^People are not inherently selfish, despite constant reports to
the contrary.
All of the world, scientists have proven, over and over again,
that two strangers in a room together will always be completely
fair with each other.
The ultimatum game: One person gets $10. That person gets to
choose how much to offer the other person. If the other person
takes it, they both keep their shares. If the other person
rejects it, they both walk away empty handed.
Researches assumed that most people would offer something like a
$1.
But in USA, Japan, Russian, Germany France, Indonesia -
everywhere they tried the experiment - all offered $5.
A 50/50 split. Completely fair.
Nobody wanted to offend the other person.
Except those with a brain that lacked empathy due to brain
damage.
And that is surprisingly rare.
(but if the other person is invisible - in a neighboring room
for example and unseen, the situation changes for many. Still
though, hard-wired into the majority of human brains, is
sympathy and empathy. There's hope for us all yet).^
