Cooperate, Be Nice, But Also Don't Be A Pushover: The Key To A Successful Society

One of the clearest divides between conservatives and progressives is how differently they view cooperation and self-interest. Click on the link below for a video debunking this binary:

What Game Theory Reveals About Life, The Universe, and Everything

Globalism And Tribalism

I have been a consistent promoter of globalism as the best route to maximize the well-being of sentient life on Earth. The reason for this is simple: historically, when humans cooperate to address problems there are greater chances of success than the opposites of "rugged individualism", "tribalism", and "factionalism." However, there is value in learning from other groups (tribes) regarding the diversity of ideas and cultures. After all, no group of humans has all the answers to solving problems.

That said, click on the links below that include examples of the positive aspects of tribalism:

Tribalism: what is it and is it good, bad, or toxic?

The Myth of Tribalism

The Troubling Obsession With Political “Tribalism”

The Problem Today Is Not Tribalism But Its Absence

The Prisoner's Dilemma: How Cooperation With Protecting One's Interest Is The Key To Survival

"The Prisoner's Dilemma is a game theory thought experiment that involves two rational agents, each of whom can cooperate for mutual benefit or betray their partner ("defect") for individual reward. This dilemma was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher in 1950 while they worked at the RAND Corporation.[citation needed] Albert W. Tucker later formalized the game by structuring the rewards in terms of prison sentences and named it the "prisoner's dilemma".[1]

"The prisoner's dilemma models many real-world situations involving strategic behavior. In casual usage, the label "prisoner's dilemma" may be applied to any situation in which two entities could gain important benefits from cooperating or suffer from failing to do so, but find it difficult or expensive to coordinate their activities." (Wikipedia)

Click on the link below for a video explaining this complicated process for maximizing human well-being:

What The Prisoner's Dilemma Reveals About Life, The Universe, and Everything

What Republicans Ignore That's Crucial For Survival

"Cooperation—where individuals work together in order to create a benefit for an entire group—seems at odds with what many people assume are the basic forces of evolution. After all, it’s a jungle out there, only the strongest survive, humans are selfish, etc.

"But most scientists don’t share that view of evolution. 'The role of unbridled violence in evolution is greatly overestimated,” says Danny Grunbaum, an oceanographer at the University of Washington and a pioneer in revealing the ways that ocean life cooperates in order to survive. 'When we see animals like elephant seals fighting with each other—as we do in lots of nature documentaries—we’re really seeing only a very small sliver of time. Much more of the time they’re accommodating each other and respecting where the boundaries are—and that’s cooperation. There is a tremendous amount of cooperation in nature.”

Click on the link below for more:

New research shows how cooperation prevails across the animal kingdom. What can humans learn from other species?