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Annabelle Macneal

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Is altruism written in our DNA?

I remembered reading somewhere that our cells will sacrifice something like 70% of their water content to aid nearby injured cells. Can someone more scientifically versed in this subject expound further on this phenomenon?

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    Jean-Charles Longuet

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    Nov 18 2012: The purpose of our DNA is to survive, not only as an individual, but as a whole specie.

    So cooperation is a way to raise the survival expectancy as a whole : cells help each other at the biological level, but individuals can do it at the social level. One individual is usually not as efficient than several ones : lots of animals form groups more or less organized, for surviving purposes.

    Altruism is the manifestation that we are social animals and are wired for cooperation between individuals.

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