I participate in several email lists. On one, there has been a discussion on the development of the concept of sharing in hunter / gatherer societies and the lack of that same trait in contemporary America. I was reluctant to say anything about this topic, until I read this article at ABC News.
The major point of the aritcle (based on work by Univ. of Pennsylvania Psychology Professor Robert Kurzban) is that cooperation developed among humans as a way to allow groups to better compete. The analogy was to athletic teams with great players who do not play well together: they lose.
It reminded me of Max Ehrlich's 1949 Science Fiction novel, The Big Eye. The premise of the novel is that humans societies (groups) will only cooperate when there is an external danger that forces them to cooperate, in Ehrlich's case, a potential collision with a major piece of wandring space rock.
I wonder what it will take for us now. Internal dangers have not brought enough cooperation, not AIDS, not Global Warming, only those which pit one group against another seem to elicit this behavior.
Posted by Wes at February 16, 2005 08:33 AM