Generosity and Altruism:
Most people see generosity and kindness in a moral light. I see it as buying insurance. Generosity can be given
on one’s own terms. What is given can generally be afforded and lived without. Acts such as this inspire future
generosity back towards you when you actually need it or can really benefit from it. Sometimes you may even
receive much more in return than you initially invested. But since you don’t need the excess that you give, even if
you give more than you get in return, it is more important that you always have what you need. This is a basic
rule of survival. Incidentally, potheads have a casual system known as ‘the circle’ that allows those not currently
possessing weed to smoke with an unspoken understanding that the favor will be returned in the future. In this
system, no one really keeps track of what is given and what is received, because people’s overall ability to smoke
even when not holding outweighs small differences in the give and take. But if someone, a ‘mooch’, is
consistently on the take and is exploiting the system, people will eventually notice and that person will be shunned
and will find the generosity towards them decrease. It is like this in all systems of generosity. If a person is just
trying to exploit it, without any reciprocation, then they will most likely receive less generosity in the future.
It is the same with kind, altruistic acts. They may seem noble, but I believe they act much like generosity. I
believe that purely altruistic acts are a fabrication. Pure altruism could not possibly survive evolution because it
would sometimes mean taking risks or giving away resources that one couldn’t afford. I believe in what I will call
‘strategic altruism’. This is used under the guise of pure altruism, when it can be afforded, and is meant to shape
the image of one’s self in the eyes of others, gaining ‘social credit’, which for the men in our ancient history meant
getting more women and passing on our seed more readily. I think that men are generally more heroic for this
reason. Women, on the other hand, probably developed a ‘kindness sharing’ system that it directly linked to the
system of generosity and reciprocation discussed earlier. Also, since most people believe in the existence of pure
altruism, if you can make an act look as such, you will really strike a chord with others. But even acts that seem
unquestionably pure are not, they are simply manifestations of the fact that the more selfless and altruistic an act
looks, the greater the potential rewards in ‘social credit’. This kind of altruism could survive evolution. And for the
species as a whole it is beneficial. At some point, almost everyone will need a kind act in their benefit, so having a
casual ‘circle’ helps to make it more likely that one will receive it.
People may not think that this paints a very nice picture of humans: selfishness in kindness. It may even detract
on the credit people give for kind acts. I think this is wrong though. Regardless of whether generosity or altruism
is given with selfish undertones, it still benefits the person receiving it all the same. I don’t think that anything
should be taken away from the act itself. On the contrary, because pure kindness doesn’t exist, we must make
more of an effort to promote kindness through giving credit and showing appreciation to those who display it. The
person is giving to the collective ‘circle’ of the world. They are acting in a way that may inspire others to show
similar kindness, and this can spread throughout the world. This is good for everyone. It’s the ultimate social
program. I for one believe it to be a beautiful thing that selfish beings such as us can create a system that
promotes acts that come close to mimicking pure altruism. We will never truly reach it, but our goal as a society
should be to promote such behavior that will lead to the greater good for all. This means creating positive
incentives in the forms of social credit and appreciation for acts that benefit the circle. And who knows, maybe if
we can create significant enough positive incentives, we will even be able to inspire a few mooch converts.