New Book Says Humans Aren't Selfish—Here's the Science

What if everything we've been told about human nature is wrong?

Author Jeremy Lent's new book "Ecocivilization" tackles one of our deepest cultural assumptions: that people are inherently selfish. Drawing from research across multiple scientific fields, he argues the opposite is true—humans evolved to cooperate, not compete.

Lent, founder of the Deep Transformation Network, points to a worldview problem that started in 17th century Europe. The scientific revolution brought incredible advances, but it also introduced a damaging idea: that nature is just a machine to be conquered and exploited.

"It led to the sense of humans being separate from the rest of living Earth," Lent explains. That separation justified colonialism, resource extraction, and economic systems built on endless growth.

But modern science tells a different story. Research in psychology, anthropology, and biology shows that cooperation and mutual aid are actually our default settings as humans.

The book goes beyond criticism. Lent offers a roadmap for what he calls shifting our civilization's "operating system"—the invisible assumptions that drive our economics, culture, and behavior.

Why This Inspires

This isn't just academic theory. Understanding that humans are naturally cooperative opens up real possibilities for change.

If selfishness isn't hardwired into us, then systems based on greed and competition aren't inevitable. We can choose different organizing principles—ones based on the interconnectedness that science actually supports.

Lent's work synthesizes research from fields that rarely talk to each other, making cutting-edge insights accessible to everyday readers. His previous books laid the groundwork by exploring where our dominant cultural ideas came from and what alternatives exist.

The timing matters. As climate change, inequality, and social division intensify, many people feel stuck—like these problems are just human nature playing out.

Lent's research suggests otherwise. The crises we face stem from a particular worldview, not from something broken in our DNA.

Reimagining our relationship with nature and each other isn't naive idealism. It's actually more consistent with what science tells us about who we really are.

The book proposes "ecocivilization"—societies organized around ecological wisdom and human flourishing rather than extraction and exploitation. While that might sound utopian, Lent grounds it in concrete research about human psychology, successful cooperative societies throughout history, and sustainable practices that already work.

The message is ultimately hopeful: our current destructive systems aren't inevitable, because they're not based on human nature at all.