The Two Faces of Human Nature in Claiming Aid and Aiding Others—A Shocking Shift in How We Run the Platform

Years ago I wrote a short essay arguing that KangAi Commune should be a cold, unfeeling machine. Cold, rational, impartial. If you met the terms, the money arrived; if not, no chance. I thought "human sentiment" was a corrosive to the rules. Back then I firmly believed that only a machine devoid of human sentiment was truly fair.

Reality slapped me in the face. Today I no longer believe in that doctrine of "absolute rules." Because where mutual aid is concerned, it is simply impossible to be absolutely cold.

I have witnessed too many such moments of human nature: when you yourself face hardship and apply for aid, the terms suddenly cease to matter—what matters is your "hard circumstances," your "special case," your "please, just make an exception for me"; yet when someone else applies, we instantly revert to the strictest judge, scrutinizing receipts under a magnifying glass and pointing at the terms to demand: "Why does it work for him? This breaks the rules!"

This double standard is almost the factory setting that comes with human nature.

The rules are clearly written down and set out in advance. Yet when the Commune truly steels itself and acts as a pure rule-executing machine, what it gets in return is often not applause but accusations from all sides: "The Commune has no heart," "the platform is too cold," "is this still mutual aid?"

What we are angry about is often not the unfairness of the rule itself, but the "self" that the rule did not accommodate.

It turns out that the very essence of mutual aid contains an "irrational" expectation. We join mutual aid both to stand against risk and to obtain, when risk strikes, a sympathy that goes beyond contract. We want both the certainty of rules and the uncertainty of human sentiment—the hope that "maybe they will make an exception for me."

So the so-called "cold machine" can never be assembled in the furnace of human nature. Because every person trying to tighten the screws hides, in their heart, a wrench for loosening the screws for themselves.