Have the rich and powerful lost their altruistic instincts?

[Gnostic Christian Bishop]

Have the rich and powerful lost their altruistic instincts?

Humans are the most altruistic and good of all the animal species, yet at present, our rich and powerful allow the poorest of us to starve to death by hoarding their wealth. This is unheard of in the animal world.

https://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

Generally speaking, in ancient days the rich and powerful insured that the poor were taken care of to the best of their ability. In the past, the rank and file demanded that the rich and powerful live up to that good altruistic trait by revolting against them. The French Revolution is a good example of this. Have the rank and file lost their altruistic and good characters by allowing the rich and powerful to let people starve to death while doing nothing?

Are the notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity dead in the world?

Is mankind at the point of losing the altruistic instincts that has made us the greatest animal that the world has ever produced?

Regards
DL

 

[Elixir]

Have the rich and powerful lost their altruistic instincts?

Humans are the most altruistic and good of all the animal species, yet at present, our rich and powerful allow the poorest of us to starve to death by hoarding their wealth. This is unheard of in the animal world.

https://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

Generally speaking, in ancient days the rich and powerful insured that the poor were taken care of to the best of their ability. In the past, the rank and file demanded that the rich and powerful live up to that good altruistic trait by revolting against them. The French Revolution is a good example of this. Have the rank and file lost their altruistic and good characters by allowing the rich and powerful to let people starve to death while doing nothing?

Are the notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity dead in the world?

Is mankind at the point of losing the altruistic instincts that has made us the greatest animal that the world has ever produced?

Regards
DL

Altruism conferred an evolutionary advantage in the past. At current population levels it has largely outlived its usefulness.

 

[untermensche]

Generally speaking, in ancient days the rich and powerful insured that the poor were taken care of to the best of their ability.

Not true.

Slave owners took care of their property.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

My main response would be - who cares?

If the well being of the poor is dependent on the whims of the elites, you've got a poorly structured society. The tax rates on the rich should be such that the poor are taken care of by them regardless of their opinions about the matter.

 

[Gnostic Christian Bishop]

Have the rich and powerful lost their altruistic instincts?

Humans are the most altruistic and good of all the animal species, yet at present, our rich and powerful allow the poorest of us to starve to death by hoarding their wealth. This is unheard of in the animal world.

https://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

Generally speaking, in ancient days the rich and powerful insured that the poor were taken care of to the best of their ability. In the past, the rank and file demanded that the rich and powerful live up to that good altruistic trait by revolting against them. The French Revolution is a good example of this. Have the rank and file lost their altruistic and good characters by allowing the rich and powerful to let people starve to death while doing nothing?

Are the notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity dead in the world?

Is mankind at the point of losing the altruistic instincts that has made us the greatest animal that the world has ever produced?

Regards
DL

Altruism conferred an evolutionary advantage in the past. At current population levels it has largely outlived its usefulness.

Not if you are at the bottom of our demographic pyramid.

Part of our altruism is selfishness in terms of insuring that the rich do not have to wory about revolution at worse and thieves at best.

If we lose our selfishness we will go extinct as our selfish gene is what is the supreme gene that guides us. No?

Regards
DL

 

[Gnostic Christian Bishop]

Generally speaking, in ancient days the rich and powerful insured that the poor were taken care of to the best of their ability.

Not true.

Slave owners took care of their property.

True, but so am I.

Slaves were at the bottom of the demographic pyramid and to not look after them would have meant living in fear that the starving would steal from those who had.

Slaves then are those today who are living on the public purse.

That is likely why nowhere in scriptures or the older secular law do they talk of eliminating slavery.

Regards
DL

 

[Gnostic Christian Bishop]

My main response would be - who cares?

If the well being of the poor is dependent on the whims of the elites, you've got a poorly structured society. The tax rates on the rich should be such that the poor are taken care of by them regardless of their opinions about the matter.

The poor care, but I agree with your tax view.

How can we change the tax system when it is the rich who control our oligarch nations control our law makers?

https://www.upworthy.com/20-years-o...w1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

Regards
DL

 

[Tom Sawyer]

My main response would be - who cares?

If the well being of the poor is dependent on the whims of the elites, you've got a poorly structured society. The tax rates on the rich should be such that the poor are taken care of by them regardless of their opinions about the matter.

The poor care, but I agree with your tax view.

How can we change the tax system when it is the rich who control our oligarch nations control our law makers?

https://www.upworthy.com/20-years-o...w1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

Regards
DL

The tree of liberty needs to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Just to be clear, though, I mean patriots other than me. I can't join in any terrorist activities because of a bad back.

 

[skepticalbip]

I would say that the OP presents a very skewed view of the past. Until fairly recently (into the 20th century), famines with millions dying of starvation were not uncommon. Now famines are a thing of the past and the rallying cry for the poor is wealth inequality. In the developed nations, it is obesity, not starvation, that is a major problem for the poor.

 

[untermensche]

Slaves then are those today who are living on the public purse.

The disabled are living on the public purse today.

The rich never took care of them.

Slaves were able bodied.

And they were taken care of as long as they could perform a service.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

What does it mean that humans are the most "good" of all the animal species? Human morality doesn't apply to other species. There's no reason we ought to expect them to follow any human morality.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

What does it mean that humans are the most "good" of all the animal species? Human morality doesn't apply to other species.

I think he meant that humans are the best animal, as in most awesome. Not the most morally good.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

What does it mean that humans are the most "good" of all the animal species? Human morality doesn't apply to other species.

I think he meant that humans are the best animal, as in most awesome. Not the most morally good.

I dunno, cuttlefish are pretty cool.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

What does it mean that humans are the most "good" of all the animal species? Human morality doesn't apply to other species.

I think he meant that humans are the best animal, as in most awesome. Not the most morally good.

I dunno, cuttlefish are pretty cool.

Ya, I'm really happy for cuttlefish, but humans are the best species of all time. Of all time!

 

[bilby]

I dunno, cuttlefish are pretty cool.

Ya, I'm really happy for cuttlefish, but humans are the best species of all time. Of all time!

OK, let's build a wall around the ocean, and make the cuttlefish pay for it!

 

[RVonse]

Have the rich and powerful lost their altruistic instincts?

Humans are the most altruistic and good of all the animal species, yet at present, our rich and powerful allow the poorest of us to starve to death by hoarding their wealth. This is unheard of in the animal world.

https://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

Generally speaking, in ancient days the rich and powerful insured that the poor were taken care of to the best of their ability. In the past, the rank and file demanded that the rich and powerful live up to that good altruistic trait by revolting against them. The French Revolution is a good example of this. Have the rank and file lost their altruistic and good characters by allowing the rich and powerful to let people starve to death while doing nothing?

Are the notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity dead in the world?

Is mankind at the point of losing the altruistic instincts that has made us the greatest animal that the world has ever produced?

Regards
DL

It has been a long while since we have had a French Revolution but that does not mean one can not happen again if things get bad enough. And after a revolution you will always see altruistic behavior come back because the rich will see the need for it to come back.

It is not even a matter of greed so much as who is the most lazy. If the poor are lazy they will let the rich continue to rip them off and not rock the boat. And if the rich remain lazy, they will not give a crap about taking care of the poor. Right now, I would say the poor have been too lazy more so than the rich. But that being said the poor just elected Trump which took a lot of effort above normal voting apathy (Trump got in even with the Pussy scandal). The globalists and corporate CEO's have now been formally given notice with the poor's election of Trump our elites will have to put out more altruistic efforts now. As a good example of this, just today Trump tweeted that he would reconsider helping GM in the future now that they just announced getting rid of an Ohio assembly plant. And that promptly caused GM stock to drop. You can bet the CEO took notice of that.

 

[ruby sparks]

Helping Others, Warming Yourself: Altruistic Behaviors Increase Warmth Feelings of the Ambient Environment
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5011126/

In the experiment described in the paper above, acts of altruism led to the participants perceiving that the room temperature around them was warmer than for the participants who were non-altruistic.

In other words, in light of the adverse effects of global warming, it makes no sense to be altruistic; you'll only be making it worse for yourself.

 

[ruby sparks]

On a more positive note, the study reported in the article below suggests that altruism increases with age (old people are more likely to be altruistic):

Can Altruism Increase with Age?
https://www.homecareassistancechicago.com/can-altruism-increase-with-age

So, in theory, since the global human population is going to have an increasing proportion of aged people, we can look forward to a resurgence of altruism. Lots of other social and political problems, sure, but at least accompanied by more altruism.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Humans are the most altruistic and good of all the animal species

I call bullshit on that.

 

[Elixir]

Humans are the most altruistic and good of all the animal species

I call bullshit on that.

Yeah. It's PIGS!