Humankind

This 2020 review summarises Bregman's arguments; its examples are not a current assessment of the underlying evidence.

Humankind by Rutger Bregman is an enlightening book on how we humans are kinder and more cooperative than we believe. The media, bad scientists (read: some of the key studies I studied in intro psychology), and our own distorted perspective has messed us up, let’s repair that.

Btw the book is published in Dutch too, De Meeste Mensen Deugen (but I found the English audiobook first, so yeah).

Bregman argues that experiments such as the Stanford Prison Experiment were heavily staged and say less about ordinary behaviour than their reputation suggests. He contrasts the conditions of US prisons with those in Norway, where he sees a more humane response. His broader proposal is to meet people with kindness rather than respond in kind.

The book points to everyday cooperation: lending tools, passing the salt, and helping a friend. In that sense we are communists, social capitalists, or whatever you want to call it. Bregman also argues that children left without supervision can act as a team rather than as in Lord of the Flies, and that people may be selfish without being ‘evil’ in the comic-book or D&D sense. We think of ourselves as good, and so do other people.

Bregman presents evidence against parts of Steven Pinker’s account in Enlightenment Now, arguing that there was less murder and mayhem in ancient civilisations than commonly believed. Other reviewers have warned that Bregman may be choosing evidence to fit his thesis too. Even with that caveat, my impression was that we humans are not that murderous, like the rest of the animal kingdom. He also argues that many soldiers hesitate to shoot when faced with killing someone, although systems can be designed to overcome that reluctance, including through drones and decimation.