Humans are not the only cooperative animal. Herd animals bunch together for protection. A pack of wolves cooperates as a team to isolate and kill a herd animal. But within a pack or herd the individuals do not specialize to any significant extent. There may be “leaders” or a “pecking order, but otherwise all the individuals do about the same thing. Looking at a pack of wolves or a herd of sheep, it can be challenging to tell one individual from another; they all look about the same.
Cooperation among ants and bees involves different individuals being born into different roles. All individuals born into a certain role perform the same functions. They do not specialize as individuals. Worker ants or bees of a certain species all look about the same.
If you look at a group of people you see a variety of shapes and sizes. These differences are accentuated by different fashion choices. The individuals speak differently, talk about different things, and do different things. Each individual human being plays a unique role in our society. There never has been and never will be anyone else quite like him/her.
The amazing advances in human civilization over the past few thousand years have been primarily due to a specific type of human cooperation called division of labor. Division of labor allows us to all do different things for each other; the builder can build a house for the farmer while the farmer works the fields and shares the produce with the builder. Division of labor is essential for innovation: some people can research and invent while others produce and enjoy the use of those inventions. Some invest, organize, and provide employment for others. The ultimate purpose of every business and every job is to provide a good or service for the enjoyment of others, while the others return the favor by also providing goods and services.
The variability of interests and abilities among the human population is one of the greatest strengths of the human race, and the primary reason we are no longer naked nomads with only crude stone tools. Let’s all celebrate and appreciate our differences.
Posted 2023/01/28