THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS

ST PANCRAS

KINDNESS

1 CRUEL OR KIND

Jill jumps back in shock.

A little bird has just dropped out of the sky, right in front of her.

There was a horrible thud when it landed.

Now, it is barely moving, and it is bleeding from the beak.

Jill looks around. She’s very far from the edge of town and she can’t see any other people.

The little bird struggles, but it can’t move. There is more blood.

Jill doesn’t want the bird to suffer. She is vegan and cares deeply about animals.

Her father’s words come back to her “sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind”.

Jill kills the little bird. Then she bursts into tears.

She picks it up and buries it. She sits by the little grave for a while.

Eventually, Jill walks back to town. She’s sure she’s done the right thing, but she feels desolate.

When Jill gets back to town, she goes to the pub. Two of her friends are coaching a third friend, Marie, who is struggling with her in laws.

Ethan says:

“You’ve got to kill them with kindness, Marie. They’ll look so bad if they’re being nasty and spiteful and you’re being nice and friendly. Just wear them down. Give them lots of gifts, say nice things. You’ll have the moral high ground.”

Meg says:

“Or you could actually kill them with kindness. Aren’t they all dieting for their health? Give them loads of cake.”

Jill looks perplexed. They ask her what’s wrong. She says:

“What even is kindness?! I’ve just killed something to be kind…I think. But it’s not like you two are saying. Is kindness even kind if it is for malicious intent? I’m so confused.”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

Can it be kind to kill?
Can kindness kill?
Is kindness good?
Is generosity kind?
Was Jill’s act kind?
Are Ethan and Meg kind?
How do we judge an act? How do we determine whether something is kind? How do we determine whether something is cruel?

SOURCES: BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

2 READING MATERIAL

Bill wants to be a kinder person.

He mentions this to his wife and she gives him a book called Humankind: A Hopeful History.

One point in particular stands out to Bill:

“Economists defined our species as the homo economicus: always intent on personal gain, like selfish, calculating robots…

In the 1990s, economics professor Robert Frank wondered how viewing humans as ultimately egotistical might affect his students.

He gave them a range of assignments designed to gauge their generosity.

The outcome? The longer they studied economics, the more selfish they’d become.

‘We become what we teach,’ Frank concluded.” (Bregman, 2020, p.16-17)

Bill, a former student of economics, decides to start being more intentional about the information he consumes. But he’s not sure what kind of information will make him kinder.

He asks his wife what she thinks. She says:

“Well the main information we consume is the news, which is definitely not about the good side of human nature. So we’ll have to cut that out. What about novels?”

Bill tries a few novels, but the ones he picks seem to involve quite a lot of selfish people.

He comes to you, his friend, and asks you what you think.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

What would you say to Bill?
What reading material is most likely to make a person kinder?
Do you think Bill can change his outlook based on what he consumes?
Do you agree with Bill’s wife that the news shows the worst side of ‘human nature’? If so, why do you think this is?
Why do you think studying economics makes people more selfish? What subjects might have a different impact?
Have you ever noticed the information you consume influencing your outlook and behaviour?
Do you think it is possible to become kinder? Or do you think our kindness is predetermined?
If you wanted to become kinder, how would you go about doing so?
Do you think social media is making us kinder or more selfish?

SOURCES:

BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS group member

Bregman, R. (2020). Humankind: A hopeful history (E. Manton, Trans.). Little, Brown and Company. (Original work published 2019)

3 IN KIND

Electricity isn’t working. Something has happened to planet earth to disrupt all electricity everywhere.

People are able to keep warm and generate light with fire. But their devices have run out of battery and even if they did have battery, the internet is down.

There are lots of challenges.

One challenge: nobody has any money. Cards and card readers aren’t working. People can’t log in to online banking. And very few people have cash.

Bartering has naturally begun to take the place of money.

“If I cut your hair, will you give me a box of apples from your tree?”

“If I cook you dinner, will you mind my child for a couple of hours?”

“If I give you this bike, will you pay me back in kind?”

This system seems to be working quite well. Humans are exchanging resources in creative ways.

One of the people in your small band of humans is an animal behaviourist. They explain to you that this bartering system is very natural. Many animals engage in “reciprocity”: they exchange acts of service or resources with the expectation that the help will be returned in future.

They say that this system works well as long as both parties hold up their end of the deal. It works in fairly small groups of people known to one another.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

Why do you think we use the phrase “in kind” for this kind of reciprocal help?
Are these conditional acts kind?
Is something kinder if it is unconditional? Are people ever unconditionally kind?
How important is trust in a reciprocal system? Is it more important than in a money system?
Is this system kinder than a money system?
Why do you think humans started using money?
What do you think would happen next in this world without electricity?

SOURCES: BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

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