Evolution of Teamwork

Supposedly humans are good at working together because long ago we survived a few very serious natural disasters by working together. People that couldn’t work with the group perished, so the ability to engage in teamwork was a trait that natural selection preserved.

As any present day natural disaster or zombie movie has taught us, during times of intense danger and stress, 99% of people emerge as teamwork heroes, helping their neighbors and sticking together. The other 1% decide to be jackholes and exploit the situation to benefit themselves. Great example = the people who set up a fake Red Cross website to siphon some money from the Haiti Earthquake Relief donation stream. Super jackholes.

Evolutionarily, people have the urge to preserve their genes, especially in times of danger. This means foremost looking out for yourself and your family.

It usually takes tragedy to remind us that we share a universal humanity, and that helping each other is not only a fun thing to do, it’s a human thing to do. Teamwork is one of the key qualities that has allowed our species to come so far. To shirk this responsibility is to deny our humanity.

If we could remember this between natural disasters, the world would be a far better place.