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satyrne07 -> RE: Altruistic behavior (3/27/2008 5:35:24 PM)
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The theory of the "selfish gene" does a pretty good job of accounting for both selfish and selfless (altruistic) behavior. At it's simplest, it points out that a behavior that tends to kill off a genetic line generally loses out to a behavior that tends to continue a genetic line. I know with 100% certainty that not one of my female ancestors going back 10,000 years ever died before having a child, same goes with the males (though none of them could be 100% sure) Point is after a million generations, many of our behaviors may be selfish, but need not be individually selfish, they might in fact be quite altruistic benefitting the good of the group and it's survival.
You give the example of taking a bullet for a child? Who knows for certain that in a moment and without calculation you might not risk your life to save a child? Averaging things out for the last say 7,000 years, average human life expectancy is about 25 yrs. Genetically speaking, you should pretty much have served your purpose and be ready to die after about 17 yrs old. Curious isn't it that altruism seems to increase with age (philanthropy, etc.) A 14 yr. old boy can be pretty selfish. But saving the life of an 8 yr. old (of your species or clan) gives that child a chance to reproduce, presuming you've reached maturity.
The same holds for orphans. A society that left orphans to die if they lost their parents would be wasting many healthy members. So, even though it may mean my own children have somewhat fewer resources, I may still take in a child, or at the least contribute something toward an orphanage. Am I being selfish or altruistic? Likely I'm behaving like my ancestors did, not knowing how many benefited from similar behaviors of others and paving the way for me.
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