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Altruism is the idea of a selfless act, to wit doing something for someone without expecting anything in return. History is replete with examples of altruism, but modern psychological theories have proposed that true altruism is a myth, and that because of the human subconscious, it fundamentally cannot exist.

Real altruism is a complete myth because in reality every single action any human takes is to serve their own purpose and to better themselves, whether directly or indirectly. The rewards for seemingly altruistic actions are not always obvious, but they are always there, lying behind everything we do and controlling our actions. The basic goal of any human is to procreate and to survive for as long as they can.

A common example would be someone who gives a lot of money and time to charity, seemingly for no reward of their own. But really they are rewarded as they are have a better public image because of it, and also get the chemical reward from the brain that comes from doing something positive in terms of social interaction. So while the rich town businessman might seem to be altruistic with his wealth, he is in fact being rewarded because of the fact that he is decorated and celebrated by others for being a good person.

Even extreme examples of seemingly altruism are false. For example a kamikaze pilot who gives his life for his country does so because of the positive effects that his sacrifice will have. He will be remembered as a good man and his family will prosper because of his actions. So in a way, by killing himself, he was ensuring the survival of his genes better than he could by staying alive.

That feeling you get for doing something right is the brains way of rewarding and reinforcing that particular behavior, but don't get me confused here, the subconscious and instinctive brain functions are no more altruistic that conscious actions. They from an evolutionary standpoint, see social interaction and having others see you in a positive way as a good survival tool, as if you help someone they are more likely to help you in return.

In prehistory of course being perceived as a good individual would make others more likely to help you in return, even if you had helped them seemingly for no reason other then you being altruistic. So if you were to share your food with a different clan or family, then in the future when you had none, they were more likely to return the favor than they would be if you didn't know them at all.

This is why even today if

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