Why are we altruistic? | Amanda Ridley | TEDxPerth

Evolution rewards competition for resources and mates, yet acts of self-sacrifice, on first appearances, appear to disadvantage the individual. In this talk, Amanda uses examples in the animal kingdom to explore human co-operation and altruism.
Amanda Ridley has devoted her career to understanding the causes and consequences of social behaviour. She is a behavioural ecologist based at the University of Western Australia.
After a career in wildlife management, Amanda undertook a PhD at Cambridge University where her eyes were opened to the fascinating world of animal behaviour. Amanda’s fieldwork took her to the Negev Desert in the Middle East, and onward to the Kalahari desert in southern Africa as part of a postdoctoral collaboration between Cambridge University and the University of Cape Town.
In 2012, Amanda began research on the Western Australian magpie. She is leading two longitudinal research projects and has authored over 50 scientific articles. In 2015, Amanda was nominated as a Rising Star in the UWA Faculty of Science.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@akintayo]

I found out about Effective Altruism yesterday and I am glad I did. I am loving learning a lot about this effective way of making a difference in society.

[@ghazikutbi3206]

nice idea, and nice approach; eventhough the steps were taken backward (like reverse engineering) putting the issue of collaboration and socialization under spot-light. This video is a research and scientific paper. Good work amanda ridley. You made us eager to know the result of your pregnancy!

[@moritzwalter3521]

Very interesting talk. However, I was a bit surprised she didn't raise the questions of free riders (obviously time constraints). But once a collaborative group has established, the individual can benefit and safe resources by not contributing to the whole and just profiting from the fruit of other individuals' work (e.g. the nest having been built). The conclusion seemed a bit cut off from the rest: the talk didn't really explain why acting altruistically is worthwhile for you as an individual, only that cooperation is a fitness-enhancing capability. Either way, looking forward to seeing more from Amanda

[@hadrianopolis1968]

See the great British evolutionary biologist W.D. Hamilton on kin selection and specifically "Hamilton's rule". It's all in there. It's a mechanism of natural selection.

[@CarlBurnss]

when single cells began working together.....

[@katrinamurphy7124]

She keeps sounding like she’s gonna cry. I think it’s her passion.

[@randomuploadsism]

403 Forbidden I think the echo is putting her off

[@malita354]

Altruism never exist except if you define it as Egoistic Self Interest Perceived as Proximate Altruism. To illustrate, do you love your wife? You may think so. What you love is her use and benefit to you. There is no Altruistic love. Love is perceived. You love the young body. When the body grows old even your wife do not love you the same way as before cos you are not able to take a stand😅 If a Politician tells you to vote for him cos he wants to just sacrifice for you, run as far as you can😅

[@jayabdih1]

Are you managing the human or animal?

[@johnellis7614]

Either we desire to be rich and can do no good, or we desire to be a pacifist vegetarian with only enough for a comfortable life and can do no harm.

[@daryoshi161]

*vegan

[@jayabdih1]

How come you use bird as an example to teach Alsturistic? It won't work with animal. This is good for human being because they have brain while animal's brain are not the same as human. I think you should do more research on alsturistic from different faith across the world.

[@Rhygenix]

Philosophers like Max Stirner would argue that Altruism doesn't exist, and that everyone is selfish.

[@VictorLopez-qb7qr]

I personally think that she is not talking about altruism, since the correct definition of this as I see it, is putting other people before yourself; and she talked that we help each other not because others are more important than ourselves but because it benefits us in the different ways she explained. The conclusion would be that we help others for our own interest.

[@sybo59]

Stirner was a joke - psychological egoism is such an obviously false position.

[@andrewgreen5574]

Yes, but Stirner's point was the reward of self gratification, social rewards such as status, appearance of heroism, other motives such as reciprocal altruism (an expected returned favor), and negative consequences like a feeling of guilt can explain the expression of altruism. Of course, this means that altruism cannot truly exist, but it is also unfalsifiable in that 1) we don't always understand our motives and 2) we cannot truly know what an individual's motives are.