Before the flood, the text says human wickedness was great and every inclination of the human heart was only evil continually. That's a bleak assessment.
I don't read it as saying humans are essentially evil, but that given enough generations without constraint, enough systems that reward predation, wickedness multiplies. It becomes the dominant culture.
When I look at societies with no accountability, no ethical framework, I see what Genesis is describing. Evil isn't magical or mysterious. It's what happens when nothing constrains it.
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