Have you recently clashed with a modern predator?

This person is super smart. Knows all the social rules, all the civil laws and how to use them against you.

And this is the scary part.

They know what you’re thinking, even before you think it!

That’s because the modern predator spends their entire life practicing and planning how to deceive and manipulate people.

They smoothly perform complex schemes on their victim while looking like an angel to everyone else.

And they do this for money and power. Or just for fun.

Preying on other humans is their primary occupation. I call them professional predators.

Well, it’s time you had a serious look at what you are dealing with and learn how to deal with this problem.

To give you a good example of a predator, let me tell you a real story about a tragedy that happened in my neighborhood.

One of my neighbors was always hassling everybody on our street. Let’s give him the fictitious name, Jim. Jim was always yelling at his neighbors. He yelled at people for making too much noise, not driving properly or not keeping their animals out of his yard. Jim also yelled obscenities at his neighbors for no reason.

Jim objected to people parking on the street in front of his house. No one else in the neighborhood made this bizarre complaint. Mysteriously, cars parked in front of Jim’s house at night had their tires slashed. There were no slashed tires anywhere else. Unfortunately, no one had any evidence about who was slashing tires.

Then one day, Jim saw his next-door neighbor walking in front of his house. Let’s call him Bob. Jim told Bob he wanted to show him something and insisted that Bob come into his house.

Well since Jim was always hassling his next-door neighbor, the last thing Bob wanted to do was enter Jim’s house. When Bob refused, Jim grabbed Bob’s arm and tried to force Bob into his house. Bob panicked, fought with Jim and injured Jim. Jim had to go to the hospital.

To make a long story short, Jim had a lawyer friend who produced so many lawsuits against Bob that Bob would have to pay an attorney hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend himself. Bob decided it would be cheaper to settle with Jim out of court, pay him a large sum of money and move out of the neighborhood.

I know you probably have faced similar or worse experiences. So have I.

This example clarifies what I mean by a professional predator.

Now I will present secrets about predators and how to understand them.

#1 Why are people threatening you?

If you are going to survive, or someday feel safe, you must understand your enemy.

Sorry to break the news to you, but your situation is not good.

In fact, your situation is really bad!

You are up against the most dangerous predators that ever walked the Earth — humans. Humans come from a long line of predators that extends back billions of years. Let’s take a look at your family tree.

Since the first microbe ate the microbe next to it, all living organisms have fought for dominance. This ancient intention to be the top predator is in the DNA of all life on this planet.

However, the urge to dominate is really stupid. This instinct is buried in a small portion of your DNA molecules. These molecules cannot see, cannot think, they have no feelings, no caring, and no love. Just a mindless, soulless, robotic command to dominate everything.

Fast-forward a few billion years later, and evolution has produced humans, obsessed with dominating everything.

Humans now dominate all other life forms. With no other competition, humans now obsessively dominate one another. Domination is so rampant, that humanity, as a species is self-destructive, if not suicidal.

Your enemy is not a single evil person or even a group of masterminds manipulating the entire world. Your enemy is a continuous and endless stream of super-intelligent predators frantically fighting for a short moment of glory in an endless fleeting parade of humans that dominate others.

But there is more to this tragic nature of humans.

#2 How bad is this obsession to be a predator?

I believe most humans suffer from obsessive thoughts about who is dominating who. Plus, they have a compulsion to dominate others.

If you don’t believe me, just think about how people usually act. To help, I made the list below.

• If you need money, dominate others
• If you are afraid or desperate, dominate others
• If you are unsure of what to do, dominate others
• If someone tries to dominate you, dominate them
• If domination is not working, you are not dominating enough
• If you have spare time on your hands, dominate others
• If you are bored, dominate others. There is nothing more entertaining

OK, so maybe I am exaggerating a little. People don’t always act this way. But I believe that you and I often think and behave according to this list.

These bad social behaviors have become habitual, an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

If you don’t believe me, do a little experiment. Track how often your fears of being dominated or your urge to dominate others is the topic of your thoughts and behaviors.

But is it fair to say that people have a disorder, or is dominating others a sane and realistic behavior? Let’s take a look.

#3 When is domination a good strategy?

No one can deny that dominating others has advantages.

When humans dominate chickens, cows, and pigs; there is no contest. Humans always win, and it makes practical sense to dominate chickens.

A dominant predator just takes what he wants, when he wants it. There is little work involved, and you get instant gratification.

It’s a great life.

Everybody wants to be a dominant predator!

Well, the good times don’t last when humans dominate other humans.

#4 When is domination a poor strategy?

When a human dominates other humans, multiple natural laws quickly shift the game against such a person.

First, if being a predator is such a good life, then many people choose to be a predator, causing an increase in the number of predators.

Too many predators will quickly kill off the humans that are easy prey. Only the tough prey survive, and they are forced to get tougher.

Since predators don’t produce anything, each predator needs a large and continuous supply of prey or else the predator will starve.

The scarcity of easy prey and the increasing toughness of the other humans creates fierce competition among predators. Predators are forced to kill other predators to survive.

In their constant fight for survival, prey and predator both increase their weapons and intelligence. The life of a predator becomes dangerous, stressful, and short.

But there are even bigger problems for predators as described next.

#5 A strategy more powerful than domination

For billions of years, the instinct to dominate was the primary, winning strategy for life on this planet. No one can deny that dominating others has some advantages. But there is another fundamental law of this Universe, and it is many times more powerful than domination. The following quote describes physical evidence of this law.

“One arrow alone can be easily broken but many arrows are indestructible.” Genghis Khan

This quote expresses the obvious fact that an organized group of people is more powerful than an individual because of their combined physical strengths.

But the power of an organized group is many times greater than the sum of their physical strengths.

My favorite proof that the combined power of a group is greater than the sum of their strengths is the superior hunting abilities of a group. Humans can design an unlimited number of synchronized group hunting strategies. A group can surround its prey and attack it from all sides. A group can take turns chasing prey to exhaust it and then easily kill it. One group member can lure the prey into an ambush so the rest of the group can surprise and easily kill the prey. These and other hunting strategies make an organized group many times more successful than they would be as individuals.

The power of a group was not lost on the lowly microbe. About 600 million years ago, multi-cellular microbes appeared on Earth. Humans are the most recent evolution of multi-cellular life-forms. A human is an organization of over 30 trillion cells. Through all of that evolution, the DNA of our ancestors collected messages about the wisdom of working together in an organized group.

Modern humans societies can easily remove an individual predator. To vanquish a predator, a large number of people will join forces. The power of the group is irresistible. The reign of the individual predator ended long ago.

To learn more about the unlimited power of teams you can read "Need help? 10+ ways to boost your productivity with powerful team strategies."

For a more complete comparison of predators and teams you can read "How to make sense of chaotic relationships."

Free from the lone predator

We live in a dangerous world.

If a professional predator is harassing you, your best defense is to use the most powerful strategy in the world, get help from as many people as possible.

Go to the police, explain your situation and get their advice.

Discuss your situation with family, friends, and neighbors. Get their advice and help.

For really big problems, seek help from news reporters, community representatives, and government agencies.

With the superior force of a supporting team behind you, you can easily defeat any single predator. Even a professional predator is no match for an organized group of people.

Our modern, cooperative societies provide more security from a rogue predator than any other time in history.

Use the enormous power of teams.