Demonizing narratives - Dan Williams
Human beings are strange apes. As primates that evolved through a ruthlessly competitive process of natural selection, we are endowed with strong self-serving and nepotistic instincts. Given that we can often promote our interests by hurting the interests of others, that means we are often strongly motivated to attack, exploit, control, dominate, and eliminate others.
At the same time, one of the most important and distinctive features of our species is our reliance on cooperation. Unlike other apes—in fact, unlike all other animals—we navigate interdependent social environments organised around norms, reputations, gossip, and status games. We are ultra-social, dependent on social approval and extensive support to achieve the overwhelming majority of our goals.
Although this cooperative nature of human social life gives many people the warm fuzzies, it is not an alternative to competition. We cooperate to compete, and the norms, reputational systems, and gossip that sustain human cooperation can only be understood against the backdrop of individuals pursuing their interests.
