Sharing – Taking Darwinism to the Next Level

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, by Adrian Wiedmer Fair Trade Company

In the market economy, the best among us come out on top and reap all the rewards. It’s almost as if it were a law of nature. But in nature, which market Darwinism bases itself on, chance and selection are only the first act of the story. Things get more exciting when individuals or species learn to cooperate.

At school, we learned how evolution works: genes mutate randomly, new properties arise and any mutation that renders the organism stronger or more adaptable is passed on. This also applies to an environment, to certain framework conditions. The same principle applies in the market economy: ideas arise, are tried out in companies and the best ones win out. Weaker companies go bankrupt and disappear. A resoundingly successful principle!

We as a society must define the framework within which the market economy game can be played so that it benefits people and the environment rather than harm them. We must also ask ourselves who will reap the rewards in the end. Here, too, nature can serve as a role model. Beyond the primitive first act of evolution through natural selection, we’re now understanding more and more how cooperation promotes evolution. It takes place among individuals of a species as well as between species. It is a survival advantage for communities. As humans, we have to assume that cooperation is what brought us this far – and without much more cooperation, we won’t get much further.

This is how we see things at gebana: generating profits together and then sharing them is more successful than survival of the fittest. Sharing, therefore, will prevail in the economy. We’ve already gotten the ball rolling.

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