Summary
We are a product of evolutionary processes – certain categories of behaviors made our ancestors more ‘fit’ depending on the environmental/social circumstances in the past. One of these behaviors – ‘spite’ – is when an animal (or human) actively does something against their self-interest as long as it hurts their competitor more. In a post growth world I expect – and fear – that this dynamic will become more prevalent at micro scales in our daily lives but also – and of more immediate concern – at the macro scale of nation states. I thought it worth a short video to explain spite, to understand it, as a small thread of awareness in hopes of avoiding it. We are going to need as much pro-social (as opposed to anti-social) behavior in coming decades as possible. A short reflection, on the concept of ‘spite’.
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
01:14 – Relative fitness
02:33 – Absolute fitness
02:59 – Adaptation Executors
03:17 – Four behaviors in the natural world (Selfishness, Cooperation, Altruism, Spite)
04:24 – Reciprocal Altruism
12:42 – Most of history had flat economic stability
06:27 – Under high economic growth, competition has been encouraged
08:04 – Low income wagers destroying solar panel of rich people
09:33 – Nuclear war
10:35 – Evolutionary engrained threats and more powerful than modern threats like nuclear war
11:22 – Confirmation bias
