Are Humans Herd Animals?

There is a certain type of person I respect above all else: the type that is aware of who she is and does not need external validation as proof, the type that is passionate about something and transcends mundane pressures to attain personal satisfaction with her work, the type that holds herself to a moral compass which she has created herself.

In short, I respect people who have a strong sense of self.

I sound like Ayn Rand and this ideal person sounds like Howard Roark from the Fountainhead. Fast forwarding 30 years from the publication of the Fountainhead, I sound like the Libertarian Party and its “primacy of individual judgement“. However, accessing this model mentality involves questioning the fundamental nature of humanity. Can humans truly be individuals? Or are we part of a larger herd mentality?

Humans as Individuals

Individualism: the habit or principle of being independent and self-reliant. A pure philosophy of individualism places the ego above all else; it places importance on a sense of identity, on creating a being independent from social pressures. Happiness is attained by developing self respect and living life purest to our personal values.

Humans as Herd Mentality

Collectivism: The practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it. Collectivism involves a herd mentality in which validation of our actions depend on those around us. We look to others for cues on what is appropriate and adjust to maintain a greater good for the collective unit.

This dissonance behind human nature has led to the development of two radically different political systems: capitalism (which favors the individual), and communism (which favors collectivism).

It’s easy to argue that communism is ineffective because we ultimately place greater importance on self. However, a careful observation of daily life shows that a collective mindset is not separate from human nature. Why do girls wear makeup everyday and spend hundreds of dollars buying designer clothing? Why do pretentious guys broadcast intelligence by memorizing useless facts to impress others? By striving daily to get external validation from others, don’t we partly derive a sense of self from others?

Ants as a Manifestation of Communism

An observation of ants further shows us that communism can be highly efficient. Ants seem to operate on a higher sense of consciousness (an idea explored in the Ender’s Game series). A loss of self in favor of a higher collective consciousness allows ants to build impressive living bridges and rafts, feats impossible to beings that only act independently.

However, an observation of our streams of consciousness show that 99% of our thoughts are still associated with ourselves. We may be worrying about the validation of others, and we may be worried about society’s judgement of us, but ultimately, the thoughts remain for the sake of self preservation. We care about what other people think because achieving social acceptance means maximize our chance of survival. Achieving membership in a community means receiving all the benefits of being a part of it. We are self conscious because survival instinct tells us being accepted by the crowd means more resources to achieve maximum utility.  Ironically, we group think to preserve our sense of individual being (for the physical sake of survival).

As demonstrated by the ants, true communism can be very efficient. Unfortunately, our recent experiences with communism have shown us that humans are not yet of a true herd mentality; Individualism is still a large part of human consciousness.