Long-term there’s reason for optimism: We're wired for morality

Any animal whatever, endowed with well-marked social instincts, the parental and filial affections being here included, would inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience, as soon as its intellectual powers had become as well developed, or nearly as well developed, as in man. ~ Charles Darwin

     I was delighted to read some new research this morning produced by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Apparently, according to the research, our cells react positively to well-being produced through actions that are motivated by a noble purpose while well-being generated as a consequence of mere self-gratification has a negative effect - though well-being derived from either activity is better for us than little to no well-being at all.  It seems “feeling connected to a larger community through a service project” is associated with a decrease in a type of negative stress induced gene expression.    

    The view that we’re wired for morality is nothing new, though certainly much of the evidence for it is.  Long before anyone had heard of genetics, Adam Smith and Charles Darwin were articulating why social animals would necessarily be more moral than not.  However, at least if the evening news is any indication, there is a great deal of effort being put into making us forget it.  It seems every day around 6:00 p.m. there is a ‘public service’ announcement intended to instil gratitude for our fight or flight response rather than remind us that our ancestors were highly social creatures who only made it this far because they had learned to cooperate to a significant degree.

    The primatologist Frans de Waal has documented a sense of fairness in various primates, even if it is a bit less sophisticated than our own.  Using examples of cooperation and fairness in our closest relatives he argues persuasively morality has a solid foundation in biology. In the book Primates and Philosophers he states, “A human being growing up in isolation would never arrive at moral reasoning.  Such a [person] would lack the experience to be sensitive to others’ interests, hence lack the ability to look at the world from any perspective other than his or her own.  I thus agree with Darwin and Smith that social interaction must be at the root of moral reasoning.” (p. 174, emphasis added)

      Martin Luther King also shared this conviction stating that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  He was right, though there is little indication among progressives these days that they think so. Why do we seem so committed to doom and gloom?  While it is true the challenges we face are larger in both scale and scope than any in recent human history, giving up all hope is neither constructive nor justified given both our biological and cultural evolution thus far.  We shouldn’t be Pollyannas or ignore the problems we face and the injustices we commit, but we might as well if in fact we believe there is no reason for hope. 

    One can simply no longer imagine the evolution of social creatures in any universe other than a moral one, and we’re highly social creatures.  Moral truth exists not because it was handed down to us from on high, but because it emerges from below.  The Golden Rule works because there is no other mechanism that will enable social groups to function long-term.  It would be more accurate to refer to it as the Golden Law.  From both an evolutionary and sociological perspective it is as indispensable as gravity is to physics. Once a group has formed at any level, even if it only consists of two or three, the process of cooperation has begun and the arc starts to bend in the right direction; the circle has expanded beyond the individual to include another.  Add a third or fourth to that group and it’s expanded a little bit more, and so on. Life itself is impossible in a cosmos devoid of cooperation, and intelligent life capable of empathy is impossible without a very high degree of it.  Even if we do often fail to consciously grasp it or sometimes cooperate in factions against others to achieve less than ideal ends from the perspective of the whole, we shouldn’t be surprised that our cells consistently recognize the inherent value of cooperation.  I for one think that’s encouraging.  

Note: For additional information regarding this research please also visit The Atlantic (August 1, 2013)

George Zimmerman & Trayvon Martin: The faces of inequality

"Inequality promotes strategies that are more self-interested, less affiliative, often highly antisocial, more stressful, and likely to give rise to higher levels of violence, poorer community relations, and worse health.  In contrast, the less unequal societies tend to be much more affiliative, less violent, more supportive and inclusive, and marked by better health.  It looks almost as if human nature could be developed to produce nearly any mix - from people bordering on antisocial personalities with limited powers of empathy and little sense of responsibility for the common good to the opposite."  ~ Richard G. Wilkinson, The Impact of Inequality

“These assholes, they always get away.” ~ George Zimmerman

    Neither George Zimmerman nor Trayvon Martin came from backgrounds of money and power.  They had far more in common with each other than either of them did with the wealthy elite.  Yet the "assholes" that "always get away" in George Zimmerman's mind were not Wall Street bankers or corrupt Washington politicians, at least not consciously.  He clearly meant young men who looked like Trayvon Martin and he wasn't going to take it any more. 

      Now, with the verdict behind us, our collective frustration and rage has expanded from Zimmerman to the jury, "inept" prosecutors, and the inadequacies of the the criminal justice system: inadequacies too numerous to go into here.  Most of the focus is on America's continuing racial problems.  Inequality, the oxygen feeding all these flames, remains invisible and odorless.  In the media, both social and mainstream, it is at best alluded to only vaguely.

      Like all the other primates, we're social animals.  Richard Wilkinson, the author quoted above to kick this blog post off, argues that "An important aspect of the interpretation of status and class put forward here (The Impact of Inequality) is that to understand class we need to think more about our evolution from monkeys than our ideological debt to Marx." (p. 192, emphasis added)  Status matters not because we're innately greedy and power hungry bastards, but because we're social animals.  Substitute words like respect and worth for status and you'll see just how important it is to each of us personally. Even the most egalitarian of systems include titles, distinctive clothing, or other markers to communicate the level of respect certain individuals are due in their eyes.  However, in a highly hierarchical society where the gaps are extreme those at the bottom of the heap endure far more frequent reminders of their inferior status. They experience far less capacity to get either what they need or what they want, and as virtually all political parties are fond of making very clear - if to somewhat varying degrees - they shouldn't feel entitled to.

     Blood samples taken from both people and other social animals show much higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the systems of those at the bottom of the hierarchy than in those at the top. The more extreme the gap between the bottom and the top, the higher the cortisol levels.  This in turn leads to significantly lower life-expectancies. These lower life expectancies remain even after adjusting for increased levels of violence between those experiencing low social status and higher rates of many unhealthy coping behaviours such as drugs.  In other words, a rich smoker will live longer on average than a poor non-smoker in a highly unequal society. This isn't true where the gap between the rich and poor is relatively narrow.  So much for personal responsibility, at least in societies that don't value equality. In the developed world at least, highly unequal cultures have, in effect, created vast populations that are enduring post traumatic stress disorder. For those exposed to high cortisol levels from the moment they were conceived there is nothing "post" about it: it's just cradle to grave traumatic stress disorder.

     The science behind all this is about as solid as the science behind climate change.  However, you would never know it given the relative inattention it receives.  Denial at this point would almost be an improvement since it would at least kick off a discussion about what it is that's being denied. Ignoring the true social costs of inequality is one of the few bipartisan activities taking place in Washington these days.  Indeed, wealth redistribution is in many respects a dirtier phrase for Democrats than it is for Republicans given the utter terror they have of experiencing blow black if they utter it.  In the US in particular no one is willing to risk being labelled a socialist in spite of the increasingly obvious cumulative failings of the current system.  As the current battle over Food Stamps and the increase in student loan interest rates makes clear, the difference between Democrats and Republicans is that the former is more willing to defend the crumbs falling from the elite's table while the latter enjoys railing against the poor for feeling they are entitled to that much.  Even assuming a renewal of the Food Stamp program and the restoration of the former status quo when it comes to student loan interest rates, the US will continue to see inequality steadily move toward banana republic proportions unless something far more significant is done.  From a status standpoint most welfare programs as currently constituted in the US and much of the developed world only reinforce the sense of inferiority that evolutionary psychology makes clear is generating lethal rifts within our culture, and so were never really solutions to begin with.

    In a highly unequal society like the US, we should no longer be shocked when a man like George Zimmerman shoots a black boy wearing a hoodie as he tries to make his way home from the local convenience store.  It's far easier to elevate your status, if only a little, by joining the local neighborhood watch and taking on the local "assholes" than it is to find a respectable job, let alone elevate yourself to the stratospheric levels currently enjoyed by the elite at the top of the social totem pole. The sad truth is neither George Zimmerman nor Trayvon Martin, had he lived, would likely have ever been able to imagine such lofty heights.  Racism should be criticized, but the ugly fact is it will remain an easy way to elevate perceived personal status unless inequality is addressed.  Racism, homophobia, mysogyny, and spousal/child abuse are incentivized as means of enhancing a sense of control and importance in an a highly unequal cultural milieu.  So, by the way, is overconsumption. Until we begin the process of closing the gap there will only be more George Zimmerman's in our future.







 







     

    

 

Life isn’t fair. Now what are you going to do about it?

“Do you truly believe that life is fair, Senor de la Vega?
-No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so.”
― Isabel Allende, Zorro 

   If there is one thing every living creature craves, it must surely be certainty.  This craving takes many forms: the surety of the next meal, a safe and reasonably comfortable place to lay our heads at night, a paycheque.  These are all proximate forms of the desire for certainty, however.  Certainty of survival, if only in the short-term, is what ultimately lies behind it all.
     We go to great lengths to hide our uncertainty from others just as others endeavour to conceal their anxiety from us.  What is keeping up with the Joneses but an effort to appear at least as wealthy and confident in life as the guy next door?  We put up with far more shit from our employer than we otherwise would, endure emotional and sometimes even physical abuse because we fear the the unknowns associated with the alternative, and gamble away billions in Vegas or on the local lottery every year eagerly seeking the jackpot that will deliver us from our current (real or imagined) financial distress. 
     The more we fail to recognize our own insecurity the more uncertain we feel, and the more we seek to hide it from others the more craving for it we generate within our communities.  There’s just no escaping it, and believe me I've tried.  All the truly illuminating philosophies tell us the only way to cope with it is to accept it.  No matter how much money, land, or food you acquire uncertainty will still be lurking right around the corner.  A thief may be plotting to take it all away from us, though these days the market is more likely to be the culprit.  Perhaps the food you have cached will go bad before you have a chance to eat it, or will be snatched by another animal that is feeling at least as uncomfortable with the prospects of going hungry.  Whatever you do, circumstances beyond your control are always at play in the shadows threatening to make a mess of your best laid plans. In an effort to compensate we hoard, invest in alarm systems, buy guns, open a mutual funds and take out insurance policies, but after all is said and done at best all we've done is manage to improve the odds a little bit for a little while.
     All that said it would be wrong to argue that uncertainty is the great equalizer.  While it is definitely true we all must deal with it one way or another, it is not true we are all equally equipped to do so.  The reasons range from physical or mental disabilities to the circumstances we are born into.  If we haven’t read the studies ourselves, we’ve all at least heard references to the abundant research showing a child born into poverty is facing far longer odds than a child born in Beverly Hills or the Hamptons.  Even if we assume the myth of pulling oneself up by ones bootstraps contains some truth, certainly we can agree a poor child faces a future that involves far more pulling on already frayed bootstraps than one born into relative wealth.   The wealthy have shown time and again that they can gamble away a small fortune in the stock market or on risky business ventures and still come out largely unscathed.  How many times has Donald Trump gone through bankruptcy?  The same mistakes, when made by the poor on a much smaller scale, leave scars that are both more painful and more enduring.
        My mother was fond of saying “life isn’t fair.”  No, it isn’t, but human beings should strive to be to the greatest possible extent.  We’re aware of uncertainty and its consequences and therefore we should do something about it whenever we can. Empathy is recognition of the suffering that inevitably comes to every living thing as a consequence of enjoying the privilege of being alive, and justice is nothing if not a fair response to this condition.  “Life is not fair” is accurate as far as it goes, but it is ultimately a dodge.  Life isn’t fair, so what are we going to do about it?  If we don’t follow up with that question than life isn’t worth living.  Life demands more than mere resignation from a species that has been endowed with awareness. 

        If we create a society that produces millions of people living in desperation from paycheque to paycheque, or no paycheque at all, then we should expect a culture where millions will do desperate things to make ends meet.  I’ve been guilty of this myself from time-to-time as we’ve struggled along the path to a university degree.  Some times the Hail Mary passes that are thrown in an effort to make it are caught, and sometimes they aren’t.  If this sounds like an excuse for the mistakes people make, then ask yourself what your reaction is when acts born of desperation are successful.  We tend to praise risk takers, but only when they succeed.  Those who fail are typically labelled foolish.

     In the weeks and months ahead I’ll be researching a guaranteed annual income (GAI) program, hopefully as part of a small research scholarship I’ve applied for.  The goal is to have an article accepted for publication sometime next year articulating some of the implications of such a policy.  Once we've made it through my final year of school, I’ll be initiating an effort to lobby for this program in both Canada and the United States shortly after graduation.  Both countries have upcoming federal elections in 2015 and 2016 respectively, making this an ideal time to begin such an effort.  If you are interested in being involved in the initial stages of this campaign, please let me know.
     In the meantime, I’m providing a link here to a Go Fund Me page and asking all my friends and the readers of this blog to consider making a small contribution to help us as I complete my final year at university.  This page was launched a few months ago when we faced a similar financial crunch to the one we do now, and though the amount shown indicates very little response, many of you responded via mail with a cheque to help us out bringing us much closer to our goal than indicated.  If you would prefer to send a gift via mail, please contact me directly via Facebook and I’ll send along our address. Your support is critical because my final year involves a full load of 400 level courses plus the research project mentioned above. As a result I’ll have little time to work. Your support will be incredibly valuable both to us personally and to the eventual initiation of a grassroots GAI campaign. 
      More information will follow on this blog and via Facebook as it becomes available.  If you have any questions about GAI, please don’t hesitate to ask them.  Your questions will help guide research and assist me tremendously in anticipating concerns that may arise as the lobbying effort gets underway.  I’ll be seeking opportunities to present on this topic beginning sometime next year as well, so please keep that in mind if you or others within your community might be interested in becoming involved.  In the meantime, please widely share information posted here as it becomes available.  Thank you all for your support.
     
Craig's Go Fund Me page: http://www.gofundme.com/1lwf9c