Sometimes in life there are situations where the good of the group is better for the individual. One clear example of this is a soccer team. In a soccer team there are eleven players on the team and each one counts. If one good player is in a team where everyone else is bad, then he will not have a lot of chance to shine. If he happens to be in a group where everyone is almost equal in level as him, then he will have more chances to be noticed. In this case the survival of the group is more important that the survival of the individual. This one player needs the team he just can't run past the other team's eleven players and score a goal and also be the goalie of one's team at the same time. The Selfish Gene says "If animals live together in groups their genes must get more benefit out of the association that they put in" (pg.166). Genes invest in the good of the pack or group if they know that they will get a better advantage by doing this. A lesson that I have learned through this book is that a gene will not do anything to help another gene if it is not winning in some way from that compromise or that it is helping in some way its brother genes to survive. I sometimes think that in the world we live in the human behavior can be very similar to this. You will see people that will only do things if those things are for the good of them, their family, or friends. The sharing and helping gene seems to be decreasing in the world because we see each time less people that are willing to help if they do not receive something in return. I think that there are still certain individuals among us that are not as "selfish" and are still "altruistic."
There is also altruistic behavior in animals. According to Dawkins: "The best policy is indeed to fly up into a tree, but to make sure everybody else does too" (pg.170). This seems like an altruistic behavior where everyone is willing to help the other to survive. This quotation really reminds me of the soldiers when they say to not leave anyone behind. In some sense the birds are like soldiers because they are part of a group as well as soldiers and would like the group as a unit to survive. Really it would be very nice if the entire world would operate like that, but no, it is not like that. In the world there is just competition for who gets first. I really hadn't thought that it was a way of selfishness to have kids. Kids are like the way you ensure your genes, but according to this article we find that it is now being said as selfish. This article talks about how the families that are bigger are not helping the environment in some ways. This article says that parents who have more than two kids are irresponsible and that are not helping the environment. Who doesn't like to be cared for and helped without having to do anything to pay that person back? I think that humans are like some types of animals in this sense that they want to take advantage of the people that have offered their help to them. According to Dawkins: "Cheats do better than indiscriminate altruists because they gain the benefits without paying the costs" (pg.184). I really wouldn't like a friend that behaved like a cheat. You normally help people without expecting something back from them, but in some way you do expect something back. You might help someone but you imagine that in the future when you need help he will help you. If you help a friend in some situation and when you are in the same situation he doesn't help you back, then he is not really your friend. One of the characteristics a person can have that I dislike the most is that they are traitors. When I read the part about the cheaters I immediately associated them with traitors. When the word traitors came up I linked it to a book. In Dante's Inferno we could see that in the last circle of hell, where the worst sinners stayed, was the circle where the traitors go. Since Dante puts the traitors as the last in hell then he might not disagree with me that the most detestable characteristic of a person is that he is a traitor.
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