Are All Humans Selfish?

Written by
Michael Wells

Are All Humans Selfish?

Written by
Michael Wells

Are All Humans Selfish?

Written by
Michael Wells
QUESTION

From Quora;

Apparently, all humans are instinctively selfish and only do things for their benefit, I now despise humans and myself for being one.

Reading time: 
...
 mins
( Reading time details... )
contents

I’ve heard this assessment of humans before. It is perhaps best known from Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene.

Modern cinema popularizes this idea too, for example in The Matrix, when Agent Smith compares humanity to a virus.

In every day media, and personal experiences, we can find many examples of where humans seem entirely self-centered.

My first-hand experience gives me very different take on humans though.

Where Does Selfishness fit in the Human Mind?

Humans have three distinct layers of our brain design, which together comprise our evolutionary psychology.

In many ways, it's like we have 3 brains with three different ways of thinking and making decisions.

And all three layers still exist today, running simultaneously.

  1. The Reptile. These part of your brain are all motivated by survival, and are entirely selfish. Eat, reproduce, and don’t die. That’s pretty much it. Parents lay eggs and then leave them. If they happen to see the young hatch they’ll probably eat them. As selfish & survival oriented as you can get.
  2. The Mammal. These parts evolved on top of the Reptile parts, and are based on the evolutionary discovery that there is safety in numbers. The mammal parts are very socially-oriented, and not that selfish. we have Oxytocin (love hormone) and Serotonin (leadership hormone), which drive us to bond with other mammals, raise and protect our children, form loving lasting relationships. People aggregate into massive cities because they desire the companionship, protection of, and opportunities that social groups create.
  3. The Human. The thinker. These parts of the brain can do abstract thought, imagine the future, understand tools, language, and concepts like money, government, and language.

Ok, So Are We Fundamentally Selfish?

The reptile part of your brain is entirely selfish. It doesn't have any concept of "others" or their importance to you.

Humans with poorly developed emotions ( a psychopath ) can do terrible things because they are essentially an intelligent reptile.

The mammal part is not selfish at all, it’s quite giving, and social.

Think of a dog, how selfish is your dog, and how much would it risk to protect you?

The human part is neither selfish, or altruistic. It’s like a very powerful computer, neither good nor bad, just a great tool if you know how to use it.

My takeaway here is all humans are capable of fantastic good, or fantastic evil. Our history books are full of great scientists, artists, and statesmen, and equally full of tyrants and murderers.

If you consider this carefully, you can see that it’s pretty inaccurate to see all humans as the same.

Most importantly, realize that you get to choose who you will be. And you get to choose who you surround yourself with.

. Last updated on 
January 1, 2020

Table of Contents

    Addendum

      BROJO: Confidence. Clarity. Connection.

      Join BROJO - the premier international self-development community - FREE!

      • Connect with like-minded people who will support you with your goals and issues
      • Overcome people-pleasing and Nice Guy Syndrome to build strong social confidence
      • Get access to exclusive online courses to learn advanced social skills, how to master your psychology, proven career progression techniques and more
      Sweet! You are now a BROJO member.
      Check your email for details, course access, and more.
      Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Please try again, or email me at mike@brojo.org. Thanks!

      Join for free!

      • Connect with like-minded people who will support you with your goals and issues
      • Overcome people-pleasing and Nice Guy Syndrome to build strong social confidence
      • Exclusive online courses to learn advanced social skills, how to master your psychology, relationships, career progression and more
      Sweet! You are now a BROJO member.
      Check your email for details, course access, and more.
      Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Please try again, or email me at mike@brojo.org. Thanks!

      What’s a Rich Text element?

      The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

      Static and dynamic content editing

      A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

      How to customize formatting for each rich text

      Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.