Or we're both, depending on what we had for breakfast. in a way, I suppose a fairly cynical way, doing a lot of social signaling that you are unselfish is som

Or we're both, depending on what we had for breakfast. in a way, I suppose a fairly cynical way, doing a lot of social signaling that you are unselfish is somewhat self-interested. The highest-status individuals in tribal[1] settings were like Anthony Quinn's character in "Lawrence of Arabia" - "I am a river to my people!" [1]The Bedouin are tribal, but extraordinarily sophisticated. They'll outlast us all. It is a culture of great beauty. Will Durant's description of them as the root stock of all civilization is still with me. The way to attain status is not to pursue it, but to create the conditions in which it pursues you You can't win :) I suppose article like this are necessary, but they unfortunately make me cynical. I was blessed with a father who taught me how tricky altruism can be. His message was always "make sure you're doing something that matters" and boy, has that held its water. Edit: ... not sure how that fixed it, really...