RE: Psychological Egoism: Selfishly Improving the World Around You
Wow... I didn't realize there was actually a "word" for something I have only tried to conceptualize in my mind. I never got beyond "selfish selflessness."
In the theory that lives inside my head (uber-simplified) if I help people around me be prosperous, happy and healthy... the result is that I don't have to deal with struggling, unhappy and suffering people. Which is a benefit to ME. In its most crudely stated way, if I help others be happy, I don't have to deal with living in a whiny unhappy world. If I take the time to be nice to my neighbor or the community, my "reward" might be an apple pie, rather than a brick through the window.
For me, the beauty of Steemit and affiliates is that it's a training ground in positive pay-it-forward vibes. Except, it's more effective, in the sense that nobody has to reach into their pocket to "give it forward." And yes, I totally believe we can rewire our neural nets (whole different long story there involving some neuroscientists I am friendly with) towards a more giving orientation.
Now, let's extend this out a little further... in a sense our upvotes are a bit like a type of UBI where we (the community)— rather than a "government" or "centralized authority"— are the ones who hand out income to UBI "recipients."
The challenge, mind you, is the opposing force which might be something we could call "the human greed gene." I put that in quotes because it's not a real thing; nonetheless it manifests in the behavior of a large number of people, ranging from the "people behaving badly" to snap up new toys at Wal-Mart on Black Friday to the entrepreneur with $20M in the bank who nonetheless labors endlessly to make even more money for a bigger mansion while their workers struggle on minimum wage.
Still, something to think about here.
I’m glad you saw this one as I figured you’d enjoy it also based on our many philosophical exchanges. Pretty cool stuff, huh? I agree about the potential for Steemit to power a UBI as well. I wrote about that in one of my earliest posts.
Ah yes, that's a good post, too.
In reading it — and the comments — I came back to the same place of "what next" I typically end up at: A lot of people simply "don't care" and are not idealistically inclined. Which leads me to consider that perhaps the single most important thing we can do is teach compassion and empathy.
I believe this type of world change becomes more feasible/likely if more people are able to step outside their "hard" selfishness and realize that their actions often DO have an impact on those around them. What we are talking about here is more a "soft" selfishness, for lack of a better term.
It's a challenge to be sure, but I really do enjoy exploring the ways we might get there.
SO MUCH THIS.
That's why I love NVC and the NAP so much. I feel they both help move this along.