rutger bregman utopia for realists review

Studies show that, in crises, people generally don’t panic or turn to crime, they support those around them. Humankind begins with the Blitz, as evidence that “disasters bring out the best in us” the “Blitz spirit” is universal. (A PR company, inspired by that example, ran a successful campaign with Christmas fairy lights that inspired mass desertions among Colombia’s FARC guerrillas). It ends with the Christmas Truce of 1914, proof, he says, that humans “simply aren’t wired for war” and can be persuaded to drop arms with the right kind of nudge. He says that the damage caused by “lack of human contact is comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day”: a grim thought for those of us in lockdown alone.īregman bookends Humankind with British military history, arguing that stories we’ve come to see as one-off miracles are in fact representative case studies. Humans “domesticated” themselves, evolving through a process that anthropologist Brian Hare terms “survival of the friendliest” Bregman calls us “homo puppy”, noting that “social learning” (one of the few measures of intelligence where toddlers score notably better than gorillas and chimps) is essential to our nature. He argues instead that our natural impulse is really to communicate, co-operate, learn from each other and avoid conflict.

Bregman wants to disprove “veneer theory”, the idea that a thin layer of civilisation is all that keeps us from giving in to an alleged natural inclination for violent anarchy. Utopia took a scattershot approach, but this follow-up – although enormously wide-ranging, with fascinating digressions about everything from Russian foxes to Easter Island statues – has one unifying purpose. As coronavirus shakes our old certainties, that book’s ideas, such as a universal basic income – which Boris Johnson said in March he was considering introducing as a temporary relief measure – look less outlandish. 'Most people, deep down, are pretty decent.” That’s the philosophy of Rutger Bregman, 33, the Dutch historian who found fame in 2016 with Utopia for Realists.

Rutger bregman utopia for realists review