For millennia, to survive the winter, people have had to work twice as hard in summer to produce and hoard enough food to endure the cold months. This behavior has become subconsciously deeply internalized, leading the inhabitants of such regions to instinctively link hard work and resource accumulation as vital traits. If we do not work hard enough and fail to save or gather resources, we risk death.
It is reasonable to guess that the winter effect has contributed to the emergence of cultural habits and instincts such as hard work, saving, and constantly accumulating more resources -along
with a strong sense of organization and planning-. All of these characteristics are core components of the capitalist mindset, which fundamentally revolves around the constant gathering of assets
and wealth.
Hoarding became saving.
Working more during summer became the embodiment of a hard work mentality.
Saving for winter also became planning, which requires discipline. Planning also induces a
different perception of time: we work, save, and live today for tomorrow. Thus, subconsciously, the future was integrated into the present. Planning, organizing production, and managing expenses
also became necessary for survival.
We can easily see how these characteristics shaped our modern industrial society and the corporate mentality. For instance, the idea that we need a career plan and must know how we will earn our
living in the future is deeply anchored in cultures affected by the winter effect, such as in Europe.
In contrast, civilizations from tropical regions, where food is more abundant year-round, were shaped by profoundly different ancestral cultural habits and instincts. It is logical to guess they
did not need to hoard food and resources, leading to a less pronounced greed instinct.
Other civilizations and cultures from desert regions, where vital resources are limited, may have developed a greater sense of solidarity. The need to hoard was probably less urgent, also
resulting in a less pronounced greed instinct.
Additionally, nomadic cultures whose foraging land was shaped by the climate moved to more resource-rich areas when winter came. They too may have had a lesser need for hoarding, leading to a
reduced greed instinct.
Furthermore, given the relatively small size of the Western European continent in relation to its population, we can reasonably guess that nomadic behaviors may have more often led to conflicts
and invasions when crossing into neighboring lands. Over generations, this characteristic may also have been subconsciously internalized and played a role in how colonization occurred.
Understandably, when the “winter civilization” began to colonize other parts of the world, interactions with cultures -often marked by fundamentally different economic and cultural practices-
rarely occurred without violence, leading to deep trauma among the colonized civilizations.
Finally, I want to emphasize once more that this is only a hypothetical explanation of the greed instinct, which underpins our modern capitalist system. The undeniable certainty is that greed is
not universal; most colonized cultures exhibit a lesser greed instinct. Hopefully, once we can truly identify the origin of greed, we may be able to adapt to a new context and accept that the
need to accumulate is obsolete. This understanding seems necessary for us to change our system and trust that this shift will be beneficial.
Considering factors such as the receding winter -due to global warming- and, more importantly, the technological progress that enables greater productivity, as well as projects like “One World,
One Nation, One Love”, in which I suggest sharing resources, could help build trust in a positive future of cooperation, rather than competing for dominance and prior access to resources.
My very last argument concerns the scientific aspect of my project. Indeed, my work contains material that could potentially revolutionize the production of materials. If we can “replicate”
materials -as in Star Trek- this could also reduce competition and conflicts over access to resources.
However, I may be repeating myself, but in the current global context, releasing such technologies could be rather harmful and destructive. We need more stability -perhaps more maturity- and a
greater ability to share and live together. After all, since the dawn of time, we have been weaponizing every new technological advancement: from fire to radio communications, for millennia…
Chilled love to our readers…