into this idea on life.
P.S. Cool article : ) .
Post a Comment