 A QUIET
STAND OF ALDERS "The alder, whose fat shadow nourisheth All set neere to him long flourisheth." -- William Browne, c. 1613 |
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A QUIET
STAND OF ALDERS "The alder, whose fat shadow nourisheth All set neere to him long flourisheth." -- William Browne, c. 1613 |
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Welcome to A Quiet Stand of Alders, the author
website of Stanley Rice, a science educator
and writer. If you care passionately about the natural world and its
evolutionary history, this website is for you. Here you will find essays about ecology, evolution; and ethical, political, and religious issues connected with them. I intend my approach as constructive, although I do not hold back from criticism when the facts demand it. At the same time, I want to preserve a context of peaceful meditation, such as you will find in a quiet stand of alder trees down by the river. Peace and zeal are the fire and ice of a scientist, an educator, an evolutionist, or a naturalist. About every week, a new essay will be posted. You can find all of the old essays in the archives. I am embedded in the creationist and anti-environmentalist heartland of rural Oklahoma and will report to you from the front lines! I consider myself a missionary for evolution and ecology. Please feel free to contact me at the email below, or by posting comments on my evolution blog. Altruism: The Third Alternative for Ecology and Evolution March 11, 2012
I recently read a book entitled The Penguin and the Leviathan, by Yochai Benkler, a leading scholar in business research. I have read many books about altruism, many of them by scientists such as Frans deWaal (The Age of Empathy), Dacher Keltner (Born to Be Good), and Martin Nowak (Super Cooperators). These books repeatedly make the point that individuals within animal species, individual humans, and businesses can profit from being nice and generous to others. Altruism, rather than violent competition, is the most important component of "the law of the jungle." Just ask any of the chimps that deWaal has studied. The way to the top is primarily through cooperation, not violent competition. Even apes understand this. Benkler's book is published by Crown Business, a division of a major New York publisher. Its intended audience is not science buffs but business leaders. In the title, the Penguin is Tux, the icon of Linux, whose business model is cooperation rather than top-down command, and the Leviathan is the cynical view of life presented centuries ago by Thomas Hobbes. Benkler, though not a scientist, has done a very good job of summarizing the evolutionary science of altruism. But the thing that opened my eyes the most was that Benkler presented altruism as a third alternative for how a society could operate. The other two ways are state control and free market. We usually think that these are our only two choices. But, as Benkler explains, this is not true. Both state control (as exemplified by dictators on the political right or the political left) and free market economics operate from the assumption that humans are fundamentally selfish. State control attempts to force people to not be selfish. The free market tries to capitalize upon those utterly selfish economic machines known as humans. But Benkler points out that altruism is a fundamental instinct of the human mind. As Michael Shermer said, it feels good to be good; humans enjoy being altruistic. Altruism motivates much of what we do. Our only hope, from Benkler's viewpoint, is to build our society and economic system in a way that facilitates altruism. Governments should not try to solve all social and economic problems by law and by creating big agencies; governments should be (in my words) conduits of the altruism that already exists in people's minds. Governments should be altruism enablers. Similarly businesses should embrace altruism, appealing to their customers' instincts to want to create a better world for everybody. Customers are selfish, but also altruistic. Customers are increasingly offended by corporations that display conspicuous selfishness; that assume the customers are merely selfish; or that use little greenwashing gimmicks to make themselves look environmentally friendly or socially altruistic. We customers are not stupid, nor are we totally selfish. We are (some of us more than others) partly altruistic and we expect our governments and businesses to also be altruistic. Benkler makes the point that right now, when dictatorships are falling and the free market has proven ineffective enough that it has shaken the very faith of Alan Greenspan himself, is the time when altruism has a chance to influence the very structure of the economy and government. Governments and business CEOs have been good only at spending money, with disastrous consequences that nobody can ignore any longer. Altruism, perhaps the greatest gift of evolution, is also the only way to solve our environmental problems. Neither of the other alternatives, government fiat or the profit motive by itself, have significantly deflected our worldwide momentum toward ecological disaster. January-March 2008 April-June 2008 July-September 2008 October-December 2008 January-March 2009 (includes The Sabbath of the Earth) April-June 2009 (includes The End of Altruism and If Humans Vanished...) July-September 2009 (includes You Are an Ecosystem) October-December 2009 (includes Absurd Creativity and Fiscal Responsibility -- In Plants) January-March 2010 (includes Deep Time and Deep Intestines and The Evolution of Spite) April-June 2010 (includes My Neighbors' Earth and Trying to Interfere with Natural Selection) July-September 2010 (includes Global Warming—It's Happening Now and Green Is the New Green) October-December 2010 (includes Degrees of Freedom and I Humbly Suggest that Scientists Should Rule the World) January-March 2011 Peace Be Unto You Do Republican Leaders Hate God's Creation? A Christian View of Creation Biodiversity, Part One Biodiversity, Part Two Biodiversity, Part Three Biodiversity, Part Four The Capacity for Evil So Where Is Global Warming Now? The Evolved Human Mind Judgment of the Future How Dark Was My Valley April-July 2011 Relief Oath Upon the Earth The Long Emergency The Dangerous Conservative Viewpoint Cottonwood Investments, Part 2 Disruptive Energy Biodiversity and Noah's Ark: The Solution You've Been Waiting For Built to Last How to Reduce Our Impact on the Earth July-September 2011 Where Have All the Scarecrows Gone? Less Hope Now than Ever? You Can’t Do Just One Thing Our Great Big Opportunity What Rick Perry Thinks About Science The Murder of Altruism? How I Spent September 11 A Celebration of Evolutionary Science October-December 2011 Republican States: Socialist Beneficiaries of Big Government Altruism? Dinosaur Prints The Quiet Stand of Alders: Wildfire and Recovery So What Has Changed Since 2008? A Revolutionary Vision Home Sweet Home Beauty and Survival Laboratory Earth Warm Winter Thoughts January-March 2012 The Evolution of a New Economy? In Memory of Lynn Margulis Equilibrium Economy? Exuberant Chaos |
  Honest Aba blog about evolution and related topics Books:  New Brunswick, New York: Facts on File, 2011.  Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2010.  New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2009.  New York: Facts on File, 2007. Upcoming Books: Encyclopedia of Evolution (Revised Edition) Articles Presentations |
