Could human suicide have evolutionary roots in self-sacrificial behaviors like those seen in species such as honeybees and ants? A Florida State University researcher who is one of the nation’s foremost experts in suicide is trying to find out. “Humans are a species that is eusocial, and that’s an important starting point”, the researcher said. “That suggests a certain set of characteristics, including some really striking self-sacrifice behaviors”. Those eusocial behaviors, understood as part of what is called inclusive fitness in evolutionary biology, are adaptive. “The idea is if you give up yourself, which would include your genes, it can be evolutionarily speaking ‘worth it’ if you spare or save multiple copies of your genes in your relatives,” Joiner said. “It’s a net benefit on the gene level”. [1]
Doing the right thing because it is “worth it”. How unethical.
Doing the right thing because the… hive decided so. How unhuman.
Doing the right thing just BECAUSE! How irrational! And thus, true.
