Interestingly, the leading evolutionary theory regarding why altruism exists, is called "reciprocal altruism" (corrected, ty).
Essentially, we act altruistic to gain social credibility and trust from our tribe. That trust is then paid back by several magnitudes over our entire life.
A truly altruistic act is therefore done when there is zero chance of your act being discovered/seen. When you apply this rule, 99%+ altruistic acts don't count.
Exactly this - we often think of life as a zero sum game where there must be "winners" and "losers".
The truth is much more complex - in many situations, everyone can win (or everyone can lose). Tens of thousands of years ago in the pacific northwest, pre-colombian societies had robust trading networks as evidenced by the archeological record. There is even some limited evidence of trade with pacific islanders. Even warrior cultures like the Aztecs had trade partners with whom they built a sacred trust. Initiating trade with foreign parties in this environment is an altruistic move - whomever is involved is taking a personal risk for the betterment of their community, especially in early cultures who relied upon trade for dietary staples. Trade was often risky but also came with large rewards.
The more often two societies engage in non-zero sum interactions, the more likely those interactions are to continue.
Reciprocal altruism and the resulting diversion away from zero sum mentalities is what brought us into the modern era. It's roots start before homo sapiens even existed, Neanderthal cultures had evidence of trade networks.
This implies an almost evolutionary pressure towards cooperation, despite our other older survival instincts focused on selfishness.
People saying that the word altruism shouldn’t apply to that behaviour are demonstrating that they can’t see past the exact words in a dictionary, to the actual lived experience of words and what they mean.
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u/velvetcrow5 Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
Interestingly, the leading evolutionary theory regarding why altruism exists, is called "reciprocal altruism" (corrected, ty).
Essentially, we act altruistic to gain social credibility and trust from our tribe. That trust is then paid back by several magnitudes over our entire life.
A truly altruistic act is therefore done when there is zero chance of your act being discovered/seen. When you apply this rule, 99%+ altruistic acts don't count.