Humans cannot exist in isolation

Principle 4. Humans are social beings that cannot exist in isolation. The idea of self-sufficiency in which one person lives independent of any other is nonsense.

You might wonder why something this obvious needs to be a principle. Aren't we all born, helpless on our own and dependent on others for all that we do? But human independence and ideas about some 'state of nature' in which all are 'free' are immensely influential in Western thinking. Combine that with our current ability to buy anything without seeing or even understanding where it came from and you get a rather toxic mix. We feel more independent than ever on good days, while we feel more alone and uprooted on bad ones.

Humans are social animals and however we evolved into this is not relevant for thinking about how we lived together since. We are not and never will be fully independent. I find people that try (like Henry Thoreau and Miriam Lancewood) inspirational, but when you consider what they take with them on their journeys or to their place of solitude you see that they still rely on stuff made available through the work of countless others. I find that the recently published book Freedom stresses this point very well.

Today, we are more prosperous than ever before because we rely on more people than ever before. But we forget because we don't see. Personally I find it helpful and humbling to take a moment and consider what's needed to produce the milk in my fridge (or the fridge itself, or the house in which it sits, etc.) or the 20-story building I see. What effort it took all the people involved, all leading their own lives, and most of them no longer with us (considering we only build on what our ancestors build before us)!