Altruism in a broad sense means sacrificing narrower, short-term goals for broader, long-term goals.

It is sometimes thought and taught that altruism means favoring the needs and goals of others over one's own, but that would be irrational and damaging behavior, and is seldom, if ever the case when considered in the bigger picture.

This bigger-picture point of view leads the altruist to act in ways that should lead to the better world that she would like to live in. This can be described as "rational altruism" or "enlightened self-interest" depending on which direction you're coming from.

It is sometimes argued that altruists end of being the "sucker" to those wily enough to cheat. This is missing the bigger picture, where altruists enjoy a much larger and valuable network of others who share altruistic values, and it misses the fact that this larger and more successful network of altruists tend to shun and punish cheaters.

In constrast with the narrowly defined "rational" player in the Prisoner's Dilemma, who chooses to defect thus leading to both sides likely to lose, the altruist is a superrational player who takes into account that both players can be expected to desire the same goal, and both players can be expected to make the same choice, to the degree with which each takes the broad view.

It is often argued that all morality is subjective, and in any limited context this can be shown to be true and consistent, although deeply unsatisfying and in solid disagreement with our feelings about morality and the teachings of wisdom of cultures all around the world.

As with all paradox, the difficulty lies in seeing things at too low a context level. To "widen-back" the context and see things in a bigger-picture clarifies the moral dilemma. Widen back in space to include more of the players (first order and higher order) and their inter-relationships. Widen back in time to include longer-term consequences (first order and higher order) and the likelihood that more information will become available to the players in the future.

Simlar to the way quantum indeterminism gives way in the macro world to the arrow of time, moral indeterminism gives way in a more complex world to an arrow of morality.

The least aware among us are considered the least moral, taking into account only their basic urges and with little thought of the future. The most aware among us are considered the most moral, taking into account more of the entities involved, more of the consequences (short and long-term), and with a focus on the future. The ultimate moral entity would be god-like, all knowing, with timeless knowledge.

Now what might be surprising about this is that what we see as subjective morality at one level, is seen as objective cause and effect at a higher level. It has to be this way, because all our observations show that reality is consistent accross all times and all places.

work in progress

Examples:

Notes:

Synergetic benefits of cooperation

tenfold

network effects

pay it forward

as ye sow, so shall ye reap

think globally, act locally

Bhodisattva

egoism vs altruism

Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged

Honor and altruism (Examples of people performing altruistic acts for honor.)

Survivor guilt