Nio of Solidly Average got me thinking about competition today. In her words, “There is no useful purpose for competition in a society where food and sexual partners are abundant. Competition breeds hate, anger, despondency, and an unequal society.”

I agree and at the same time I completely disagree. Competition is what has driven human advancement and that cannot all be bad. Competition is also completely natural, not only in humans but in all animals. Competition for food, for the most suitable mate, for living space – these are all natural things. How can that be wrong?

Of course we (humans) are completely different then wild animals, our society has the power to destroy all life on Earth; as opposed to my cat (no matter what he thinks) who does not have that kind of power. Also, at least in the westernized world, we have enough food and space, but competition is still part of our instincts, so then what? It has simply has gotten redirected into non-survival related matters. In my opinion this is not a bad thing, but I think there are two kinds of competition, one negative and one positive.

Competition left unchecked is a problem with many in our species. Just look at the cold war and all the devastating weapons that were built and are still laying around. This problem was created by unchecked competition between superpowers. How could something that creates such horrible things like this also be good? Many of these weapons could bring an end to life on Earth. In this light competition breeds evil.

Lets shift the light a little though and look at a child from a poor family. He wanted to do better then his classmates. He is competitive and driven, he gets amazing grades and because of this and a scholarship. He goes to college and becomes the research scientist who then goes on to create a vaccine that saves millions. His competitive nature obviously benefited us all. In this light competition has bred a success that we can all benefit from – a good thing.

What I am trying to say is that competition is not good or bad, it is simply one of the many tool humans can tap into. Of course too much of it is a bad thing! To much of anything is bad for you, but in the right amounts competition has the power to accomplish amazing things.