Rutger Bregman - The ROI of an Optimistic View on People - Nordic Business Forum 2022

Historian and author Rutger Bregman’s basic question to those in attendance at the Nordic Business Forum is this: are people inherently selfish, or are people inherently helpful? When put to a vote, the majority of the audience (58%) believes that we are inherently selfish, while 42% believe the opposite. Bregman’s talk aims to show two things: the 58% are wrong; humans are not selfish by nature. But also—as a practical implication—coming to believe and act as if we’re not selfish by nature can actually produce some significantly positive results. Key Points • Most of the social sciences have pushed a narrative of The Veneer Theory—which says that humans are basically selfish and brutal animals kept in line under a thin veneer of society. • Recent sociological studies have undermined a key supporting concept of the Veneer Theory called the Bystander Effect—which claims that the more people that witness something bad, the less likely they are to intervene. Real-world situations from surveillance data show that the opposite is true. • Biological evidence seems to suggest that contrary to Darwinian evolutionary narratives— humans have been a successful species because of unselfish traits—rather than because of selfish ones. We’ve become less fearsome and threatening, and more amiable and cooperative—a process called self-domestication. • Real-world examples of a non-hierarchical and optimistic treatment of people are flourishing—as seen in Buurtzorg and Bastoy Prison. The way we view and treat people can influence them to prove our views right.