Reciprocal Altruism?

We all have selfish genes, DNA whose only purpose is to survive, but how does this affect our lives? As I read chapter ten I noticed how we humans are simply really selfish organisms. Earlier in the book I had contemplated that ideas, but not until now had I noticed what it really means. It took me various chapters to get to know (or at least think that I know) what the title of The Selfish Gene means. It means we only care about ourselves, and I think it is true. During this chapter Dawkins gives some examples of fake altruism, like gazelles who try to jump high when a predator arrive, which looks like they're alerting the others if you have a naive unaware mind, as it actually means that they're trying the predators to kill the others. That's what organisms are, simply individualists who might pretend not to be one if it'll make it better for themselves.

Not as nice as it seems.

Earlier in evolution, or species that evolved further back in time, expressed their selfish genes through direct traits. Animals fit for survival like fish probably need to swim fast, or birds have better wings. Other cases might involve more complex survival skills, like a snail hiding fast inside its shell, or as Hawkins shows, a fish maintain its symbiotic relationships. As evolution brought about more complex organisms, like humans, survival became not only speed, or simple cause-effect analysis, it became networks of analysis and evaluation of stimuli and the environment, what is good for us taking into considerations thousands of factors. The way our brains think through every decision, unless we have a mutation or condition that alters our selfish genes, is always following an individualistic approach. Selfish genes or what makes us survival machines shape the way we think. Our ethics are selfish ethics. As my English class discussed a couple of months ago, when faced with the ethical dilemma of saving people from a train, people overall take a selfish approach. People rather kill someone with a lever than directly themselves. This exemplifies how selfish our ethics are. Our brains notice that for society it looks better to indirectly kill someone than doing it directly, so it's better for one's survival to do it the good-looking way. Thousands of genes in our elongated dan strands determine our actions, and at this point of evolution, humans' selfish genes have strengthened survival probabilities by disguising themselves.

When explaining the cleaner-fish's case, Hawkins says, "This is a considerable feat of apparent altruism because in many cases the cleaner is of the same size as the large fish's normal prey"(pg. 187). He uses the phrase "apparent altruism" because that's all altruism really is. Also in chapter ten, Hawkins generalizes individualism in communities by dividing individuals into cheater, suckers and grudgers. I believe that this truly explains modern society. The reason suckers survive is because grudgers make cheaters not overuse them, so that grudgers can benefit themselves, making them also cheaters. Suckers in a way are also cheaters, as survive because of the incentive they give cheaters for letting them survive. Society has this scenario is a more complex way. Grudgers make laws to help suckers benefit everyone, including themselves. Grudgers/cheaters benefit themselves and are more likely to survive. In a way everyone is a cheaters, a sucker and a grudger, in whatever proportion is adequate to survive and live better. In many cases of the modern world, survival doesn't necessarily mean getting rid of the others, so our selfish genes disguise themselves even more. Our selfish genes might make us want to guarantee our survival, so if it's not necessary to get rid of the others, we make our survival more likely by fulfilling any requirement that society puts on us towards having what is considered better. For example, people love doing charity work, but many times this is the result of billions of years of evolution that have led to our brains being able to analyze that helping others might help us look better, and therefore be more successful, or end problems in society that could potentially expand and affect you, therefore guaranteeing   your survival. Altruism means "the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others," so as I read chapter ten I noticed that "reciprocal altruism" is contradictory. Reading The Selfish Gene, particularly during this chapter, I've noticed that altruism is one of those words like utopia, which just don't happen, even if they appear to happen.