Nice Guys Finish First - Richard Dawkins 1987

Pessimists are forever pushing the "Nice Guys Finish Last" meme on us. People who exhibit selfish behaviors such as cheating and taking advantage of others use this affirmation as a sort of justification for their actions. If they played by the rules, they argue, they would be less successful. Religionists use this meme to stress the importance of their various faiths. Without religious dogma, they argue, there is no reason for human beings to act in an altruistic manner toward one another. According to this reasoning, altruism does not make sense outside of a religious context. This meme has taken significant mindshare in our culture, evidenced in the fact that so many people consider it "commonsense."

Unquestioningly we accept that it is our basic human nature to take unfair advantage of one another. Altruistic behaviors are denigrated with characterizations such as "naivety" and labels like "sucker," warnings that kindness and fair play are not standards for emulation. But is this "commonsense" valid? Secular Humanists recognize the flaw in such reasoning immediately. Society, the collective cooperative efforts of individual human beings, could never have evolved out of a species whose natural instincts are to lie, cheat, and otherwise betray one another for personal gain. Such a simple and straightforward reasoning does not work for most people. Either because they do not accept evolution, or are historically ignorant, or cannot see the endless expressions of altruism in their fellow humans, these individuals cannot alter their cognitive schemas to accept what others find apparent through observation (Consider Dr. David Brin's "Fecundity of Chaos" http://www.davidbrin.com/disputationarticle1.html ).

In his book, "The Selfish Gene," Richard Dawkins has a chapter titled "Nice Guys Finish First," where he explains mathematically why natural selection rewards cooperative behaviors within a species. Natural selection will reward the judicious and the altruistic on the level of a single community's members' interactions. Communities of altruistic and judicious individuals will be far more successful than societies of cheaters. These are mathematically demonstrable facts. So the next time a religionist tells us there can be no good behavior without religion, we should ask them if they have a half-hour see our proof.