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> like for example, if a family member of mine needed money for a cancer treatment that had a 50% chance of working versus giving that money to save the life of
by smallnamespace 4y ago
> like for example, if a family member of mine needed money for a cancer treatment that had a 50% chance of working versus giving that money to save the life of someone I don't know on the other side of the planet, I will consistently try to save my family member.
So would most people, and we wouldn’t call it altruism. Looking for an objective criterion (whether ‘number of lives saved per dollar’ or something else) is an angle that I’m happy someone is taking. If you don’t like their approach then don’t give them money.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago> So would most people, and we wouldn’t call it altruism. Most people would call helping a relative pay their medical bills altruism. It's also the selfish and rational choice. It's both simultaneously.
- unmole 4y ago> Most people would call helping a relative pay their medical bills altruism. Altruism is the disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. Helping your family is not altruism.
- NateEag 4y ago> Helping your family is not altruism. Not necessarily altruism. It absolutely could be. Knowing the true motives of another human is very difficult, perhaps impossible (without a predictive biological model of consciousness we can't be sure we're reading minds correctly, and it's still an open question whether such a thing can exist).