This discussion is about understanding the lifestyles of our human ancestors during the paleolithic–from the first anatomically modern humans over 300,000 years ago until the development of agriculture around 10,000 years ago. This time period–around 300,000 years–is far longer than any of our cities, countries, languages, clothing styles, traditions, or other activities have been around. In terms of subsistence, this 300,000 years is similar to what we think our ancestors before Homo sapiens did. Living in small groups, moving around the landscape, looking for food through foraging and hunting: these are arguably the human “normal.” Taking college classes and eating food from the store is truly bizarre behavior in the long view.

In the reading for this week, Fuentes talks in some detail about the development of compassion in our species, and ties this to creativity. He asks (on page 100) can we remain creative within ever larger communities?

For this week, I want to ask the related question:

“Can humans remain compassionate in ever larger communities?”

You can use info from the book or from other sources to support your position, you can even take a position that compassion isn’t necessary–but whatever position you take please do support it with at least one citation from somewhere. Also reply to two of your classmates.

Reply to classmate 1:
I believe all humans carry an ability to be compassionate. Unfortunately, people tend to close off their compassionate sides as a result of life experience. An article written on empathy and compassion by Loran Nordgren says “Our research shows that people who have gone through difficult experiences tend to be the harshest critics of those who are struggling or unable to cope. In this case, another old line is perhaps more applicable: familiarity breeds contempt.”  The article continues to examples of bullying. Someone who has been bullied in the past tends to have more care and compassion for someone they see being bullied. It also states that a person who has not had this experience has a difficult time feeling empathetic towards the person.

I feel living in larger communities, like the city of New York, also plays a role in a person’s compassion. One article suggests that living in larger groups like a city has a detrimental affect on a persons mental well being and ability to be compassionate towards people you don’t know. “Prevalence of psychiatric disorders is significantly higher among people living in urban areas, says a meta-analysis of 20 pieces of research conducted over the past 35 years. Specifically, people in cities suffer from mood disorders and anxiety at a disproportionately high rate.” Another quote from a psychologist says, “compassion is not an automatic response to anothers plight; it is a response that occurs only when the situation is perceived as serious, unjust and relatable. It requires a certain level of awareness, concern and empathy.” Just as was said in my first paragraph, a person’s experience or ability to relate to a situation helps with their compassion. According to those articles and quotes, it is hard for someone living in a city with millions of people who also has a higher likelihood of mental instability to feel compassion towards others, especially if they do not know the person and does not make any personal contribution to the well being of that person’s life. It is much easier to feel compassion for your own parent suffering from an illness or your child or direct family member. Sometimes people even feel more compassion towards their own pet than to people they do not know.

There are occasions where people have shown large amounts of compassion in or towards a large community. September 11th. Our country has never been more united or compassionate. Hurricane Katrina and Harvey. The wildfires in Australia. Multiple people displaced from their homes and in need of care and just love. These are the times that people have come out and shown overwhelming amounts of compassion and empathy to large communities. This relates to the part of the last quote that the situation is serious or unjust.

Despite everything I have said above, I still believe that compassion is a vital factor in our society and communities. It is part of how we foster and grow relationships and a sense of community, I feel, is a necessity to our existence.

https://qz.com/452497/great-bosses-have-empathy-but-not-for-everyone/

https://positivepsychology.com/why-is-compassion-important/

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190816-is-city-life-really-bad-for-you

Reply to Classmate 2:
I believe that all homo sapiens sapiens have the ability for compassion and show it in all kinds of ways. I also believe that overcrowding in large cities has detrimental effects on mental health. Compassion and self-preservation are two sides of the same coin. But this is also impacted by how our lives are changing.

Compassion is shown on a small scale by taking care of a family, by checking on your elderly neighbors, and by letting someone go ahead of you at the grocery store especially right now. On larger scales, compassion can be shown in the example that Fuentes stated, “In 2005, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, tens of thousands of people went to New Orleans as volunteers.” (86) This is a perfect example of compassion and we have shown this repeatedly for people that we dont know. People give blood, donate money to charity, food banks, and animal shelters.

The ugly side is that people can have a dark nature. A perfect example of this would be hoarding of toilet paper that is happening right now. In addition, Jacoba Urists article stated, “Research, Kopec says, has shown that crowding-related stress can increase rates of domestic violence and substance abuse.” This means that in a city like New York City, where the population is 1.8 million people with at least 2 per household and very small apartments, and to have affordable apartments they want to make them smaller, people get on each others nerves because they cannot relax. There is no space for a person to enjoy. Even in tight apartments and cramped space people form small groups, such as, my block, my street, my neighborhood. Fuentes stated, But as communities grew and sense of identity become associated with specific places (stone-gathering sites, hunting grounds, certain river edges or coastal caves ), feeling of us and them could grow stronger. (99) This can lead to violence against other areas. Small towns usually have less crime not only because there are less people but because people can have space between each other. The people are also of one town. The more people in one area can cause stress and more stress can cause more mental damage.

So I do believe that people have compassion, firefighters from America volunteered to risk their lives to go to Australia this past year to help put out the wildfire, families donate their holidays at food banks to make sure someone else has a turkey dinner that otherwise would not happen, and strangers have helped car accident victims even when it may have put their lives in danger. I just also believe that a person’s ugly side can take over when that person cannot decompress from stress or other environmental issues because there is not space. People still tend to form tight circles and everyone else is on the outside, a stranger, and is not important. All these things are related and circle back to each other.

Works Cited

The Beauty of Standing in Line. The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional, by Agustin Fuentes, Dutton, 2017, pp. 85100.

Urist, Jacoba. The Health Risks of Small Apartments. The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 8 May 2018, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/12/the-health-risks-of-small-apartments/282150/.