80: On-Air Session: Road Rage, Flaky Clients, and the Neighbor Who Scammed You

Most people assume altruism is selfless and that anonymous donors exist. Dr. Lisle says neither is true. Every act of giving, from the mother scrubbing floors for her son's tuition to the stranger picking up trash before dawn, is a gene-level calculation with a hidden audience. Once you see the logic, a lot of human behavior stops being mysterious.

In this on-air session with longtime listener David, Dr. Lisle works through four live questions covering low conscientiousness trading partners, a neighbor who double-sold baseball tickets, the evolutionary roots of altruism, and road rage. Along the way he introduces the Blame Big Louie strategy for managing flaky clients, explains Hamilton's Rule and kin selection, and unpacks why spectacular altruism is the real reason young people say they want to become doctors.

Key question covered: Why do people perform altruistic acts like anonymous donations or picking up trash when nobody appears to be watching?

Beat Your Genes is co-hosted by evolutionary psychologist Dr. Doug Lisle, PhD and Dr. Nathan Gershfeld, DC.

New episodes every other week.

YouTube: youtube.com/@BeatYourGenes

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Intro and outro: City of Happy Ones. Ferenc Hegedus. Licensed for use. Copyright Beat Your Genes Podcast