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ADDENDUM:

A few people read this thread and took away from it the conclusion that many people are generous and altruistic, but some people are greedy, and that it’s this latter minority that’s the cause of our current predicament.

I would encourage everyone to consider that we are all “greedy” and all “altruistic.” That is: we all contain competing motivations to selfishly self-aggrandize ourselves at the expense of others and to cooperate generously to the benefit of all. Some of us might have inclinations towards one or the other, but we all contain both motivations.

The distinction between altruism and greed also breaks down when we recognize that generous cooperation *also* benefits the cooperator. In many important senses, the distinction between greed and altruism is false and illusory.

The problem we face is not one of individual motivation. It is one of systemic and institutional constraints and motivations. Under capitalism, generosity can be a *death sentence* if giving away your possessions or labor freely costs you your own access to sustenance.

10/9 (the end for real, for now)