The world has evil people and predators, and they do try to hurt us. The tempting response is to become the strongest and meanest person around, so we can beat the people we fear.
That is not what made us who we are. We are not the strongest animal, and we ended up at the top anyway. What got us there is our ability to see each other’s weaknesses and help where we can, to forgive flaws, and to find ways around our shortcomings. That includes standing up to bullies and enemies. We don’t do it alone. We take on the risk together, and nobody is expected to carry it by themselves. We can picture a better tomorrow for all of us and build it together.
We have found a child who lived years with a severe skull deformity 1, an adult who outlived nearly every tooth 2, and Neanderthals who recovered from serious injuries 3. Not everyone agrees what that means 4. Hunter-gatherer bands keep the powerful in check together 5. Early humans needed each other for food 6 and for raising children 7.
I wrote about the other half of this in The obligation of the fortunate.
Sometimes we fail. We let a bully go after one person, or we let misfortune hit someone and we look away. Sometimes we can’t forgive a shortcoming and we withhold grace. That is part of how we got here too, because a failure we remember teaches us something. A failure we forget teaches nothing.
We never stop. We make progress over time, and we must not give up on each other.
Sources & Further Reading
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Craniosynostosis in the Middle Pleistocene human Cranium 14 from the Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain - Gracia et al., PNAS 106(16) (2009). Reports a child with a severe congenital skull deformity and discusses whether it needed extra care to survive. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900965106
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The earliest toothless hominin skull - Lordkipanidze et al., Nature 434, 717-718 (2005). Describes the Dmanisi skull that had lost all but one tooth well before death. https://www.nature.com/articles/434717b
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Calculated or caring? Neanderthal healthcare in social context - Spikins, Needham, Tilley and Hitchens, World Archaeology 50(3) (2018). Argues Neanderthal healthcare was widespread and part of strong pro-social bonds. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1433060
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Can paleopathology provide evidence for “compassion”? - Dettwyler, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 84(4) (1991). The standard caution: skeletal evidence of impairment does not show the motives or attitudes of the community. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330840402
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Egalitarian Behavior and Reverse Dominance Hierarchy - Boehm et al., Current Anthropology 34(3) (1993). A cross-cultural survey of how the rank and file of egalitarian bands keep individuals from dominating. https://doi.org/10.1086/204166
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Two Key Steps in the Evolution of Human Cooperation: The Interdependence Hypothesis - Tomasello, Melis, Tennie, Wyman and Herrmann, Current Anthropology 53(6) (2012). Proposes that obligate collaborative foraging made early humans interdependent. https://sites.duke.edu/tomasellolabduke/files/2016/09/Tomasello_etal_2012.pdf
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Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding - Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Harvard University Press (2009). Argues humans descend from cooperative breeders. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674060326
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