I have been on the hunt for a book that discusses that humans should be selfish and that this selfless notion is just something pushed by society because it benefits society, but hurts the individual. I don’t want a book where it’s a be selfish from a self help soppy perspective, but a realistic and honest…think more Machiavellian.
Thanks so much!
by VeganFanatic
5 Comments
Are you just fishing for someone to say Atlas Shrugged? Or Ayn Rand in general?
Hobbes Leviathan, Mandeville the Fable of the Bees
You might want to take a look at Adam Smith
The Selfish Gene – it’s been awhile since I read it but iirc it’s about how we prioritize our DNA (or close relatives because they have similar DNA) to keep it around in future generations. Like an aunt might never have kids but help take care of her sister’s kids because there is still a lot of common DNA between aunt and niblings.
> realistic and honest
Almost every gram of extra brain matter we have gained over the last 2-3 million years of our evolution is infrastructure for cooperative and collaborative behavior. Any book pitching selfishness is not, in fact, all that realistic.