Human nature does not make libertarian socialism impossible to work in practice

The scope of this debate rests on the characteristics of human nature and its relationship to the feasibility of libertarian socialism. I will argue in this debate that human nature exists in a way that favors traits and characteristics like altruism, cooperation, and mutual aid which are prime characteristics which such a society would be built on. Based on this, we will see that human nature has been shaped to select for tenets compatible with and complementary to traits like cooperation, mutual aid, community-mindedness, and altruism. The main source of this contention will lie in the findings of evolutionary theory which are all too commonly associated only with the conception of nature as an eternal struggle of conflicting organisms fighting for survival.===Introduction===Any discussion or debate on human nature must of course concern itself with the findings of evolutionary theory. We know this as we have learned that it was primarily through evolutionary processes that humanity developed in the first place. Whatever human nature turns out to be, it is in no small way due to the factors of natural and sexual selection[1]. Those who would deny this claim would either have to base such opposition on the outright denial of evolution in itself or in the conception that some deity guided evolution to favor certain qualities. In the latter case, the claim be burdened with establishing the deities existence which is not what I hope this debate to be about.===Evolution and Cooperation===Over the course of the development of humanity, its natural guiding force, evolution, has favored certain traits to come into existence as the way that humanity is inherently made up. This by itself is far from controversial. It's generally recognized that many aspects of our behavior can be explained in some way by evolutionary factors[2][3]. These traits are inherently geared towards a libertarian socialist society as one which is both characterized by cooperation without an overarching single authority and one that is characterized by aid to others over competition. I don't deny that societies employing authority or competition cannot exist, just that evolution has formed human nature to be complementary to cooperation and aid in themselves.--Mutual Advantageous Behavior (MAB)--Evolution has experimented with various methods of interacting with others. This doesn't refer to some conscious scientist like in the usual sense of experimenting, but in this context refers to the idea that as humanity developed, evolution responded to various factors in determining the relevant traits which would develop or be discarded. The most common form in which we see this take place is natural selection. One who adapts to external forces best is most likely to live long enough to reproduce and is thus more likely to pass on their genes (and with that in many instances the characteristics which allowed them to survive longer) to the next generation in their given gene pool. So what works best in regards to survival and general security can be inferred to be selected for.It is my contention that a strong characteristic selected for over the course of humanities evolutionary development is that of performing mutually advantageous behavior. This means that instead of acting in conflict and competition with other members of our species (and in some instances other species as well[4]), we have a strong disposition to act in ways which benefit both parties. Note that this does not necessarily mean that we are geared towards trade of material goods only though. While I admit this is somewhat the case, it just as well applies to the idea that as humans we generally prefer to work together with one another. Exchange of material goods on a market tends to apply only to short term interests and this is just as well of all MAB. My second point however deals with cooperation in the long term and is more applicable to a communitarian conception of society.--Reciprocal Altruism (RA)--Another characteristic of humanity which goes farther than MAB in providing reason to support a libertarian socialist society as viable is the idea of reciprocal altruism. Under RA, two or more parties perform MAB but in doing so one party might voluntarily gives up something to help another that is not closely (i.e. of a familial relationship) related. In other words, there is not always benefit to each exchange ex-ante. The trick is that the parties become parties to more than just the initial exchange. In doing so they develop long term relationships which foster these types of behaviors with characteristics like trust and reliability coming to help solidify these types of exchanges. The evolutionary significance of RA is in the idea that evolution can tend to select for those who choose RA[5] as in close-knit communities (i.e. a libertarian socialist one) both parties are more likely to survive cooperating then by both facing future dangers on their own as well as the fact that altruists tend to cooperate more frequently with others who will likely reciprocate[6]. That is, evolution tends to select against defection in the so called altruist prisoner's dilemma.===At this point I'll choose to end my case and pass the debate over to my opponent. ======Sources===[1] http://www.evolutionfaq.com...[2] http://paul.representinggenes.org...[3] http://plato.stanford.edu...[4] http://www.dchieftain.com...[5] http://education.ucsb.edu...(The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism. Robert L. Trivers. Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 46.)[6]http://www.wwnorton.com...