What good deeds do you do that aren't for the sake of altruism?

Giving blood lowers your cholesterol?

Anyway, I guess we give a bunch of stuff to Goodwill occasionally, just to clean out our house.

 

I do the "Give stuff to Goodwill (also the local homeless shelter) to get crap out of the house" thing, too.

 

&*%$#^ here we go again, another angel of attack concerning religion or has burritos' extensive history of baiting those who believe on this board just jaded me?


Alturism

although easily defined is a nebulous concept. Does it count that if after every good deed you get a warm fussy feeling? In that case none perform a good deed without some expectation of gaining something in return.

 

It is just him...

I just read a interesting discussion on another forum about this topic. The poster said that an example of true alturism would be like a soldier who jump on a gernade to save his follow comrades. Suppose we should definitively define the term before answering.

 

All of my good deeds are altruistic. However, it gets fuzzy since altruistic deeds make me feel better and increase my standing in the community. It's hard to separate out the factors.

Why do any of us do anything? Ultimately it comes down to maximizing personal gain, or minimizing personal loss. What is gain and loss varies by the individual and the circumstances. For example, donating money causes a loss to my personal wealth, but I gain a sense of well being. Ultimately we all do things that make us feel better, or at least minimize our suffering.

Tom

 

Ahhhh, good one! Any more?

 

There's a motive to everything we do and say. Fortunately our brains don't have enough neurons to be cognizant of why we are performing each action. That would drive us insane.

My motive there was entirely pedantic.

 

... uh .... I exist everyday.. for the world would be worse off it it weren't for me.

NOT

 

Of all the creatures I can do good for the primary one should be me. Not because I’m more deserving but because I’m closest to me, I stand the greatest chance of success. It so happens for me I don’t like others to suffer, it causes me pain if they do. I like to do good for others.
I would suggest for most of use most of the time Altruism is a fiction. “Altruism” makes us feel something if it makes us feel good it isn’t altruism, if it makes us feel bad it is canceled by our pain or future acts that comes from our pain or resentment.

 

So even angels aren't altruistic?

 

I tell people that vaccines aren't dangerous and don't cause autism.
They are the same people that believe in astrology, which I also tell them is bullcrap.

 

^lol

 

I've picked up litter and put it in the recycle bin or trash can. I know why.....and yet I have no clue why.

 

i dig out the storm drains on my street when it snows so we won't get flooded. and sweep the sand up in the spring and do the litter thing too. keeps the neighborhood looking good. property values?

 

I was explaining that I gave my employer's old PCs to terminally ill children, and provided hardware to host a website for terminally ill children, so they could play word games with folks, even though they were trapped in Hospital rooms. So I had 'played' a frog online for 10 years.

When asked how I got started, I explained that my employer wanted to be sure that whoever got our old PCs never asked for help or upgrades. So they HAD to be terminal. It beat landfills.

 

sorry jim, still sounds altruistic.

 

What about driving a Prius???