It's selfishness. It's built into every organism and influences them in some way. It's why male lions will kill a lioness' children, to remove future competition and make her fertile again quicker so she can help him sire his own children. It's why the cuckoo chick will try to push its step siblings from the nest or why a rat mom may eat the runt of the litter.
Life is competitive and the genes that we have today are the ones that managed to ensure their own survival by putting themselves first, the ones they rely on second and everyone else behind.
From this perspective, humans are actually extremely nice. Cooperation is something we're extraordinarily good at.
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