Can a cooperative society be stable?

“Happiness is the richest thing we will ever own.”

Donald Duck

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What if in a cooperative society a small number of people start to form a group again and start to compete with the rest? The rest of the people would then be forced to form a gang too to defend themselves. This could mean that cooperative societies are naturally unstable (and maybe explain why we don’t live in such a society).

I think it is important that everybody knows very well that they can only lose with such a step. That, if some people do it, we all get expelled from paradise together. Then hopefully nobody will be stupid enough to „eat the forbidden apple“.

I also assume that the strong majority which wants to live cooperatively will have a normative effect on those who are contemplating to form a gang (e.g. by ignoring their territorial claims, not accepting ownership of things or ideas etc.).