Most people would prefer to find ways of getting along together rather than put their energy into fighting. 
There are exceptions but they don’t really count – not in terms of making decisions for the majority.
So what’s the problem? What’s stopping us learning to live together happily?
One of the obstacles is that we’ve learned to be constantly in a constantly defensive and competitive mode. We’ve been taught that it’s a dog-eat-dog world and if you don’t look out for yourself then nobody will look out for you.
If this is the case then the choice becomes to eat or be eaten. As each of us has a strongly developed survival instinct we all prefer to be the feaster rather than the feast.
Even in uncontentious situations such as academia, we practice an aggressive approach in our search for the truth
So first, how about when we are searching for the truth we don’t automatically treat everything – and everyone – as an adversary out to do us harm or delude us?
What if we approached it a different, less fearful way?
What else might we do if we want to find the truth?
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Atlantic City Beach, Accession Number: 1974:0056:0731, Maker: William M. Vander Weyde (American 1871–1929). Title: Atlantic City Beach. Date: ca. 1900
Cooperation, rather than competition, has many advantages . . . as long as everyone is pulling their own weight.
Sadly, some people take advantage of cooperative environments by letting others do all the work for them.