timtyler comments on Doing your good deed for the day - LessWrong

115 Post author: Yvain 27 October 2009 12:45AM

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Comment author: timtyler 28 October 2009 08:27:58AM -2 points [-]

I am speaking from a biologist's perspective. According to standard biological nomenclature, animal behaviour exists mostly for the sake of propagating heritable information. Since most contributions had ignored the conventional explanations for altruistic behaviour in terms of signaling to others and reciprocal altruism, my comment was intended to provide some perspective.

If you seek to modify the moral behaviour of others, it helps to first understand why people behave as they do.

Comment author: DanielLC 29 December 2009 02:28:53AM 1 point [-]

We're not seeking to modify the behavior of others. We're seeking to modify our own behavior.