Why be good?

[Angrboda]

the fact that we can live in relative peace, in some parts of the world at least, I think shows we are generally "good".

Rob-

Are you too young to remember what Hitler tried to do to England during the blitz? Good grief, man, how can you as an Englishman speak of "relative peace" when A) we Yanks have had to come over and save your butts twice and B) the world is poised for round three as we speak?

Russia wants the Ukraine and more.
China is building an island in disputed waters in order to establish a military base upon it.
N. Korea could go nuclear on S. Korea anytime the "highly evolved" leader of that country orders it.
Iran will attack Israel the first chance it gets...you can bet on that if not on a tub of sweets.
ISIS will attack Europe and the US as soon as possible.
And here in the US, we're just one or two more unarmed black teens shot and killed by cops away from all-out civil war.

Do you really think we're "generally good"? And in each of the cases I listed above, why shouldn't the aggressors move against those they perceive to be weaker?

That's how evolution works.  

G'night, everyone. Great discussion. Thanks.

You've asked the question "Why be good?" The question "Why be bad?" may require a separate and further elucidation.

Our evolved social nature has multiple facets. Just as it may lead to cooperation within our in-group, it can lead to competition with those perceived to be in the out-group. We do not generally see ourselves as a united species just yet, so in-group / out-group dynamics are a part of our evolved social behavior. I do not see climbing to the top of a political hierarchy, nor competing with someone perceived as "other" as necessarily "bad acts" — they are both aspects of the social impulse. It's unfortunate that people die as a result of this working out of the social impulse, but it is just another side of the equation for a social species that some goals will be sought through cooperation, and some goals will be sought through competition. There is room for both behaviors in a social species, and generally speaking, the ground rules for cooperation set the stage for behaviors of competition. We all compete for the most prized goods, as school children, as employees, as politicians — but we do so within the framework of a social milieu. We cooperate and compete.