The Evolution of Altruism

• TEDxTalpiot – Oren Harman – The Evolution of Altruism
  Link

Notes

• Where Kindness comes from
  • God creating
  • Role of reason
• Inheritance vs construction
• Scientific Problem
  • Darwinism
    • Every act is based on self interest
    • Natural Selection
• Biology
  • Social Insects
    • Termites – No Reproduction
    • Honey bee
  • Amoeba
  • Gazelle
    • Stotting behavior – when confronted by lions drawing fire
  • Baboons
    • Cleaning each other
• Psychology
  • Nepotism
    • Formalized by Bill Hamilton
    • Gene survival among relatives
    • Gene does nor care, as long as it propagates it self
    • And, so among brothers, sisters, and cousins it has the best chance
  • Reciprocation
    • Robert Trivers
  • Group Selection
    • William Mo
• George Price
  • Self interest in disguise
  • Evangelical Christian
  • Human Spirit
    • Indeed, the spirit can transcend what nature can produce
  • Could not answer the question of Selflessness vs Self Interest
• David Hume – Naturalist fallacy
  • Category Confusion
    • What is VERSUS What ought to be
  • Original Confusion
    • Because we understand the origin of something, does it mean we understand that something
• Summary
  • Aristotle
    • The love we feel for others is part of the love we feel for ourselves
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein
    • Even when all the possible scientific questions have been answered, the problems of life remain completely untouched

References

Persons

George Price

• Altruistic equations that killed a good man
  Link

Robert Trivers

• Robert Trivers
  Link

Principles

Handicap Principle

• Handicap Principle
  Link