Human Behavior vs. Human Nature

The debate of nurture vs. nature has been ongoing for a very long time. Many theories, supernatural to evolutionary tackle the ideas of an invariable human nature. To continue my discussion I will say this about the debate; if genetics has proven anything, it is that different cultures, and the individuals within them have a disposition to certain traits, while our environments shape most of our behavior and morals.

Check out Nature VIA Nurture by Matt Ridley and the interview he had with Melbourne University Voice's Nerissa Hannink. He explains how our genes themselves are subject to evolution (or genetic engineering), and that our genes make us more susceptible to environmental triggers. He hopes the title of his book, Nature VIA Nurture will help settle some of the dispute.

When discussing the Venus Project, human nature comes up frequently. There are concerns that greed and violence and jealousy are forms of human nature which will propagate into our new system whether we like it or not, and prove our theories incorrect. While I suppose only time can tell, we can make a pretty strong case in support of TVP and its goal to redesign society to positively affect human behavior.

If we can eliminate scarcity, then we can eliminate crime. Virtually all abhorrent behavior is caused directly or indirectly from the monetary system and the inherent scarcity associated. Consider an auto-worker in Detroit Michigan or Oshawa Ontario, and the stress they must be under in this economy. They've got to worry about losing their jobs, their homes, paying for their families, hoping their spouses don't leave, worrying about finding new work, etc. Emotions flare in those kinds of environments, unhealthy habits form, and people become more inclined towards desperate and/or passionate extremes. Consider a street kid in South America, starving, no home, no job, so he steals to feed himself. Consider a single mom living in a economic slum, carrying a gun for her own protection, when one day she shoots her daughter in the middle of the night mistaking her for an intruder.

In transition from our current state to the eventual implementation of the Venus Project, we will still need to keep some law enforcement until the effects of the new environment sink in. It is important to remember the natural laws of emergence and interconnectedness when we consider our ability to grow and expand our own ideas and behaviors. The future we build for ourselves will be different from the one generations after us will create, as ideas evolve and change.

Please consider greed and violence and jealousy as products of the societies we live in today rather than global, invariable human qualities. If you are able to concede to to this notion, then consider what would happen if we improve the environment that we all live in, and created abundance for the entire world.