How Bad/Good Are You?

Thomas Hobbes (1558-1679) or Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) – who’s right?

In his delightful & uplifting book “HumanKind – A Hopeful History” (thanks Elisabeth!), Rutger Bregman poses this question at the outstart. Hobbes is on the side of “we are inherently evil, and civilization encourages good.” Rousseau is on the side of “we are inherently good, and civilization encourages evil.” 

Even their photos on Wikipedia confirm this individual bias! 

Hobbes looks sour, Rousseau quite hopeful.

What a fascinating question!

Bregman – who argues for Rousseau’s view - writes:

***
You’ll never see a headline reading NUMBER OF PEOPLE LIVING IN EXTREME POVERTY DOWN BY 137,000 SINCE YESTERDAY, even though it could accurately have been reported every day over the last twenty-five years.
***

It reminded me of a moment in 1996 when I was present as the Dalai Lama scolded the entire media cast at the Horden Pavillion in Sydney. There were three networks with cameras rolling on a platform at the back, and countless journalists, radio interviewers and the like all crowded together to grab a quote for the next news cycle.

I didn’t take notes, but I remember that His Holiness argued that the vast majority of people are basically good. Most people, he said, tried to help each other. They did good deeds and struggled to lead ethical lives. But you distort this view, he scolded them. You focus on very few incidences – a murder, a crime – and as a result, people start losing faith in each other.

We know now that humans operate with an “availability bias”, i.e. we think about the world in terms that match what we have most recently encountered. As the media spreads stories of evil, we start to feel the world is like that.

After his speech, His Holiness then asked the assembled media:

“Do you have any questions?”

Complete silence. 

I have never witnessed anything like it. None of the frenzy and shouting we have come to expect around the famous. Not a single person dared interrupt the silence.

Finally, His Holiness said, laughing:

“All right. I shall speak some more…”