People who feel at ease in the larger society tend to believe the world’s troubles are caused by all the “bad people” out there. They’ve never really met these bad people, except on television and in the movies, but in any case, it suffices to blame all these other people out there for social ills.
To some extent, it takes someone viewing from outside to see that pretty much all problems are the emergent result of millions of everyday people pursuing their self-interest.
Except we don’t directly tell ourselves: “I’m pursuing my interests today.” when we wake up in the morning. That’s what our emotions help us out with.
They steer us towards survival and reproduction without us having to think about it.
However, few people actually recognize these survival impulses for what they are.
Thus a group will quickly eject someone who doesn’t like the same bands or wear the same clothing. Something will just feel ‘off’ to them and they’ll invent some kind of excuse based on how they ‘feel’ to justify carrying out the will of their collective.
Problem: Someone who doesn’t fit in is a liability to the group:
-Opportunity cost. A human can handle 150 or so social relationships at once. It is not rational to spare a slot when better applicants are available.
-The person in the group who feels the least unity is the one most likely to sell everyone out.
-Or leave for a group that’s a better fit. All the time and energy invested in them has gone to waste.
Solution: Eject them.
But to think like this would be Machiavellian and calculating.
The solution: Don’t think. Just be emotional.
But people who don’t understand themselves as human beings or as human animals(most people) fail to recognize that “just going with emotions” will consistently guide them down exactly this path of Machiavellian self interest.
And so long as most people are unable to reflect on the true nature of their drives and actions, there can be no change in the overall nature of societies.
You can have a revolution, lock up lawbreakers, play with political reforms…
But there’s been thousands of years of this with no significant change in the basic function of your typical pyramidal agricultural society.
There’s something important in this for the lone introvert who’s struggling to survive.
Even if you lack social skills, you can predict what the people around you will do next.
Just figure out what is in their best survival/reproductive interest, then watch them actually do it. Each action will be accompanied by some sort of justification that puts them in the best possible light.
After this elaborate process, not one of them is the wiser about what actually happened or why they did it.
Kingdom of Introversion 