DO YOU REALIZE THAT DEMOCRACY IS HUMAN NATURE?

Nová Ľavica

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00:00Before we begin our video, a short note. We'll be glad if you like, comment, and share our

00:05content. We are the largest left-wing civic association in Slovakia, and we want to keep

00:11growing. New videos are published Fridays. If you like what we do, you can support us financially

00:17and become our members. More information is available on our website, and most importantly,

00:23don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Do you even realize that democracy is human nature?

00:29What is truly natural to us? People intuitively long to make decisions about their own lives.

00:36Democracy is not some artificial invention of modern political scientists, but a deep sense

00:42of justice we carry within us. When we feel we can take part in decision-making, we experience

00:48fulfillment and safety. When someone takes our voice away, we feel frustration and defiance.

00:54This feeling did not arise yesterday. It is written into our evolutionary history. Roots in the

01:01distant past. About six million years ago, our ancestors in Africa split from our common ancestor

01:08with chimpanzees. Since then, humans have evolved in the environment of small groups.

01:15Human evolution is not just biology. It is also social evolution. For millions of years,

01:21we developed ways to live together, to resolve conflicts, and to share resources. And all of

01:28this in settings where everyone knew everyone else. Life in bands. Hunter-gatherer bands usually had

01:35between 20 and 150 members. Anthropologists speak of the so-called Dunbar's number, the limit of people

01:42we can remember and maintain relationships with. If someone was aggressive or manipulative,

01:48they could not hide. The group knew them, exposed them, and, if necessary, ridiculed or expelled

01:55them. Power pathologies such as narcissism, psychopathy, or Machiavellianism had little room

02:02here. Everyone had a voice, because collective decision-making was a necessity for survival.

02:09We must realize that lifelong chiefs in such societies hardly existed. Hierarchies were almost

02:15non-existent. There were only stronger or weaker friendships. Dominant individuals were not the

02:21most violent males, as many people mistakenly believe today, because such men could easily

02:27be removed by two others with the consent of the group. Those who were dominant were the ones who were

02:33liked. Those who helped others. Those who were the kindest. Humans are kind by nature. This seems

02:40paradoxical only to those who have believed the manipulations of capitalism. In reality, the super

02:46ability of the human species is not competition. Our super ability is cooperation. And we cooperate

02:53best with people we like. This is also a relatively new finding of anthropology. Our social evolution

03:01directly shaped our biological evolution. As humans became kinder, their facial features softened.

03:08We replaced animal-like muzzles and heavy brows with gentle facial traits.

03:13That is also why we find kind people more attractive than hostile ones.

03:18Why a kind human face is seen as beautiful. Democracy as a natural state. When we speak of democracy

03:25today, we often see it as a political system of the last two centuries. The truth is different.

03:31Democracy is older than states, older than cities, older than civilization. It is millions of years old,

03:39because it was part of life in hunter-gatherer communities. It was neither perfect nor romantic,

03:45but it was natural. Decisions were made collectively, power was shared, and extreme dominance was suppressed.

03:51Turning point. Agriculture and villages. About 10,000 years ago came a huge turning point.

04:00Agriculture appeared. People began to live permanently in one place, cultivate crops, and raise animals.

04:08Populations grew. From small bands arose villages with several thousand inhabitants.

04:14Archaeological sites like Jericho or Tsatalhöyük proved that people were already building complex

04:20settlements. And this meant they suddenly lived in environments where it was no longer possible to

04:25know everyone personally. The birth of hierarchies. The anonymity of larger societies opened space for new

04:33types of personalities. Where reputation and personal ties were no longer enough for control, manipulators,

04:40narcissists, and psychopaths could gain influence. The first elites appeared. The first monumental

04:47buildings. The first signs of inequality in graves. From egalitarian communities, hierarchies were born.

04:55And with them began 10,000 years in which we have lived continuously in autocracies,

05:00with democracy reduced to an empty word. It became just an ideal, never truly reached for 10,000 years.

05:08A skewed balance of time. Compare this. Six million years of evolution in small democratic communities,

05:16versus only 10,000 years of hierarchies and autocracy. That is less than 1% of the time. Even if we look

05:24only at our own branch, Homo sapiens, which has existed for about 300,000 years, it is still only 3%. For the

05:33overwhelming majority of history, we lived in direct democracies. And only for a tiny fraction of time

05:39have we suffered under power hierarchies. The nightmare of history. From this perspective,

05:46our civilization is a peculiar exception. The last 10,000 years can be seen as a nightmare from

05:51which we are trying to awaken. Hierarchies and autocracies are not our nature. They are a historical

05:58deviation. That is why the desire for freedom, equality, and fraternity still burns within us.

06:05That is why revolutions and democratic movements arise again and again. They are a return to our

06:12primal essence. Conservatism and the left. A paradox. Here comes an interesting irony. True conservatives,

06:20who want to return to the past, should support democracy, because humanity's past was democratic.

06:27And true democrats and socialists, who want to move forward and create new things, are in fact also

06:33going back. Back to the vast majority of our history, to natural equality. If these two directions met,

06:40they could form a strong alliance. A return to human nature. A return to democracy.

06:47Conclusion. Awakening. Our challenge today is clear. After 10,000 years of hierarchies, we face the question

06:56of whether we want to continue violating our nature, or return to who we are. Democracy is not a utopia.

07:04It is a return home. It is an awakening from a nightmare that has lasted far too long.

07:10If we want to live as humans, and not as subjects, we must once again turn to what has accompanied us

07:16for millions of years. Cooperation, equality, and collective decision-making about our destiny.

07:24Before we end our video, a short note. We'll be glad if you like, comment, and share our content.

07:31We are the largest left-wing civic association in Slovakia, and we want to keep growing. New videos

07:37are published Fridays. If you like what we do, you can support us financially and become our members.

07:44More information is available on our website. And most importantly, don't forget to subscribe to our

07:50channel. Thanks for watching.

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