1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,960
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,280
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know

3
00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:12,399
Speaker 1: from how Stuff Works dot Com? You're getting smarter. I

4
00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,120
Speaker 1: am welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, a staff

5
00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,480
Speaker 1: writer here at how Stuff Works dot Com. With me

6
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,840
Speaker 1: is Trusty Edit Tricks Candice Gibson. Candice, what are we

7
00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,599
Speaker 1: talking about today? The question is is there such a

8
00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: thing as a truly unselfish act? And what do you

9
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,000
Speaker 1: think is there? I don't know. I'm sort of on

10
00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,479
Speaker 1: the fence about this one, but one of my favorite

11
00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,680
Speaker 1: sitcoms of all time, Friends had an episode in which

12
00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,760
Speaker 1: they sought to answer the question, and this episode was

13
00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,440
Speaker 1: called the one where Phoebe hates PBS five I remember

14
00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,400
Speaker 1: exactly and um, just to bring up to speed, she

15
00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,120
Speaker 1: had just given birth to her brother's triplets and Joey

16
00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,000
Speaker 1: said that wasn't really an unselfish thing to do because

17
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,560
Speaker 1: it made her feel so good. So she sets out

18
00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,279
Speaker 1: to find something that is good for someone else but

19
00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,080
Speaker 1: not good for her in any way, and she stumped,

20
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,240
Speaker 1: and finally she decides to let a bee sting her

21
00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 1: because it'll help the be look cool in front of

22
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:07,880
Speaker 1: his b friends that that didn't work though, right, no,

23
00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:10,920
Speaker 1: because they be died. So finally, towards the end of

24
00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,200
Speaker 1: the show, she decides that she is going to make

25
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 1: a pledge to PBS and Jerry is taking pledges and

26
00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:19,360
Speaker 1: when he receives Phoebes, he actually gets to be on

27
00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,440
Speaker 1: TV and that does something good for him and the

28
00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,200
Speaker 1: planet is foiled because Phoebe feels great. Yes, so her

29
00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,400
Speaker 1: altruistic act is ruined. No, So, in the span of

30
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,240
Speaker 1: about what at thirty minutes sitcom, that question couldn't be answered.

31
00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,319
Speaker 1: But there have been some deeper perspectives throughout the centuries. Yeah,

32
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,640
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you already know this, but what Phoebe

33
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:44,200
Speaker 1: and Joey were engaged in is a centuries old philosophical debate.

34
00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:48,320
Speaker 1: Is there such a thing as a truly unselfish act

35
00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 1: or an altruistic act? We should probably define that real

36
00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,600
Speaker 1: quick um. Altruism is performing some self sacrificing act for

37
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,040
Speaker 1: the benefit of another person. Clear enough, I don't think

38
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,040
Speaker 1: we'd be even having the discussion if that was it.

39
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,720
Speaker 1: But there's one caveat to that, and which was posed

40
00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,079
Speaker 1: by philosopher Emmanuel Kant who liked to shake things up. Um,

41
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,840
Speaker 1: and that was that the person performing the unselfish act

42
00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:13,880
Speaker 1: can't get anything out of it. And we're not just

43
00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,840
Speaker 1: talking about tangible things. We're talking about the intangible warm fuzzy.

44
00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,400
Speaker 1: Sure sure, now, Um, this has already been shown to

45
00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,360
Speaker 1: actually have an effect on us humans, these warm fuzzies

46
00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,640
Speaker 1: you just describe and uh, using MRI machines, we we've

47
00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:34,240
Speaker 1: seen that by at least donating to charity, the pleasure center,

48
00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,560
Speaker 1: the reward center in our brain sets off a flow

49
00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,400
Speaker 1: of endorphins and we feel just as good giving out

50
00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,679
Speaker 1: money as we do receiving money. Um. So clearly there

51
00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:46,040
Speaker 1: are warm fuzzies, which kind of supports Kant's idea that

52
00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,280
Speaker 1: there is no such thing as an altruistic act. But

53
00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:51,959
Speaker 1: so too does evolution. Right. Yeah, So in the Nashville world,

54
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,560
Speaker 1: there's also a couple of perspectives on dust. And we

55
00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,480
Speaker 1: look at something, um, from the flora side. We have

56
00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,680
Speaker 1: a tree, and when the tree sheds its sleep and fall,

57
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,840
Speaker 1: essentially what it's doing is it's providing a kitschien of

58
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,680
Speaker 1: warmth to protect its roots throughout the winter so that

59
00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,919
Speaker 1: it can regenerate again when there's warmer weather. So it's

60
00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,240
Speaker 1: propagating itself for future generations. And you could say the

61
00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,520
Speaker 1: same holds true for a mother who protects her child

62
00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,520
Speaker 1: and in the face of adversity too, she's also trying

63
00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,840
Speaker 1: to protect her lineage. But again, you know, both of

64
00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:24,720
Speaker 1: these things, the tree and the mother, they get something

65
00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,160
Speaker 1: in return. The tree gets longer life, the mother gets

66
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:29,960
Speaker 1: the love and loyalty of her child. Well, let me

67
00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,840
Speaker 1: ask you this. What happens if the mother sees her

68
00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:34,480
Speaker 1: child in the street about to be hit by an

69
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,360
Speaker 1: eighteen wheeler, runs out, pushes her child out of the way,

70
00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,720
Speaker 1: and it's hit herself. She's not getting anything out of that,

71
00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,120
Speaker 1: is she? Well, I don't know. I guess at that

72
00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,560
Speaker 1: point you're sort of tapping into religion and storing up

73
00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:48,000
Speaker 1: good deeds for the afterlife and final judgment, aren't you.

74
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,640
Speaker 1: I guess. So that's one way to look in might

75
00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,680
Speaker 1: be a question for another day, though, And we have

76
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:57,200
Speaker 1: to talk about Josh's favorite philosopher, a meal der Kind.

77
00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,760
Speaker 1: Their kin was here's a pretty heavy fellow. He um

78
00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:07,320
Speaker 1: he had the impression that altruism was merely a social

79
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 1: construct that was used to control people. Um it basically

80
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,160
Speaker 1: if if we just all went around stabbing one another

81
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,920
Speaker 1: because we needed money, and rather than just going out

82
00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,000
Speaker 1: and working for it or borrowing it, society would fall apart. Um.

83
00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,880
Speaker 1: To Dirkheim, one of the things we have to have

84
00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,280
Speaker 1: to function as a society is something like altruism, self

85
00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,760
Speaker 1: sacrifice for the greater good. Um. But Dirkheim's view kind

86
00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 1: of makes us all look a little bit like dopes. Actually,

87
00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,640
Speaker 1: like we're performing on these self sacrificial acts, and under

88
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,000
Speaker 1: his view, the person who's benefiting from it isn't really

89
00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,640
Speaker 1: benefiting from it. It's really all for society, which is

90
00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,719
Speaker 1: about as depressing a view of altruism as as can be.

91
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 1: So clearly, once again, the philosophers, sociologists and evolutionists have

92
00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,159
Speaker 1: really screwed up the warm fuzzies had in there. They

93
00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,359
Speaker 1: really have. They're trying to take the heart out of

94
00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:00,200
Speaker 1: the issue. But you know, at the end of day,

95
00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,039
Speaker 1: it's all the same. If you do something nice for

96
00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,200
Speaker 1: someone else and you happen to feel good in return,

97
00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:06,440
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all.

98
00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,200
Speaker 1: I think I agree with you. Actually, Well, Candice and

99
00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,119
Speaker 1: I are going to go not stab anyone for money,

100
00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,039
Speaker 1: so We'll be performing your own altruistic acts. Be sure

101
00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:16,760
Speaker 1: to read is there such a thing as a truly

102
00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,960
Speaker 1: unselfish act? On how stuff works dot com For more

103
00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,400
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. This is how

104
00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,000
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think.

105
00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:32,520
Speaker 1: Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com.

106
00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:35,200
Speaker 1: M brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

107
00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:36,719
Speaker 1: It's ready, are you