My first time in Finland was last May (incidentally to give a talk at Smartly in the very office featured in the photo). I love Finland. You can tell from the moment you arrive that the entire country cares about the welfare of everyone there. It started when we got on the train from the airport. We were told that not only do kids ride public transit for free, but anyone pushing their stroller does too. Talk about su…
In some countries, you see individual greed being pushed to crazy extremes. Notwithstanding dictatorships, some politicians are willingly and wittingly sacrificing millions of people for a single individual objective. But I think the latter is the default position of humanity. The opposite is also a problem: When you justify every action as "for the millions".
The vikings were particularly murderous people and have become particularly peaceful. (But I guess the Finns are not vikings for that matter.)