New ideas are emerging that cooperation and helpfulness are evolutionary advantages in humans, as opposed to the traditional view that all behaviors are ultimately selfish.
"An infant of 12 months will inform others about something by pointing. Chimpanzees and other apes do not helpfully inform each other about things. Infants share food readily with strangers. Chimpanzees rarely even offer food to their own offspring. If a 14-month-old child sees an adult having difficulty — like being unable to open a door because her hands are full — the child will try to help.
Tomasello’s point is that the human mind veered away from that of the other primates. We are born ready to cooperate, and then we build cultures to magnify this trait."
Developments in the study of evolution suggest that the survival of the fittest depends as much on cooperation as it does on a competition between self-interests. http://nyti.ms/jGvloF
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