Intelligence Squared

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared ------ Human beings, we’re taught, are by nature selfish and governed by self-interest. From Hobbes’ theory about the state of nature to Richard Dawkins’ ‘selfish gene’, the roots of this belief are deeply ingrained in Western thought. But historian Rutger Bregman believes we have got human nature wrong – and that deep down we are all pretty decent. On August 3 Bregman came to the Intelligence Squared to persuade us that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good. And that the instinct to cooperate rather than compete, trust rather than distrust, has an evolutionary basis going right back to the beginnings of Homo Sapiens. In conversation with journalist and author Helen Lewis, Bregman will discuss some of the world’s most famous studies and events and reframe them, providing a new perspective on the last 200,000 years of human history. To find out more about the book click here: https://bit.ly/34FLsyK. -----------