Evolution explains kindness—even when it kills us | Paul Bloom

This interview is an episode from The Well, our new publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the John Templeton Foundation.

There are several misperceptions about evolution, one of which is that it would drive animals toward being selfish, uncaring, and unloving toward others.

But there are several ways in which kindness and altruism can evolve through natural selection.

Two ways are kin selection (helping those who share our genes, like family members) and reciprocal altruism (helping those with whom we are in regular contact). In this way, a system of universal morals can develop.

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About Paul Bloom:
Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. An internationally recognized expert on the psychology of child development, social reasoning, and morality, he has won numerous awards for his research, writing, and teaching. Bloom’s previous books include Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like, and he has written for Science, Nature, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.

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Read more from The Well:
I put a camera on a monkey. Here’s how it shook my understanding of humanity
Atheism is not as rare or as rational as you think
System 1 vs. System 2 thinking: Why it isn’t strategic to always be rational

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About The Well
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.

So what do they think?

How is the power of science advancing understanding? How are philosophers and theologians tackling these fascinating questions?

Let’s dive into The Well.

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[luigidisanpietro]

Growing up, I was taught "to be kind" in school...
Slowly maturing into what I am today, I realized that we should not just "be" but "see."

To "see" kindness and appreciate it when others share it.

So don't be offended when someone offers a seat for you, or a hand when in trouble. 🤣👌

[Lutinpofin]

For a long time I've been stressed, depressed and insecure, which led me to live in a socially awkward and very self-conscious, almost egotistical way.

The more I gain maturity, the more I see kindness as a logical way to feel safe around others.

Kindness and compassion for everyone makes you instantly feel good and make people lower their defenses around you, smile and relax. Wherever you go, you feel safe, because treating strangers like friends make them treat you likewise. Those who don't treat you that way, you know they're in pain or hurting. As long as you remember that, you can't take it personally, because you know you've been kind to them and you're probably not the problem.

Living this way makes your social anxiety drop and it opens the way for feeling fulfilled and safe anywhere you go.

I feel like we are wired for this.
Love is the answer.

[EmoSew]

one time someone's safety glasses flew off and i caught them and returned it to him and he was absolutely shocked that someone was kind enough to do that, big cities ruin kindness so much so that little things like that seem alien to us now

[garretlevi]

I can't say I would sacrifice myself for a stranger, not because I'm selfish, but rather that I have a family and my responsibility to care for them supercedes my inclination to save a stranger. But I also suppose it would depend on the circumstance.

[Phoenix]

The moral code I found myself subscribing to after leaving an autocratic religion is, I think is best described as *egalitarian consequentialism.* _Consequenses, _ what's 'right' or 'wrong' is determined by the consequences of our thoughts, speech and actions, what's beneficial or harmful. And I'm not inherently superior or inferior to anyone else; we're all equals. It can get complicated. What's beneficial to one may be harmful to another, mandating an assessment of the degree of harm versus good, and to who and how... But it's also so much simpler than the religious moral codes many of us grew up with because most things we encounter in life are not good or bad. They just _are._

[dmtdreamz]

On a certain level, we have a drug store in our brain, the neurochemicals that show up in flow: so dopamine, norepinephrine, anandamide, endorphins, and serotonin. If you were to try to cocktail the street drug version of that, right, you're trying to blend like heroin and speed and coke and acid and weed- and point is, you can't do it. It turns out the brain can cocktail all of 'em at once, which is why people will prefer flow to almost any experience on Earth. It's our favorite experience. It's the most addictive experience on Earth. Why? 'Cause it cocktails five or six of the largest pleasure drugs the brain can produce. We're all capable of so much more than we know. That is a commonality across the board. And one of the big reasons is we're all hardwired for flow, and flow is a massive amplification of what's possible for ourselves.

[kariannecrysler]

Great talk. I have the same opinion about human kind. Our thoughts can override emotional response. And in doing so a person gains a control of self that can be enlightening to previously unexplored areas of surrounding life

[invox]

Cooperation is actually the mark of evolution and NOT competition.
It is with cooperation between humans that we got to the moon and beyond. And I believe that despite current event the act of cooperation will carry us further and further.

[leonstenutz]

Thank you @BigThink. Thank you Paul Bloom. Love all you share & do. Greetings from Bolivia.

[CharlieRogers]

One of the main arguments I've heard from religious people about not believing in god is that they believe religion is where all morality comes from, and if they didn't believe in god or jesus or allah or the great juju on top of the mountain that everyone would rape and kill and be mean to one another. Although I know wholeheartedly that is not the case and can provide them many examples, sometimes it's tough to articulate why morals exist beyond religious or societal laws. I appreciate this video very much for putting that into words. Thank you.

[annecarter]

Very thought-filled presentation. Thank you.

[metalona]

I am inclined to believe that it isnt human nature that is selfish, but the circumstances of ones life, and as of late social medias, that conditions ones ideals and brain to be selfish.

[moist]

Selfish is a ideology we create in our mind. Is a normal thing to every individual and life organism to live for itself benefit. But human is a social species, we cooperate with each other to trade things and survive, to take care each others, for the sake of the species and individual... But competitive and evil also in our blood so we can harm others for our benefit.. So yeah, human can be selfish but also altruistic

[beldonhuang]

Just as the old, Confucian saying goes "Treat others the way you want to be treated." Kindness, for me, is ultimately what makes humans human, and how that differentiates us from our ancestors who used to survive in the wildness millions and millions of years ago.

In a wider sense, it may sound a bit idealistic, but it is with more kindness and less greed that we can make the world a better place, at least starting from those around us.

[FranzVonZeta]

It is simple: A group with individuals willing to give their lives for the others has more probabilities of surviving in many situations than a group without such individuals. So evolution leads to this behavior, of course.

[susanzoeckler]

Also, I think the ways in which we benefit from connection with others is still being explored. There are lovely advantages to being enmeshed in a community -- entangled, interwoven, tuned in -- that remain a bit mysterious.

[spiralpython]

Thank you. This is what I needed today. ❤

[robertdouglas]

Inspiration is accepting what is true in ourselves instead of what we think evolution has caused us to be. Creation has made us kind like itself. We have brought that with us into the world . We have also made up a world of separation, guilt and distrust. We have within us teachers of both. We have to power to choose which teacher we listen to.

[Dah_J]

Explaining kindness isn’t the problem. We have plenty of reasons to be kind. The problem is trying to justify that kind ness. Sure, kindness promotes the healthiness of a group and in turn increases the chances that group would survive and reproduce. But does that mean that it is right? Why does it matter if a group is more likely to survive and reproduce?

[hugoantunesartwithblender]

Well, its not even a question in my opinion, is logic.

Even the most altruist acgion we make it because it makes us feel good