Curating Content To Support Learning About Humanity's Transition

This content was posted on  27 May 21  by   Douglas Rushkoff  on  Facebook Page
The myth of individuality made capitalism possible and has sustained it to this day. Economists …

The myth of individuality made capitalism possible and has sustained it to this day. Economists modeled the market on the false premise that human beings are entirely rational individuals acting in their own self-interest. And corporations learned to stoke consumption by reinforcing our identities as individual consumers. Why sit on a streetcar with your friends when you can be driving your car, all alone? Why borrow your neighbor’s lawnmower when you can have your own? What’s a house in the suburbs without a fence defining your property?

Capitalism’s vision of the individual as a completely self-interested being, whose survival was a Darwinian battle royale, is at odds with our social evolution and our neurobiology. But unless we consciously retrieve the power inherent in our collective nature, we will remain unable to defend ourselves against those who continue to use our misguided quest for individuality against us.

Read ‘The Self-Made Man’ Is a Myth from Medium’s weekly Team Human serialization:

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medium.com

The myth of individuality made capitalism possible and has sustained it to this day


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