> I don't think intelligence play into it, at least not the kind of intelligence I respect. Smart people are bullied all the time. Smart people had 10K years to

> I don't think intelligence play into it, at least not the kind of intelligence I respect. Smart people are bullied all the time. Smart people had 10K years to fix the massive clusterfuck that is hierarchical societies or toss them into the dirstiest toilet, and they couldn't. It would be the height of hubris to assume you can succeed where billions failed. I disagree. We have had parts of society dominate other parts, using them as workforce and such, since humanity historically had A) insufficient resources and capabilities to improve general well-being, and B) insufficient ethical standards to care to do so. Ethics have been evolving (abolition of slavery, etc.), so clearly (B) is not static. And now, with automation and strong renewable energy sources, we may (or should) be rapidly approaching post-scarcity, addressing (A). The result of it all is a qualitatively new state for humanity. In such a state, the dog eat dog calculus you describe is thinking in the past, I’d expect better from a technologically progressive mind. Regarding biological need for competition, I’ll need to think about it but immediately it strikes me that there should be enough ways left to compete fairly. Regarding bullying, I suffered from being bullied in early years, and I have grown to see my bullies for what they are: mentally traumatized people. The same trauma carries over to people seeking personal security at the expense of others or the environment, resulting in unethical or malicious behavior. Thus the need to improve baseline well-being (and especially mental health) across the board, to stop people being traumatized and passing it on by traumatizing their peers and children.