Why generosity is the new selfishness →
We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for selfishness. When I say we, I’m talking about any kind of living organism. From an evolutionary standpoint, selfishness is fundamental for survival.
Image credits: Anonymous
So then, why is generosity the new selfishness? Or, why it isn’t but it should be? Explore the words of Stephen Hawking a bit: ”Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth, are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million.
Our only chance of long term survival, is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space. We have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space.”
Moving into space shouldn’t be just a way to increase the probability that we are going to survive in case of a disaster provoked by man. After all, it’s not the selfishness of our genes that drives us to be destructive but the selfishness of our “selves”. That’s why it would probably be useful for us to look beyond the possibility to run from disasters. I am talking about working with our “selves” to transform selfishness into something better. Perhaps generosity? Starting now?
