Are humans evil? Are humans inherently evil? There’s a popular hypothesis that says we are. It’s a great excuse for bad behavior. But believing we can’t help ourselves has never set well with me. Kind of like when some guys use ‘millions of years of evolution’ as an excuse to not be monogamous. My hypothesis is that humans aren’t inherently evil, and I’m going to tell you why. In Rutger Bregman’s ‘Humankind: A Hopeful History’,…
Have you ever been sucked into an internet thread and walked away feeling angry? You know, like a political rant thread? Identity politics? Ad hominem attacks and name-calling? Isn’t that frustrating? That sentiment or feeling that other people are just mean, or evil, is part of what motivates this week’s Episode. Many will argue that people are just ‘bad’, or even ‘evil’, and that’s why we have bad things in the world. Like these internet…
Do you think people are inherently good, or inherently evil? Like, left to our own devices, will we make decisions that are beneficial or harmful to others? I have mentioned the Rutger Bregman book, ‘Humankind: A Hopeful History‘ MANY times now on the podcast and this is my inspiration for this episode. For a summary of the brief story below, read the book or see his article in The Guardian. Spoiler alert, I believe people are…
I recorded this episode after replying to a YouTube comment about good and bad types of change (Episode 61: Change is Hard, but Resisting Change is Wrong). The commenter made a good point that sometimes we change in a bad direction instead of making a positive change. I agreed but in doing so realized I had a bigger point buried under that. Perhaps another assumption I had failed to realize or express. Which is that…
This Episode started out examining the different kinds of shoulds. Some shoulds come from extrinsic sources like my dad telling me I needed to get a job and not study philosophy in college, or your church telling you not to be gay. Extrinsic shoulds can be pretty easy to identify because they are often things we rebel against, are mean, or are even evil. Intrinsic shoulds can be complicated. Some are good. We tell ourselves…