<h3>1. What Evolution Tells Us</h3><p>When most people think of evolution, they assume that it’s an all-or-nothing affair. Ducks with a big beak are able to eat more than ducks with little beaks, therefore big-beaked ducks survive and reproduce and the little-beaked Spoonbill Ducks die off. This is how evolution is generally taught in high school.</p><p>But most of the time, evolution is not this simple. For example, imagine a species that could be either violent or non-violent. What usually happens is that instead of it being optimal for every member of a species to be either 100% violent or 100% non-violent, it’s optimal for like 40% of a population to be violent and 60% to be non-violent. This is because the balance and interplay between the violent and non-violent members of the same species actually produces better outcomes than if the species was all one way or the other.</p><p>In biology, this is known as <i>evolutionary stable strategies </i>and you see them everywhere. Having too many violent organisms creates chaos. Having too many non-violent organisms invites predators. But a nice mixture of both ends up making everybody better off. It’s by having a <i>diversity</i> of traits within the population that the whole species survives and thrives.</p><p>This happens with humans as well. If every human was extremely extraverted, that would probably be bad (nobody would ever shut the fuck up). But if every human was highly introverted, that would <i>also</i> be bad. By generating a population of a nice spectrum of introverted/extraverted people, we end up with a more functional, well-rounded society. You can make this same case for tons of human traits. We need people who are both uptight/relaxed, both logical/<a href="https://markmanson.net/boring-ways-to-become-more-creative">creative</a>, both compassionate/dispassionate, etc.</p><p>As Temple Grandin says, “The world needs all kinds of minds.”</p><h3>2. The Genius of Democracy</h3><p>This, in a nutshell, is the genius of democracy: it’s built to <i>accentuate</i> rather than suppress diversity. And not just diversity of race, gender, or religion, but <a href="https://markmanson.net/diversify-your-identity">diversity of personality</a>, interests, <a href="https://markmanson.net/why-we-all-need-philosophy">philosophies</a>, and worldly pursuits. Democratic systems let the wisdom of evolutionary processes play out in the social realm. This is why democratic societies tend to be more economically innovative, culturally dynamic, and physically safer than the alternatives.</p><p>Tyranny fails because it attempts to crush diversity—it removes the opportunity for evolutionary stable strategies. The same way every organism in a species being non-violent is evolutionarily suboptimal, forcing every person in a society to adopt a specific ideology, religion, or goal is socially suboptimal. It makes a society rigid and fragile. Tyranny’s desire for harmony and uniformity ultimately leads to its downfall.</p><h3>3. The Price for Diversity</h3><p>Paradoxically, the price for diversity is constant stress and <a href="https://markmanson.net/5-books-for-dealing-with-anxiety-and-depression">anxiety</a>. Diversity means differences and differences mean conflict. Highly extraverted people annoy highly introverted people and vice versa. Highly religious people offend highly non-religious people and vice versa. People from rural and urban areas have different life experiences and different <a href="https://markmanson.net/personal-values">values</a>. People with differing beliefs yell at each other, fight, and complain about how awful everyone else is.</p><blockquote><p>Yet this perception that everyone else is awful is evidence that everything is alright.</p></blockquote><p>The fact that we’re exposed to enough diversity of thought and lifestyle to be so annoyed by everyone demonstrates that the system is working. In a sense, democracy requires constant dissatisfaction. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.</p><p>But these first three points are merely a preamble to what I really want to talk about: wisdom.</p>