Altruism
Memes on altruism in human beings and how civilization is our greatest adaptation.
Folksonomies: civilization altruism
Memes
24 DEC 2013
Solving Xenophobia
The in-group-vs.-out-group double standard, which had and has such catastrophic consequences, could in theory be eliminated if everyone alive were considered to be in everyone else’s in-group. This utopian prospect is remote, but an expansion of the conceptual in-group would expand the range of friendly, supportive, and altruistic behavior. This effect may already be in evidence in the increase in charitable activities in support of foreign populations confronted by natural disasters. Donors ...Marcel Kinsbourne explains how recognizing all human beings as part of our in-group can promote inter-marriage, which will diversify our genes and improve our overall health and well-being.
24 DEC 2013
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 people to...Jonathan Haidt explains our our proclivity to help one another makes us a kind of "superorganism."
24 DEC 2013
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 nativ...Matt Ridley observes that isolated societies collapse, while networked societies succeed.
References
19 DEC 2013
This Will Make You Smarter
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Brockman , John (2012-02-14), This Will Make You Smarter, HarperCollins, Retrieved on 2013-12-19Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: science
Folksonomies: science