Why Homo Economicus Might Actually Be an Idiot
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Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Imagine yourself betting on the long-term survival of two types of people. One is the classic egoist,focused and ruthless. The other is more selfless, willing tohelp fellow humans without any evident gain. Who will be moresuccessful?
For anyone steeped in the prevailing thinking of our era,the obvious winner is the egoist. Darwinian evolution and thelore of modern capitalism tell us that only fierce competitorssurvive. Altruists, the game theorists teach us, aremathematically incapable of achieving dominance. Acts ofcooperation are either errors born of ignorance or purelyselfish strategic moves aimed at getting something of greatervalue.