The World is not Altruistic

socraticsnail · 2025-10-30T20:01:03+00:00

Yes, unfortunately the invisible hand of the free market mostly just does jerk-off motions at us.

OliveBranch233 · 2025-10-30T16:09:05+00:00

What makes you more altruistic than any other voice in cyberspace?

attendquoi · 2025-10-30T16:08:14+00:00

This sounds very paranoid. Most people, but especially randoms on the internet, don't give enough fucks about you to lie. Nor are you special enough to be lied to.

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AcanthaceaePrize1435 · 2025-10-30T16:31:36+00:00

I think this conjecture is trying to find something where there isn't much. Intuitively most understand that social collaboration historically has had good and bad effects for determinate reasons that are not always apparent beforehand.

Friends obviously help each other and many have experienced friendships sour, however is intuitively understood that they soured for a reason that once understood can mend the friendship or protect other bones from being severed in the future.

Similar things can be said about political collaboration, In the USA, historically the Republican and Democrat party have succeeded and failed at many things. Why they can't always succeed isn't always clear but in many cases the underlying reason why political parties fail is understood (usually corruption or economic turmoil).

Even in China with a centralized "democratic" bureaucracy; The input from local governing bodies, industrial figures, business interests, and social organizations is still valuable to the bureaucracy. Of course the government is also famous for disregarding their wishes semi regularly.

When someone fails at collaboration it is unlikely for them to come from that believing collaboration is inherently unproductive.

dominantone4her · 2025-10-30T17:52:11+00:00

I am absolutely digging the darkness in this post and in my opinion, there is much more truth in this post than most people are willing to admit or realize.

Outside_Memory5703 · 2025-10-30T18:09:42+00:00

Of course it is, or the concept wouldn’t exist

EugeneCezanne · 2025-10-30T21:47:41+00:00

Counterpoint: people care about each other. We have empathy. It is thus often in our emotional interests to give the best advice we can, even when its contrary to whatever else we want at the time. This is even more true when it comes to close, long term relationships of all types, as we are more deeply invested in their well-being.

Artistic_Speech_1965 · 2025-10-31T10:49:43+00:00

I agree with some point but there are some misleading elements

Sure, people works with interest in mind. But there are some interests that lead to a win-win. A relationship coach as more interest that their client succeed since it show their business is working and will attract more people. Some self-help gurus on the other hand are just exploiting your emotions and are comforting you in your view. The advice given in PPD are generally given from personnal experiences. Depending of the experience and knowledge of the person, things can be incomplet

YeaNobody · 2025-11-02T22:49:24+00:00

I agree with this post. That being said I don't look up dating advice period....for me it's like I'm a total shut in, fat, ugly, no social skills so if I want play I have to pony up cash. Which I don't want to do either because I never use condoms and the risk is there. So it's a matter of do I want to roll the dice or not, spending money I shouldn't be spending, and by the time I'm done wrestling these thoughts I've most likely finished myself off while watching some porn. Cost me nothing, gained no STDs, and relief washes over me till the next time.

LillthOfBabylon · 2025-10-30T16:10:11+00:00

Pretty sure this is a black pill post.

SwimmingTheme3736 · 2025-10-30T16:32:46+00:00

You need better friends.

Friends do help you out, when your world falls soft they pick you up and help you rebuild

Lemon_gecko · 2025-10-30T16:16:58+00:00

My interest in getting a partner that i like, or at least getting sex that i enjoy. Yes it will clash with your interest. Yes sometimes i'm not self aware and could tell you something that doesn't work because of that. That's just human. thinking that the only interest women have is protecting innocence is really harmful.

In general i agree with a point, yes everybody follow their interests.

Throw_r_a_2021 · 2025-10-30T18:13:12+00:00

I agree, mostly because I don’t believe that it’s possible for a human being to perform a truly altruistic act. Humans are rationally self interested. Even something like donating money to charity doesn’t seem like a truly altruistic act because the act of donating resources to a charitable cause is itself rewarding to the giver, even if that reward is intangible.

anewleaf1234 · 2025-10-30T18:36:42+00:00

Most people have friends who have their best interested in mind.

I certainly do. I have people who care about me and I care about others.

nadirian · 2025-10-30T20:32:13+00:00

Anytime you’re engaging with the world in any matter, ask yourself this question: what is in it for this person? What is their interest? Because it comes before yours.

Most of you who are struggling have been paying attention to this podcast, that podcast, this fitness regime, this career, this product.

It's been said that it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

"The world" is not an individual person with discernable motives, let alone altruistic ones. "The podcast", "your career" and "this product" are also not people capable of behaving altruistically.

You talk about dating apps, companies, governments, podcasters, influencers, customers, "men" and "women" in the abstract... but none of these are a person. Barring a single mention of "friends", every social interaction you describe is mediated by corporate control.

Like, what would an "altruistic" dating app even look like? Dating apps are corporate software products that set arbitrary conditions for users to engage in prescribed interactions with other users. For the tech company, there's no meaningful distinction between a human user and a bot. It's even beneficial to have bots on dating apps, because the actual product being sold to investors is the engagement from human male users. Without bots, men might recognize it's a sausage fest and stop engaging... but they'd also stop engaging if they met a real woman and successfully date her, so there's no incentive for the app to facilitate that either.

If you define "the world" as only the things you can interact with via capitalist mediators, then I can't disagree with your title...

But I think you should consider asking those questions about the hawkers of content you consume, rather than doubting and pre-emptively dismissing any kindness from an individual person you meet. People can have altruistic motives for interacting with you (not that they always will), but companies and products cannot (despite all the advertising to convince you otherwise).

Try asking:

Why is this podcast or product being advertised to me specifically? What is their interest?

How much of the content that I watch is influenced by an algorithm? How do I know that the content shown to me online is reflective of reality?

Why do I believe that for-profit companies could or would act altruistically? What beliefs do I have that, upon examination, could be based on corporate propaganda? (Psst: advertising is propaganda.)

Destinyciello · 2025-10-30T16:35:43+00:00

I think you're completely wrong.

I actually agree that altruism and empathy are terrible modes to build an economy on. Which is why socialism is always such a miserable failure.

But that doesn't really apply when we're talking about friends giving advice to each other. In most cases they are looking out for you and would prefer you would have a good outcome. The real reason they often give shit advice is because they themselves have been given shit advice for a very long time. Or sometimes they just have a very different perspective from you.

Humans are cooperative species. We have to assist our tribe. Otherwise we are very weak on our own. Any large predator can easily handle an adult human male. But a human tribe will turn the whole forest into their bitches by cooperating. So there is some validity in empathy and atruism. The real limitation is scale. People typically only care about their close one's such as friends and family.

anonymousppd123123 · 2025-10-30T16:21:33+00:00

The truth is, nobody does.

Thats not true. Many people give advice because they get a dopamine hit from being helpful or other people viewing them as an authority on the subject

Sometimes interests align

Isn't that the basic premise of altruism? You elevate others in the group, the group does better, its not a zero sum game. Or your interest of wanting to be seen as a good person aligns with other people's interest in favors/things. Nobody does altruistic things that make them feel bad

SexCrispies · 2025-10-30T16:24:09+00:00

Altruism evolved and exists because it is in the interest of the individual. That doesn't mean that everything people do is to have you meet your interests. Sometimes, people want to exploit you. But overall, altruism and cooperation dominates.

The relationship podcaster doesn’t want you to succeed in relationships. The alpha male influencer doesn’t want you to find contentment in life. If you did, they’d lose a customer.

You are not thinking holistically enough. People recommend the podcaster, because what they advised them worked. For ever "lost customer" there will be a new one. Same with dating apps. If they would not get people enough of what they want, people would not be there. You don't keep people around by giving them zero results for years and have them pay a monthly fee for that. This only applies to a very tiny minority of whale incels.

Their interest will lie in protecting their innocence first, not helping you.

You have no idea about other people's motives and interests. But that you go to this conclusion tells us more about your own issues. Helping others is deeply rewarding and can grant social status. Innocence is an insecurity driven value. People who are not insecure do not need to care about appearing innocent, regarding social norm violations.

Men, on the other hand, are as dumb as a doorknob.

There is no significant difference in average intellect between the sexes.

ask yourself this question: what is in it for this person? What is their interest? Because it comes before yours.

Really good advice, but when you are dumb as a doorknob, you will not be able to take their perspective and consider different motivations and interests, than those you could see for yourself in such a situation. When you are insecure and anxious, you will view others' intersts through that lens.

Ask yourself: have you actually made progress in that area of your life?

Absolutely. But that is not dependent on the podcasters having my success in mind. It depends on my ability to get my ass up and consistently doing something.

Title	The World is not Altruistic
Author	cs_throwawayyy
Upvotes	17
Comments	58
Date	October 30, 2025 4:04 PM UTC (9 months ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/1ok3qfd/the_world_is_not_altruistic/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/the-world-is-not-altruistic.1565388 https://theredarchive.com/post/1565388

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