Comment on The Evolution of Goodness

This article is taken from ‘The Straits Times 16 April 2007’ and written by Dr. Lee Alan Dugatkin

Goodness is a state of being good or perfect of something. There are a lot of examples of goodness, and so are the kinds of it. Dr. Dugatkin raised the topic about altruism in this world, human altruism and non-human altruism. Altruism means unselfish regard for the welfare of others, or willing to sacrifice for the sake of others’ benefit.

Scientists have been questioning the relation of altruism and blood relationship. Darwin failed to link altruism that challenged his theory of evolution by natural selection. In his natural selection theory, he explained that organisms can survive if they are able to adapt in the environment. He did not get it from his exploration of bees and their hives. He saw that the bees in the hives were protected by other bees that were willing to scarify to defend their hives. He was wandering on the behaviour of the bees to defend their homes that led to natural selection.

Another case, Huxley argued with Kropotkin whether blood relationship has something to do with altruism. None of them could agree to each other argument. Their argument was observed by Hamilton, a British biologist. He formulated the mathematical formula about it. From his investigation, he concluded that altruism is close with costs and benefits, along with genetic relatedness. He explained about the behaviour of organisms that are willing to do something good to others if there is benefit for the organisms themselves. In other words, the occurrence of altruism cannot be separated with mutualism between creatures. Yet, it is not for all that Hamilton said that.

For me personally, altruism has something to do with blood relationship, like what Huxley supported and what Darwin observed. But, I do not think that altruism is all about to gain benefits from others. Yes, it occurs sometimes, but not always. Either animals or humans have a strong bond with those who descended from the same ancestry, in general. We can see that from people or animals around us. People usually are willing to help their relatives and do not expect any for returns. It will lead us to personal satisfaction of helping people. It cannot be explain scientifically, but we can feel it inside our heart. In reality, people that are helped feel that they must return the goodness sometimes, even though the helpers do not oblige it for the people that are helped by them. It is not obligate, but in social life, people have put it in the context of what to do.

Organisms have the tendency to sacrifice themselves for the well being of their family or the continuity of the family line as a matter of the existence of their kind. It is natural to secure the next generation of the family so that the line will not stop at one individual.
If we see from other perspective, altruism can lead to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. We use the life of the bees as I have mentioned above. The willing-to-sacrifice bee is the creature that in the position of the eliminated creature and the bees that live with protection in the hives are the creatures that preferred by natural selection.
Unfortunately, in this real world, I must admit that reciprocity has relation to altruism. Human ego and selfishness are the main cause of the reciprocity altruism. There are very seldom occasions or individuals that are willing with their heart to help others without anything that they demand in return.

I have my personal experience regarding to this issue. One day, I was in Medical Certificate. I did not go to school for 3 days due to fever. The day before I went back to school, I went to my so-called friend to borrow his notes and homework so I can hand the assignments to the teacher when I felt well enough to go to school. He lent me his. He said that it was okay and no problem. He also mentioned that he was really ‘sincere’ enough to help me. When I went to school and spend the whole day in the school, nothing happen. In the evening when I returned from school, he called me. He asked the answer of the homework for the following day. I refused. He kept telling me that I have to do something in return because he had helped me. It really did not make sense. If he called because he was not clear about the instruction, it was all right. But, he called me so that he did not need to do his homework by himself. He said that he was too lazy to finish his.

Hamilton made his formulae based on the relation of individuals and the benefits behind it. People tend to help their relatives first before they looked others and helped them. Closeness matters in this problem. The closer you are to a person, the more you will help that person. I link back to the reciprocity of altruism. I give you an example. You feel that you are close to A. One day, A and B need your help. You are not very close to B. You probably will choose A first. One day, if you need help, who do you think will help you, A or B? You may think that A will help you because this person is close to you and because you have helped this person, right? It can be true if A feels that you are close to him/her. If B is a very kind person, you will get help from him/her. I do not talk about goodness in this way for now. It is altruism and relatedness that I highlighted.

I think it is easier to go through this with the examples of human rather than animals. Why? It is because as a human, we hardly understand how animals think and behave. We have our limit to approach animals’ ways of thinking. Animals live with their instinct, but humans use their mind and little portion of instinct. Altruism is not all about reciprocity, but also kindness that human has. As a human we should diminished our ego and selfishness to make a better environment for all.