Is Competition Really Healthy for Society?

Society can actually be seen as both a complex competitive system and a complex evolving system, depending on the perspective you take.

I believe that we’re supposed to be a complex evolving species. We evolved onto a different path from our primate ancestors and collaborated our way to the top of the evolutionary tree. But there’s a problem.

We’ve disregarded our evolutionary advantage once advanced tech came on the scene and instead given ourselves three ‘primate’ problems which is destroying our freedom, equality and the ecology of the planet we live on.

Dominance – Competition – Hierarchies

Dominance – In each of us, hiding in our brain- there is the ‘Dominance Behaviour System’ (DBS) – All mammals have this brain system and it’s triggered in primates so that the ‘Alphas’ in the pack bully their way into monopolising all the resources. When this system is triggered in people, then they’re motivated to compete for more resources.

Competition – The economy is driven by CAD-cortisol, adrenaline & dopamine.

-Cortisol is great for athletes because it prepares them for the psychological and physiological demands of competition.

-Adrenaline rewards hard work. So hence why successful ‘entrepreneurs’ say they got to the top through hard work. But that’s easy when your high on adrenaline.

-Dopamine is the neurotransmitter of MORE!!!!. There’s never enough, hence why in our society, the successful don’t move over and let other people have a chance, they want it all.

Hierarchies – Of course, you can’t control it all, so Alphas create positions of management to control the hierarchies. There are some people who don’t compete for attention, they’d rather somebody else be Emperor, they just want the power and control and so manage the hierarchies and the emperors from behind the scenes. Think Dominic Cummings & Boris Johnson.

If society operates as a competitive system where individuals, groups, companies, and even nations compete for resources, opportunities, power, and influence, it leads to inequalities and conflicts. Seen the news recently?

On the other hand, society as a complex evolving system is evolving over time. Societies adapt to new challenges, learn from past experiences, and undergo transformations in norms, values, and structures. And we could do with some transformation across the world right now.

This isn’t an attack on Capitalism, because we don’t really have capitalism. It is a call to return to our societal roots and creatively collaborate our way to a better world.

Ideas Compete, People Collaborate!

Capitalism?

Perhaps we should try it sometime.

#Society #Competition #Evolution #Complexity #SocialDynamics #Adaptation #Innovation #Progress #Leadership #Resilience #FutureOfSociety #GlobalTrends #SocialScience #ThoughtLeadership