30 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
Reason Powers Empathy and Altruism
It is not the soft power of humanity, it is not that feeble spark of benevolence which Nature has lighted up in the human heart, that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love. It is a stronger power, a more forcible motive, which exerts itself upon such occasions. It is reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast, the man within, the great judge and arbiter of our conduct. It is he who, whenever we are about to act so as to affect the happiness of o... 1 
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notes18 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Altruism is a Basic Human Instinct
The cost for my survival must have been hundreds of millions of dollars. All to save one dorky botanist. Why bother?
Well, okay. I know the answer to that. Part of it might be what I represent: progress, science, and the interplanetary future we’ve dreamed of for centuries. But really, they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. It might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true.
If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a sear...Folksonomies: altruism
Folksonomies: altruism
1 notes
notes16 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
If Everyone is Altruistic
The day will come, says Spencer, when altruistic inclination will be so well embodied in our organism itself that people will compete for opportunities of self-sacrifice and immolation. When altruistic inclinations are implanted in everyone, how will opportunities arise to apply them? Either such a state presupposes the existence of persecutors, tormentors and tyrants, or else the general urge to sacrifice oneself will engender benefactors who will turn into tormentors and persecutors merel...
1 29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
The Importance of Altruism in Human Evolution
In proportion as physical characteristics become of less importance, mental and moral qualities will have an increasing importance to the well-being of the race. Capacity for acting in concert, for protection of food and shelter; sympathy, which leads all in turn to assist each other; the sense of right, which checks depredation upon our fellows ... all qualities that from earliest appearance must have been for the benefit of each community, and would therefore have become objects of natural ...Behaviors benefiting the community benefited the species.
24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Humans are the Giraffes of Altruism
Humans are the giraffes of altruism. We’re freaks of nature, able (at our best) to achieve antlike levels of service to the group. We readily join together to create superorganisms, but unlike the eusocial insects we do it with blatant disregard for kinship and we do it temporarily and contingent upon special circumstances (particularly intergroup conflict, as is found in war, sports, and business).
[...]
Having the term “contingent superorganism” in our cognitive toolkit may help peo...
1 Jonathan Haidt explains our our proclivity to help one another makes us a kind of "superorganism."
24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
All Human Acheivement is the Result of Networking
Human achievement is entirely a networking phenomenon. It is by putting brains together through the division of labor—through trade and specialization—that human society stumbled upon a way to raise the living standards, carrying capacity, technological virtuosity, and knowledge base of the species. We can see this in all sorts of phenomena: the correlation between technology and connected population size in Pacific islands; the collapse of technology in people who became isolated, like n...Matt Ridley observes that isolated societies collapse, while networked societies succeed.
29 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
The Actuarial Math of Altruism
I have talked in elemental
terms of suicidal genes for saving the lives of particular numbers of kin
of exactly known relatedness. Obviously, in real life, animals cannot be
expected to count exactly how many relatives they are saving, nor to
perform Hamilton's calculations in their heads even if they had some way
of knowing exactly who their brothers and cousins were. In real life,
certain suicide and absolute 'saving' of life must be replaced by statistical
risks of death, one's own and oth... 1 notes
notesIt's not just intra-species, but the closer the relative the more altruism. Also the potential to reproduce affects the relationship as well.
23 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Hamilton's Model
Hamilton's rule is rb - c > 0. Here c is the cost to the giver's fitness (c fewer offspring
because of helping), and b is the benefit to the recipient's fitness (offspring gained by the recipient from the help). Here again, "r" is a measure of the relatedness between giver and the receiver
[...]
Hamilton’s rule says that for unrelated individuals (r = 0) no benefit can overcome the cost of loss of the altruist's fitness (0 - c can't be greater than 0) and aid giving is selected against... 1 notes
notesExplains why members of a species will sacrifice themselves for offspring that are not their own.
09 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Einstein's Eloquent Description of Humanism
Strange is our situation here upon earl Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men—above e all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life...Altruism.
23 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Proud to be Descendant of Monkeys
For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper; or from that old baboon, who, descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs—as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions. 1 notes
notesWho often exhibit acts of heroism and valor compared to humans who often don't.
