We've all been told 'selfishness' is a part of human nature. But what if that isn't the case?

Think about it, altruism literally feels good. While being selfish often results in feeling guilty of 'wrong' behavior. When was the last time you felt truly good, when being selfish, stealing something or the like?

Ok, sometimes it can feel good. Like when you shoplift from Walmart (a kick in the teeth for capitalism!) But when has it been without guilt? Stealing from the rich is our moral justification, but how many of us can say we'll feel super great when stealing from, or being selfish or mean, to a common person like us?

Some say that social norms and laws are what induces this feeling of guilt, and curbs our 'natural' selfish instinct. But consider this:

Imagine a blind child sitting in a park, eating ice cream. It is a hot summer day, and absolutely no one else is around. You want icecream, but the nearest shop is 12 kms away, and you are really sweaty. There is no chance of being caught, no consequences of any action, you can take my guarantee on it. How many of us are cruel-hearted enough to snatch the ice-cream from her, and psychopathic enough to not feel guilt if we do? How can human nature be selfish, if the majority of us would shirk away from giving in to such 'selfish' impulses? 

Now, I admit this is a cherrypicked example, but the point I'm trying to make here is that instead of selfishness, it is altruism that is hard-wired in our nature, and our environment & unnatural conditions result in its suppression. That we literally feel good, a sense of euphoria and genuine happiness, when giving out, is more than enough proof for this.

But...doesn't receiving feel good too? Yes it does, but not at the cost of someone else. Wanting more of something when its available is only logical. I would want to eat 2 chocolates instead of 1, cause it gives me satisfaction. However, if the 2nd chocolate is snatched from a needy child, wouldn't 1 feel enough? Or if you have 2, but come across someone hungry, isn't our first impulsive thought just to give them some food?

Yet, the world feels selfish and mean...or has it turned us into that?

Capitalism and modern economic theory emphasize on humans being self-interested rational beings. The interests of the self come above the interests of the others, always. However, preceding the modern world, couldn't have they been the one and the same?

In a forager society, where wild dangers lurk at every corner, having people to rely upon was a clear requisite for survival. Who will take care of you when you are injured, when your hunt fails to find anything, when you fall sick? The people you band together with, who else.

But if we have a selfish nature, how did we cooperate and help each other to survive?

Thru rational altruism. It is only by helping others you can expect to be helped. And others will help you because you helped them, and expect you are likely to do so in the future. Altruistic behavior allows a cooperative culture and strong intergroup relationships to developed, which was essential for survival of humanity, one of the weakest apes in the jungle. Without banding together, individual humans stood very little chance of surviving, especially when being selfish would pit them against both animals and human rivals. 

Evolutionary biology is uncovering evidence that altruism was key to our survival, for naturally, forager bands/groups with the strongest cooperative relations would stand a better chance of reproducing and surviving natural dangers present in the environment, than selfish groups which would collapse both due to infighting and lack of coordination and synergy when faced with threats such as wild animals, drought, sickness and starvation.

Thus, altruistic cooperative groups flourished, over millions of years, which has hardwired into our brains a joy of giving and guilt of selfish behavior. Our moral systems only reflect this innate learning, such as in 'help thy neighbor' and excessive hoarding, greed and selfish behavior being considered immoral.

So, what went wrong? Today's world isn't reflective of an altruistic species at all, sadly.

One thing humans are best at, is adaptation. Our intelligent brains respond strongly to environmental cues, and we can fundamentally alter ourselves to adapt to new conditions.

Its easy being selfless in a time of abundance, but in a time of scarcity? We'll share our food during harvests, but when there's a drought, won't any cooperative system face major pressures to break down, leaving every man for himself?

The modern world, despite being plentiful of resources, also puts the majority of the population in a position of scarcity. Economics considers scarcity to be the natural state, as we have unlimited wants and limited resources. And most of us never have just enough of money. Foragers had wants limited to food, water, shelter and leisure, which nature provided plenty of; the modern world with its endless toys and trinkets keeps us in a scarcity mindset. We simply cant afford to share, because we feel we don't have enough for ourselves. We don't give to charity, because we want to build our own wealth first. "I don't have money for that" should be tagline of our generation. Or of workers under capitalism itself.

And what about the rich, you may ask. Why don't they share, if altruism is in our nature?

Two reasons. First, what kind of people get rich? We all know we need to earn and save more than we spend to become rich some day. How can a good Samaritan save money, when he knows there are those poorer than him who need it? To become rich, we have to repress our altruistic instincts, and as in the business world, encourage and strengthen selfish behavior. Selfishness may not be our innate nature, but we are adaptable. And those who adapt make it to the top. Is that the type of species we want to evolve into?

Second, once someone become rich, more often than not, their environment changes. They are moving in higher up circles, isolated from their old companions, splurging on mansions and cars and other trinkets. Only to realize someone else has bigger mansions, better cars and costlier trinkets. Far from talking about charity, the rich circle is dominated by ambitious, selfish individuals, who have worked hard and pushed everything else aside to get there. Which often includes morals and altruism. There was a quote "Show me your 5 friends, and I'll tell you who you are." It is reasonable to assume that this circle would have substantial influence on new entrants, causing them to adopt values such as ambition, greed and hunger; instead of compassion, altruism and satisfaction/complacency. And so, most blindly focus on getting higher up the ladder, getting better toys and growing their wealth even more, pushing altruistic ambitions for retirement perhaps.

What do we do about it? Embrace our altruistic instincts as a strength, not a weakness. Capitalism teaches us if you spend now, you wont be able to save for later. But unless you are on borderline poverty, I'm sure we can give up a luxury or two to fill someone's stomach or buy them medicines. Or even if we don't, we can at least recognize that there is nothing wrong with wanting to do so. Excessive selfish behavior that harms others is psychopathic, irrational and isolates us from the world. Altruism is to be celebrated, for it is our true nature, what makes our species human, and what humanity needs to deal with the challenges ahead of us.