Humans owe our evolutionary success to friendship
Our ability to show each other compassion could be the quality that has kept humans alive for so long. (Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash/)The following is an excerpt adapted from SURVIVAL OF THE FRIENDLIEST: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods.Our beliefs about human nature shape almost everything we do as a society. Theories about whether some people are innately good or evil influence whom we imprison and for how long. Theories about whether some groups of people are more worthy than others influence our economic policies. Theories about whether some people are born smarter than others, and what this intelligence looks like, influence how we teach our children.Arguably, no folk theory of human nature has done more harm—or is more mistaken—than the “survival of the fittest.” The idea that the strong and ruthless will survive while the weak perish became cemented...