Human beings are cooperative by nature

 Here is a very interesting interview on new book Human Kind: A hopeful history by historian Rutger Bregman.

I particularly, I like the below Q and A:

In the book, you point a finger at the media for spreading cynicism and highlighting, if not sometimes exaggerating, the worst part of humanity. What are your suggestions for the news industry?

It’s important to make a distinction between the news and journalism. The news is about recent, incidental and sensational events. It’s mostly about exceptions. So if you follow a lot of the news, and you only hear about these exceptions, then at the end of the day you’ll know exactly how the world does not work. And you’ll be quite pessimistic as well. Psychologists have a term for this: "mean world syndrome".

I think it’s important that journalists zoom out, and focus on the bigger, structural forces that govern our lives. I also think it’s important that they are constructive. This means that they don’t just write about the problems, but also about the solutions, and the people who are helping us move forward.

You devote one part of the book to education, how seeing children as responsible and full of potential might actually help them grow. But do you have any tips for parents, on how they can educate children to be more compassionate and less cynical?

Children are born as emphatic and compassionate beings – so you don’t have to teach them generosity, it’s in their nature to be friendly. We know from scientific studies that infants as young as six months old can distinguish right from wrong and have a preference for the good over the bad. I think it’s important to design our education and our schools around that insight, to bring out the best in our kids. So don’t try to teach them to be cynical, but give them the freedom to play and explore.