#biology # [[Epistemic status]] #shower-thought #to-digest # Related - [[Selfish gene]] # TODO > [!TODO] TODO # Altruism ![[DALL·E 2022-07-23 11.25.40 - An altruistic bee sacrificing herself for the swarm, painting by Van Gogh.png]] >Animal altruism is a myth. Even in the most spectacular cases of selflessness it turns out that animals are serving the selfish interests of their own genes—if sometimes being careless with their bodies. > ~ [[Matt Ridley]] In non-human animals altruism is about sacrificing the individual for the sake of the collective, i.e. the gene pool. It is an intuitive process. Altruism by Escher ![[c6a2280c-e97c-46e7-aad0-d5f0d48f82f3-0-1265489288.png]] In human society, I'd like to say it's different, but how can we know that we are not merely slaves of our genes? If I skip a meal to give it to a homeless, do I do it consciously for the individual or am I unconsciously a slave? Does it even matter? Altruism in general is a more efficient strategy from a [[Game Theory|game-theoretical]] point of view, as research on [[Tit for tat]] strategy shown for example. [[Richard Dawkins]] explains the idea of [[Genome|gene]]s being [[Selfish gene|selfish]], i.e. one gene wants to monopolize its survival machine to be passed to the next survival machine generation no matter what, it does not mean that the survival machine is selfish. ![[DALL·E 2022-07-23 11.34.32 - An altruistic bee sacrificing herself for the swarm, painting by Picasso.png]] Animal altruism is a myth. Even in the most spectacular cases of selflessness it turns out that animals are serving the selfish interests of their own genes—if sometimes being careless with their bodies. Classifications with [[THE TOPIC]] - [[Biology]] - [[Evolutionary Psychology]] - [[Ecology]] - [[Behavioral Science]] Similar topic links: [[Altruism]] [[Selfish gene]] [[Egoism]] [[Pros and cons of cloning yourself]] [[Second]]