Reply #119: Of course I've noticed that.

[otherlander]

I'm not taking anything for granted. Don't tell me I'm taking things for granted. I'm just saying that the primary motivation to have a cooperative community isn't altruism, it's self interest: The better the community works, the more likely the individual is to thrive. The motivation is "give support, get support", and thus, the individual supports the community out of self-interest.

And, when raised in a cutthroat environment, where the motivation is not "give support, get support" but rather "make products, get products" the individual will often try to get products at the expense of others, because self-interest no longer motivates the individual to support the community. Altruism would still motivate the individual to support others, but we can't expect any species of animal to be primarily motivated by altruism.

Of course, if a group of individuals want to form a community where they take care of each other out of altruism, they're free to do so. There are all sorts of voluntary communities where this has worked, and continues to work, such as communes. I think I might like to live on a commune.

But we can't expect the entire HUMAN RACE to be altruistic, it's just not a realistic expectation. Human society as a whole works only when people are motivated to support each other out of self interest.