Are you sure this wasn't first published in The Journal of Irreproducible Results? :-] One of my favorite publications, by the way.

Bingo! "Phony science with an agenda."

We're going about this all wrong. Instead of spreading the proper philosophy we should be spreading the proper microbes.

Don't let khalling read that... ;)

I know there are certainly a number of people who contend that liberalism is a mental disorder ;)

Of course watching the primaries, I think there is certainly evidence of groupthink on the part of many Trumpists which is every bit as dangerous as that evidenced by Progressives.

Well said.

Agreed. It is one thing to postulate existence and quite another to follow up and test.

I wonder if they include pheremones in this, as those are an identified group of substances which are known to affect perception on an individual level.

One of my best friends suspected genetics. I married a woman who already had two children, pretended to be conservative was really a socialist and her first husband was a socialist. The next three children we had all are very conservative, my son is an objectivist like his dad (me) and the two older girls voted for Barracula just like their mom. Perhaps the objectivist gene is carried by the male??

Obama and his would-be successor Hillary better fit the description of "Patient Zero of a spreading infection." In this analogy, Trump would be the antibiotic.

Beg to differ, CBJ. The recent elections are prima facie evidence of the microbes' pulling large cohorts of the population together to benefit their own agenda. And Trump is the magnetic center, Patient Zero of a spreading infection. What's fascinating is that not all microbes are monolithic. We are the battleground of their warfare, conducted below our conscious awareness and expressed through our own conflicts of ideas (and ideologies). I see the makings here of a super science fiction story, or has someone already written it?

Mind you, most of our inhabitant microbes are symbiotic with our own cells and help keep us alive. It's amazing that humans have not studied this phenomenon to the deepest level, along with quantum theory.

Actually they are not even doing that, the microbes are encouraging people to congregate.

Yes, there have been a number of articles purporting to find Altrusim in nature (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al.... First of all it is important to remember that Ayn Rand was very clear that ethics is based on our nature and if our nature was different a different ethics would make sense. For instance, if we did not think individually, then we would need a different ethics. Animals that swarm (hear) behave like they have a single mind and if they break apart they die. So it makes sense to trade the life of one individual to protect the swarm, as bees and herding animals do.

Second of all is that they misuse the term Altruism. Comte defined as “The word "altruism" (French, altruisme, from autrui: "other people", derived from Latin alter: "other") was coined by Auguste Comte, the French founder of positivism, in order to describe the ethical doctrine he supported. He believed that individuals had a moral obligation to renounce self-interest and live for others.”

Third the article assumes that humans are not rational animals.
“To show that this idea can have a prevailing effect on a population over time, the researchers designed simulations of interacting individuals, some with altruism-inducing microbes, and some without. Then using a prisoner's dilemma payoff scheme, the researchers investigated what happens to this population, its microbes, and its altruistic behavior over many generations.
The results showed that, as long as horizontal transmission (between individuals) of microbes is allowed, altruism-inducing microbes can take over the population, leading to microbe-induced altruism. This result occurs even when only a very small percentage of the population initially carries these altruism-inducing microbes. The simulations also revealed that the evolution of altruism is successful because the microbes have a chance to either meet genetically related microbes in the recipient or infect and transform some of the recipient's microbes into relatives.”
Living with other people is not altruism. Phony science with an agenda.

Ooh, wiggys, you must have an overabundance of the viciousness-inducing microbes!

So in other words, a donor is a germy groaner almsgiver with the quivers, a philanthropist is a microbe infected altruist, benefactors have mentally gone "It Came From The Gut" crackers and saints are just plain sick..
Me dino is looking forward to this new search for a cure added to all the charitable donation requests that I receive in my mail.
I'll likely open the envelope, scan the printed plaintive plea, groan "Hell, I can't afford to help everybody" and toss it into my little trash can that I line with a cheap plastic bag that once carried groceries from a Walmart, a Publix or a Piggly Wiggly. .

those who pursue altruistic behavior were not born with this desire to serve others, it is an acquired problem which they do not know is a problem. or they are a politician who wants to loot and therefore claims these altruistic tendencies. it would be wonderful if the microbes did devour their brains. won't take them long since they are small brains.

Well, overly consuming sugar also seems like altruistic behavior toward abnormal gut flora, candida :) we service them all day long!

I feel better knowing I have my own well. Sometimes it is good to live out in the sticks. :)

This is a simulation. Reality likely is different. The researchers are using “close physical contact” as a proxy for altruism. This is a weak connection, since close physical contact frequently includes behavior that is anything but altruistic (warfare and rape, for example), and many actual acts of altruism do not involve physical contact at all (such as financially supporting a worthless relative out of a sense of duty). Furthermore, some of what they are calling “altruism” may be simply generosity or cooperative behavior, such as holding open a door for a stranger. The fact that such behavior does not result in an immediately obvious payoff does not make it altruistic, as the term is understood by Objectivists.

Gotcha, free. I was just at a loss of thought and words. ;<)

(It was sarcasm, Zen;^)

I just don't know.

Hi O.A.; Maybe someone already has.

It'll be interesting to see if researchers start actually looking for such a microbe.