Our Compulsion to Be Good
There is a famous quote from French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre: \u201cHell is other people.\u201d While some may agree with that sentiment and crave solitude, there\u2019s a lot of evidence that people are drawn to each other. We form friendships, sports teams, knitting circles and complex societies, unlike any other species on Earth.
\n\nNicholas Christakis, a doctor, sociologist, and author of \u201cBlueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society,\u201d has spent years trying to understand why people often feel compelled to connect to - and help - each other. The answer he arrived at was that, although humans are capable of a lot of bad things, it turns out being good has long been coded into our biology