Over confidence of a group

During this pandemic, I have been busy reading a few books. One of these books is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari an Israli Professor. One of the messages from the book caught my attention.

The Homo Sapiens is a social animal. We live in groups. The groups have now gone beyond the geographical boundaries. Being social, we exchange information and knowledge.

I have not invented the air-conditioner. But, I use one for comfort. I assume it is safe because millions use it. I have not invented the mobile phone. But I use one for communication. I have not invented the bed and the mattress. But I use one for sleeping. I have not invented the pen or the paper. But I use them to write. I am not going to invent corona vaccine but I will use it when it is invented.

The question in my mind now is why did the inventor of air-conditioner, mobile phone, pen and paper allow me the use their inventions for my comfort and my work. If I were an animal, to use these gadgets, I would have to invent them myself. I will not share my tricks with any body. So, my fellow animal have to invent their stuff for their comfort. No so with Human Beings. We share every thing: some times free and some times for a price. The development of the human civilization is based on this principle. More so with academicians, who have to share their knowledge, old or new, with everyone in books and journals.

Socializing and groups breed confidence, some times over-confidence. When, we go to a strange place or a strange domain, we get more confidence when in a group and less so when we are alone. Refer to a previous blog by my colleague Sushant Mishra. Some of our students went to the beach in a group. When a few entered in to water, others who knew no swimming, also entered the water. They probably would not have entered the water individually. An incidence of over-confidence. One student died when the under currents pulled him into deep sea. The sea did not divide the tragedy among the group. There are many instances among the youth who do very risky stuff in a group without realizing the personal risks involved.

We do things in a group which we will perhaps not do as an individual. It has positive and negative connotations. We join a mob and resort to ugly behaviour because the mob gives us the confidence. However, when the police fire at a mob, they do not harm everyone but a few individuals. We join a cultural group and perform a play. The performance is appreciated and we all take credit. The performance goes bad and we all share the discredit.

It is easy to succumb to the over-confidence we derive from a group. But, we have to remember that when a bullet is fired at a group, it is not shared by the group and an individual takes it, . Some may survive the wound, others may succumb. If I do not want to take a bullet, I should not join a group where the bullets may be a possibility.