We conclude quite depressingly that true altruism doesn't exist. Fortunately, although all actions are inherently selfish, this implies that giving, sharing and acting with short-term selflessness are amazing things as they create positive long-term value for both the giver and the receiver. Even if it's fundamentally fake, if everyone in society acted altruistically then our world would be a much better place as life is not a zero sum game. If this doesn't make sense to you, give this episode a listen to see how we reached this conclusion!

0:00 Intro

0:51 Selfishness is acting in your own self interest usually at the expense of others, it can be split into short-term and long-term selfishness, and definitionally it carries no moral judgement.

3:15 Altruism doesn't exist.

6:05 Selflessness is an evolved survival trait and explains why donating money and helping an old lady across the street are not altruistic (green beard genes).

7:53 Can you think of a truly altruistic act? If you derive peace or joy from an action does it become selfish?

17:09 Entirely selfless actions can only exist in irrational players (i.e. all humans) - true altruism is sad miscalculations that are self damaging.

19:44 Can you be altruistic and selfish at the same time? // Even if you're not acting in your best self interest you think you are.

27:06 Why does society think it is bad to be selfish? Why is sacrifice the pinnacle of morality? Example: babbler birds

32:57 Would you act unselfishly to save your species at the cost of yourself? Is climate action true altruism?

34:30 Do our conclusions and framework of morality scale from the individual level to a company or a nation?

41:17 In VC world it is clearly spelled out via fiduciary responsibility that altruism is just a scam.

42:59 3 key takeaways: (1) emotional return from selfless actions (2) short term selflessness leads to long term selfishness (3) morality gets murky when you apply conclusions on the individual level to group and societal levels.

More about us:

- Wing (https://wingvasiksiri.com): "Founder and Managing Partner at iSeed SEA"

- Ivan (https://ivanfj.com): "PhD researcher in Biodegradable Plastics at UC Berkeley"

- Andrei (https://andrei.ai): "PhD researcher in Machine Learning at University of Cambridge"