The Tiny Flicker of Altruism - by Matt Reardon
frommatter.substack.com · 3,194 words · saved by 2 readers
between status, power, and identity, is there any room for the real thing?
Dan Williams’ 2024 posts on altruism and cynicism struck a chord with me. In the posts, Dan reflects on the basic and, as far as I can tell, well-accepted story of the origins of altruistic sentiment in humans. Glossing over considerable detail: cooperation and trust create gains from trade and social interdependence that improves the genetic fitness of all the individuals concerned, so traits that tend to signal cooperativeness and trustworthiness get favored and altruism is one of those traits. The trouble is that you only get as much altruism as improves your own reproductive success and…
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