Tips On Enlightenment And Collaboration
The art and science of Reciprocal Altruism.
One of the best ways for a Mystic or even a conscious entrepreneur to prosper in the material world is to collaborate with other Awakened individuals.
This is much different than “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours”. There is a data science behind this, called Reciprocal Altruism.
Reciprocal altruism is a behavior described and studied in evolutionary biology, whereby an organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its fitness (denies it certain benefits) while increasing another organism’s fitness (benefits). This is done with the expectation that the other organism will act in a similar manner at a later time.
The concept was initially developed by Robert Trivers to explain the evolution of cooperation as examples of mutually altruistic acts. The concept is close to the strategy of “tit for tat” used in game theory.
In my own business and social affairs, I use this concept to vet and determine who I might, or might not want to create “handshake-based” relationships.
I am in some networking groups where people are always giving away free “sessions” but get nothing in return, not even the feeling that they are making a difference. This can lead to the giver becoming uninspired, unmotivated, bitter, and frustrated.
The concept of “reciprocal altruism”, as introduced by Trivers, suggests that “altruism” described, as the action of helping another individual while receiving some cost for this act, could have developed (evolved) because it might be beneficial in the short run if there is a chance of being in a reverse situation in the future. Here the individual who gained benefit (was helped) earlier might perform a conditional altruistic act towards the individual who initially helped them.
Among researchers, this idea finds its roots in the work of W.D. Hamilton, who developed mathematical models for predicting the likelihood of an altruistic act to be performed on behalf of one’s kin. I use these ideas in my approach to productivity, and in the application of my 27 Core Strategic Resources.
Let’s go even deeper.
Putting this into the form of a strategy in a repeated prisoner’s dilemma would mean cooperating unconditionally in the first period and behaving cooperatively (altruistically) as long as the other individual (agent) does as well. If chances of meeting another reciprocal altruist are high enough, or if the game is repeated for a long enough amount of time, this form of altruism can evolve within a population.
This is close to the notion of “tit for tat” introduced by the mathematical psychologist Anatol Rapoport, although there still seems a slight distinction in that “tit for tat” cooperates in the first period and from thereon always replicates an opponent’s previous action, whereas “reciprocal altruists” stop cooperation in the first instance of non-cooperation by an opponent and stay non-cooperative from thereon. This distinction leads to the fact that in contrast to reciprocal altruism, tit for tat may be able to restore cooperation under certain conditions despite cooperation having broken down.
Christopher Stephens shows a set of necessary and jointly sufficient conditions “… for an instance of reciprocal altruism:
1. the behaviour must reduce a donor’s fitness relative to a selfish alternative;
2. the fitness of the recipient must be elevated relative to non-recipients;
3. the performance of the behaviour must not depend on the receipt of an immediate benefit; conditions 1, 2, and 3 must apply to both individuals engaging in reciprocal helping.
There are two additional conditions necessary “…for reciprocal altruism to evolve:”
- A mechanism for detecting ‘cheaters’ must exist.
- A large (indefinite) number of opportunities to exchange aid must exist.
The first two conditions are necessary for altruism as such, while the third distinguishes reciprocal altruism from simple mutualism and the fourth makes the interaction reciprocal. Condition number five is required as otherwise non-altruists may always exploit altruistic behavior without any consequences and therefore the evolution of reciprocal altruism would not be possible. However, it is pointed out that this “conditioning device” does not need to be conscious. Condition number six is required to avoid cooperation breakdown through backward induction — a possibility suggested by game theoretical models.
The first two conditions are necessary for altruism as such, while the third distinguishes reciprocal altruism from simple mutualism and the fourth makes the interaction reciprocal. Condition number five is required as otherwise non-altruists may always exploit altruistic behavior without any consequences and therefore the evolution of reciprocal altruism would not be possible. Yet, it is pointed out that this “conditioning device” does not need to be conscious. Condition number six is required to avoid cooperation breakdown by means of backward induction — a possibility suggested by game theoretical models.
There are some debates that reciprocal altruism is a form of true altruism but Brian Blose questions this idea and explores it in his post on Quora.com He says:
The individual performing the action expects to benefit from the arrangement. This doesn’t exactly fit the “selfless concern for the well-being of others” definition of altruism.
There are some arguments for reciprocal altruism being true altruism: Blose addresses these as well:
1. The individual performing the action does not expect an immediate or per-transaction payback.
2. The motive for performing the action may be self-less. The fact that such behaviors evolve (both biologically and culturally) due to “selfish” constraints such as survival rates does not imply anything about the motive of the actors.
3. A strict interpretation of altruism writes the phenomena out of existence. Some examples: sacrificing your life for a relative is selfish because your genes get to live on in someone else; volunteering for a cause is selfish because your reputation in the community improves; being nice to a disadvantaged person is selfish because it makes you feel good about yourself.
Blose adds, “My personal opinion on this matter can go either way, depending on whether I am considering this through the lens of philosophy or anthropology.
I would have to say it’s instinctive mostly. We have evolved to be social animals, and our sense of morality has undoubtedly been via evolution. Before religion, it wasn’t as if people were running around killing each other (for the most part). So there’s clear thought that altruism and morality have been inbuilt by natural selection, because we as social creatures need to have social satisfaction and to do that we sometimes need to reciprocate and give something to someone else, for the greater good of our relationships.
This type of thinking is not limited to mystics or metaphysicians. There is a less developed approach to this called “collective intelligence”.
Flemming Funch of the Collective Intelligence Agent defines it in this way…
“Collective Intelligence (CI) is the degree to which a group of people become smarter together than if they were apart. It is a synergy, where the parts come together to become something more than just the sum of the parts.
It could be positive or negative, but we usually prefer calling it Collective Intelligence mainly when the effect is positive. Most groups become stupid, sometimes even stupider than one individual member. Adding more people often makes them stupider. So, Collective Intelligence is the search for the opposite, where something dynamically good comes out of banding together.
It is unfortunately a fuzzy term. We don’t know very well what it is or how to bring it about or how to measure it.
You can somewhat recognize Collective Intelligence by noticing whether a particular group or organization seems to hinder you and slow you down or whether it seems to amplify your skills and make things move faster. The side-effects and unexpected things that happen, are they mostly good or bad?
In a low/negative CI group, things are forgotten or go wrong or take lots of effort. Think about a big bureaucratic company or government, for example. The rules are complicated, many people are just running on idle, trying to look like they’re working, or spending hours in meetings that don’t accomplish anything. Deciding or changing anything is an uphill battle. The group might still do something good, but far from the sum of the good that all those people could do if they were free from the group.
The Takeaway
In a high CI group, there’s some kind of state of flow. If you have a problem, you’re likely to run into somebody who can fix it for you. Your productive efforts get amplified by the efforts of others. The average value of a member is more than what could have been expected if they worked alone. People are motivated. It feels rewarding to contribute. The collective effort seems to have a certain spirit to it that others will recognize.
Alex, as your skill, empathy, intuition, and intellectual clarity evolve you notice people who you might wish to collaborate with. This will create a synergy beyond your wildest expectations. Of course, at this stage, you won’t have any expectations.
This story is an excerpt from my course “The Mystics Academy”
©Lewis Harrison, all rights reserved.
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I am Lewis Harrison, a teacher of Essential Zen and Mystic Taoism. I am also the award-winning author of over twenty books on business, leadership, personal growth, and strategic thinking. For over a decade I was the producer and host of the show “What’s Up” on NPR-affiliated WIOX FM in New York.
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