re: Simple Question concerning altruism

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I once once volunteered to undergo a compatibility test for a bone marrow transplant for the young daughter of a fellow pilot at work, didn't know him or his kid, I was just young, single, healthy, and wanted to help

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Some folks will tell you you weren't truly being altruistic, you were playing the long game knowing down the road you'd have an opportunity to get some e-credit on TD by telling us about it.

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It's one of those philosophical black holes that probably won't ever be answered definitively. Sort of like freedom of will. We feel like it exists, but we lack the tools to measure and prove it empirically, one way or the other. In the bone marrow example, I think that's a pretty strong altruistic act but that doesn't mean that no element of self-interest exists in it.

Another point I wonder about is how much awareness plays into the formula of "was it altruism or not". If you aren't ever consciously aware of the possible benefit to yourself in performing some act of altruism, does that make it more altruistic? I don't know... I'm not high enough for this right now, maybe.