Any discussion of moving things towards Eupsychia, any discussion of changing things (either people or  society) must start with a concept of human nature. The question we ask here is, “What is human nature?” We ask this question because we need to know the answer in order to speak intelligently about paths to utopia.

When you ask this question you basically get one of two answers.

1. Humans are intrinsically bad. They are violent, greedy, sinful, awful, fallen angels/greedy apes.

2. Human are intrinsically good. They are altruistic, loving, compassionate, caring and good.

Everybody is familiar with the first answer because that's basically the answer you are taught in church and school. Humans are violent apes. Humans are inherently sinful. Humans are bad little children who can’t listen and behave and are in need of constant tutelage and correction. Humans like to be powerful and in control. There's lots of iterations.

Many people are familiar the second answer. This answer is taught by mystics like Jesus philosophers like Aristotle, authors, and musicians who suggest that deep inside we are good, possibly glorious, maybe even divine.

This might seem like an easy question to answer, but it's not. It is difficult and can be confusing. That’s because if you look you will find lots of evidence for both sides. There's lots of examples of people acting incredibly vile and disgusting and lots of examples of people acting with compassion and love, even to the point of self-sacrifice.

It's confusing, right?

Not really. It's only confusing if you ignore the half of the evidence that doesn't fit your side. If you don't ignore evidence, the answer is right there. Are humans good or bad? The answer is both. They can be incredibly evil and vile but also incredibly wonderful, even divine. Satanic and angelic.

The question at this point becomes what determines which side? What determines whether we act good or bad?

Based on evidence we have an answer to that question as well and the answer is, it depends. What does it depend on? It's not genetics if that's what you think. Rather, it depends entirely on your environment and, more specifically, the environment as provided by your relations (your mom, dad, siblings, community, teachers, etc.). As soon as you are born you are born into an environment provided to you by all your relations. That environment has a powerful influence on your development.  

If you have a good environment you grow up up loving, compassionate, empowered, calm and connected. You express yourself and your talents. You are a fully functioning human being. OTOH if you have a bad environment, you grow up the opposite; desperate, greedy, aggressive, defensive, mentally and physically ill, dysfunction, and not expressing your full potential. 

Any serious discussion of utopia/Eupsychia/The Good Society must start with this basic truth of human nature which is that it is context dependent. That this is true doesn't negate the fact that there may be aspects of our humanity that we might call essential or natural, that we might have an essence of that genetics might play an influence. It is just to say environment is critical and we must start our discussions with that.