Altruism versus Selfishness The text and the lecture talks about altruism and how it works with animals or humans. The text defends the point of the sacrifice that the altruistic member does for their group, but during the lecture, the professor made some opposite points based in new studies. Following the example of the text, a group of researchers observed groups of meerkat, which is a kind of mammal living in Africa. They concluded that one member of the group stayed in guard while the others members was looking for food, as an example of an altruistic action. But the professor said this member who guard the group ate before standing in guard. Secondly, as the guard is the first to see a predator, like a hawk, it can be the first of the group to scape and consenquently survive. Also, the new studies concluded that looking for food is more dangerous that staying in guard. When the meerkat in guard gives an alarm to the other meerkats, it can be a distract element for the predator, who focus on the group who is looking for food, not on the guard. So they have their own chances to scape and survivor. Finally, the professor compared it with human altruism with the follow example: an rich man, who donates everything that he has for other people, could not have his money anymore, but he will obtain another benefits from other people, as appreciation and admiration, which is not material, but can be so important as material things for this person. As we can see, altruism is not totally opposite of selfishness. Although one animal or human seems to be doing a sacrifice for their group, it is not free of some type of personal gain.