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Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

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400 | HOW THE MIND WORKSone-in-eight chance that a copy is lying inside a first cousin, and so on. Agene that built a brain that made its owner help its relatives would indirectlyhelp to replicate itself. The biologist William Hamilton noted thatif <strong>the</strong> benefit to <strong>the</strong> relative, multiplied by <strong>the</strong> probability that a gene isshared, exceeds <strong>the</strong> cost to <strong>the</strong> animal, that gene would spread in <strong>the</strong>population. Hamilton developed and formalized an idea that had beenentertained by several o<strong>the</strong>r biologists as well, most famously in a wisecrackby <strong>the</strong> biologist J. B. S. Haldane when he was asked if he wiould laydown his life for his bro<strong>the</strong>r. "No," he said, "but for two bro<strong>the</strong>rs or eightcousins."When an animal behaves to benefit ano<strong>the</strong>r animal at a cost to itself,biologists call it altruism. When altruism evolves because <strong>the</strong> altruist isrelated to <strong>the</strong> beneficiary so <strong>the</strong> altruism-causing gene benefits itself,<strong>the</strong>y call it kin selection. But when we look into <strong>the</strong> psychology of <strong>the</strong>animal doing <strong>the</strong> behaving, we can give <strong>the</strong> phenomenon ano<strong>the</strong>r name:love.The essence of love is feeling pleasure in ano<strong>the</strong>r's well-being and painin its harm. These feelings motivate acts that benefit <strong>the</strong> loved one, likenurturing, feeding, and protecting. We now understand why many animals,including humans, love <strong>the</strong>ir children, parents, grandparents,grandchildren, siblings, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and cousins: peoplehelping relatives equals genes helping <strong>the</strong>mselves. The sacrificesmade for love are modulated by <strong>the</strong> degree of relatedness: people makemore sacrifices for <strong>the</strong>ir children than for <strong>the</strong>ir nephews and nieces. Theyare modulated by <strong>the</strong> expected reproductive life of <strong>the</strong> beneficiary: parentssacrifice more for children, who have a longer life ahead of <strong>the</strong>m,than children sacrifice for parents. And <strong>the</strong>y are modulated by <strong>the</strong> beneficiary'sown feelings of love. People love <strong>the</strong>ir grandmo<strong>the</strong>rs not because<strong>the</strong>ir grandmo<strong>the</strong>rs are expected to reproduce, but because <strong>the</strong>ir grandmo<strong>the</strong>rslove <strong>the</strong>m, and love <strong>the</strong> rest of <strong>the</strong>ir family. That is, you help peoplewho enjoy helping you and helping your relatives. That is also whymen and women fall in love. The o<strong>the</strong>r parent of my child has as much ofa genetic stake in <strong>the</strong> child as I do, so what is good for her is good for me.Many people think that <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ory of <strong>the</strong> selfish gene says that "animalstry to spread <strong>the</strong>ir genes." That misstates <strong>the</strong> facts and it misstates<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ory. Animals, including most people, know nothing about geneticsand care even less. People love <strong>the</strong>ir children not because <strong>the</strong>y want tospread <strong>the</strong>ir genes (consciously or unconsciously) but because <strong>the</strong>y can'<strong>the</strong>lp it. That love makes <strong>the</strong>m try to keep <strong>the</strong>ir children warm, fed, and

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