The Karma Thread

[HavocXphere]

Post something kind & selfless you've recently done.:)

Thread rules:

Must have occured in past 24h
Must be 100% altruistic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism). If you expected to benefit in any way then its disqualified.
Must be entirely voluntary.
Can be a small & insignificant act...as long as it meets the other requirements.
No making fun of/criticising other's posts.


I'll start:
Notified a guy in traffic that his rear brake-light is dead.

[hyperdude111]

LOL 6 hours and i am the only post. (excluding OP)

I have nothing to actually say but it is quite funny......ite...funny.....

Can you hear the echo?

[kk0sse54]

I doubt most people on this forum have ever done a true altruistic act before.

[koenn]

I doubt most people on this forum have ever done a true altruistic act before.

or: most people on this forum are rational/realistic enough to know that "100% altruistic" doesn't exist.

[HavocXphere]

LOL 6 hours and i am the only post. (excluding OP)
The server was offline for most of those 6 hours....but the other 16 hours don't have an excuse.:-k


or: most people on this forum are rational/realistic enough to know that "100% altruistic" doesn't exist.
Wow.:shock: Strikes me as a somewhat bleak & self-fulfilling world-view.

Not quite sure what to make of this; Either:

The thread idea sucked
Most people on this forum have never done a true altruistic act before. (C!oud's comment)
"100% altruistic" doesn't exist. (koenn's comment)
Use less complicated words in future OPs
Everyone is very very humble.
???


And a definition of altruism for good measure:

unselfish concern for the welfare of others

/thread

[koenn]

Wow.:shock: Strikes me as a somewhat bleak & self-fulfilling world-view.

be careful. commenting on other people's world view, especially negative comments, might be against the forum rules and can trigger religious wars.
It's also against the thread rules you posted yourself:


Thread rules:

No making fun of/criticising other's posts.




-----

about altruism, consider this:
you do something 'good' to someone, without any ulterior motive. As a result, you feel kinda good about yourself. This is a pleasant feeling. So you've been rewarded. Consequently, you might be inclined to 'act altruistically' to get that same pleasant feeling again - even if you're not really aware that this is (part of) your motivation for the altruistic deed. bottom line : you're not acting 100% altruistic any more ...

Note that this is a rather simplistic example, but similar theories about altruism can be found in game theory, social sciences, biology, ....

[uberg]

i bought my coworkers brownies on the way to work. I had one myself so i don't know if this is 100% altruistic buy everyone was kids of excited.

[jespdj]

or: most people on this forum are rational/realistic enough to know that "100% altruistic" doesn't exist.
I agree, because you can, for any action, find a reason why it would not be 100% altruistic.

Even when you say you did something purely out of altruism, you might really be doing it to show others how good and altruistic you are, which means you didn't do it purely out of altruism...

[uberg]

Didn't they have an episode of "Friends" that addressed this. HeeHee. The blonde spent an entire episode trying to do nice things for people "just because" and in every instance a reason found that she isn't 100% altruistic. Including the fact that she was "doing it" to be 100% altruistic. Sorry for the cultural reference but i thought it was funny.

[hatten]

installed linux on a friends computer! Compeletely altruistic!

[uberg]

No. Your friend is now obliged to you for hooking him on Linux. And the Penguin is now obliged to you for helping with the world domination thing. ;-)

[crimesaucer]

I was asked for a link to my wallpaper.... so I searched through about 50 pages of deviantART just to find the page that the wallpaper was on..... just so I could post it for them to download.


Besides that, I have a difficult time believing in karma. I've seen people do some pretty evil stuff over the last 36 years of my life.... and I have yet to see a single "karma check" bounce back to them.


I believe more in "cause and effect".

[kk0sse54]

or: most people on this forum are rational/realistic enough to know that "100% altruistic" doesn't exist.

exactly ;)

[chucky chuckaluck]

i made mrs. chuckaluck's coffee at 3:30 this morning.

edit: when do i get my karma?

dbl. edit: did i just blow it?

[HavocXphere]

be careful. commenting on other people's world view, especially negative comments, might be against the forum rules and can trigger religious wars.
True. Apologies. In my defence, nobody was sticking to the rules anyway.



you do something 'good' to someone, without any ulterior motive. As a result, you feel kinda good about yourself. This is a pleasant feeling. So you've been rewarded.
How about a man dying while saving a small kid from certain death. Of course I'm speculating...but I'm reasonably certain that death doesn't involve any fuzzy feelings. Oh, and he is a nameless hobo...so no fame for him. And the kid is to small to remember it and there is nobody else that saw it.

/me is determined to find something altruistic...just one damn thing:D

[swoll1980]

There's no such thing as a selfless act. No matter what we do in life it is always self serving. Even if it seems selfless like donating to charity, or helping to build a home for the poor. We do these things because helping others makes us feel good. If helping others didn't make us feel good we wouldn't do it. There for the selflessness of the act is an illusion.

[koenn]

How about a man dying while saving a small kid from certain death. Of course I'm speculating...but I'm reasonably certain that death doesn't involve any fuzzy feelings. Oh, and he is a nameless hobo...so no fame for him. And the kid is to small to remember it and there is nobody else that saw it.
The real question is: what is this man's motive for saving this kid, for it would only be altruistic if there is no other motive than the welfare or well-being of the kid.
Also speculating, I'd say the motive / reason / ... could be any or all of the following :
- the man doesn't anticipate he's going to die in the act of saving the kid, so seeking fame still counts.
- we've all to some extend been educated to value 'helping others'. This nameless hobo is no exception, so his actions are more triggered by his upbringing than by 'altruism' (whatever that is)
- biologically/evolutionary, our species has a tendency to value the life of the young over the life of the old. This is most outspoken in a parent-offspring relation, but not limited to that relation. The man is merely responding to a biological impulse to preserve the species.
- the reward in saving a kid may be greater self-esteem, the sense of having done something worthwhile, ... and the man may be (possibly on a sub- or unconscious level) seeking this reward, even if he doesn't live long enough to enjoy much of it (especially if he didn't consider he might die while saving the kid, but true in any case)
- everybody wants to be a hero (if only in one's own mind and nobody else knows about it)

... and this is list is only limited by my (lack of) imagination ...

[amitabhishek]

"altruistic"

I learned a new word today!:p