## Metadata - Author: [[Paul W.B. Atkins, David Sloan Wilson, Steven C. Hayes]] - Full Title: Prosocial - Category: #books ## Highlights - Or, as David, one of this book’s authors, concluded in an article written with Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, “Selfishness beats altruism within groups. Altruistic groups beat selfish groups. Everything else is commentary.”5 ([Location 417](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MT9T2HX&location=417)) - The psychologist Robert Frank compared economics students with anthropology students and found that after just two terms of training in the economic view of life, economics students were more likely to believe that others act selfishly and, most importantly, they were less likely to help others in situations where they had the opportunity to do so.4 ([Location 739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MT9T2HX&location=739)) - Polycentric governance respects the localized needs, knowledge, and autonomy of small groups, as well as the need for modern societies to organize at a regional, national, or even global scale. It takes into consideration that life consists of many spheres of activity, that each sphere has an optimal scale, and that good governance requires identifying the optimal scale for each sphere and appropriate coordination among the spheres. We can look to Ostrom’s own work for an example of optimal scale. In metropolitan police departments, it is optimal for the cops walking and driving the streets to be quite local, so that the people in the neighborhoods they’re patrolling can come to know them. But forensic labs should be regional, to avoid redundancy in the purchase of expensive equipment.6 ([Location 765](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MT9T2HX&location=765)) - The commons, according to David Bollier, “is a resource + a community + a set of social protocols. The three are an integrated, interdependent whole.”9 ([Location 818](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MT9T2HX&location=818)) - The word “commons” derives from the Norman word commun. To commune is to participate, to share and enjoy fellowship. And in turn the word “commun” draws upon the word munus, which means “a gift, service, or duty” that in turn contributes to the word munificent, meaning “bountiful, liberal, generous,” and the Latin munificare, meaning “to enrich.” Thus the “commons” literally refers to sharing gifts to enrich all. Sharing of gifts implies both the satisfaction of individual needs and a duty to the collective. David Bollier argues that it is more helpful to treat the commons as a verb rather than a noun: “commoning” rather than “the commons.” ([Location 822](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07MT9T2HX&location=822))