There’s something RIGHT with human nature, says historian Rutger Bregman

The Bunker

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture, Government

4.6 • 984 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s only one problem with the widely-held belief that humans are fundamentally amoral and selfish, says Dutch historian RUTGER BREGMAN: it’s rubbish. His new book Humankind: A Hopeful History argues that the record shows humanity’s superpower is its unique aptitude for altruism and co-operation. He tells Andrew Harrison why everything from Lord Of The Flies to the story of the Blitz is teaching us to draw the wrong conclusions about the human race – and explains who benefits from spreading the myth of human selfishness. “Catastrophes bring out the best in people” “Individual humans are not all that smart or strong – but we can cooperate on the level no other species can match.” “The idea that most people are pretty decent is actually a revolutionary idea.” “Cynicism is a form of laziness.” Presented and produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:00.0	My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved
0:05.5	photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.
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0:13.0	I loved going to college.
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0:55.3	look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome back to the bunker daily I'm Andrew Harrison. We hope these daily podcasts are making our weird times a little bit more bearable.
1:15.2	The bunker has become my lockdown lifeline, says Apple Podcasts, user Koylo 27, so our hearts go out to you on that one.
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1:32.4	My guest today is the rarest creature on earth
1:34.6	an optimistic historian or rather a hopeful historian. The Dutch writer Rutger
1:39.0	Reagan's new book, humankind is dedicated to the heretical proposition that humans are basically good and that Thomas Hobbes' idea that were all selfish and horrible and have to be controlled by a strong authority is a load of rubbish or at least only true of Twitter.
1:52.0	In humankind,
	...

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