Psychological and Biological Perspectives on Altruism

This paper presents the case for viewing altruism as an inherent part of human nature. The argument is first made that 'inclusive fitness', the key concept in modern evolutionary biology, dictates that (a) humans are programmed not only to be egoistic but also, under certain conditions, to help another at cost to themselves; and (b) what was selected was not altruistic action but mediators of action, because this provided the necessary flexibility. Psychological evidence is then presented that complements this view. Thus (a) there appears to a general human tendency to help others in distress, which has properties analagous to egoistic motivation and yet comes into play independently of egoistic motivation; and (b) the evolutionary requirements for a mediating mechanism appear to be met by empathy, e.g., it is reliably aroused in humans in response to misfortune in others, it predisposes the individual toward helping action and yet is amenable to perceptual and cognitive control, and its physiological basis may have been present in early humans. The social implications of a biological basis for human altruism are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66763/2/10.1177_016502547800100403.pd

Enhanced performance in fusion plasmas through turbulence suppression by megaelectronvolt ions

© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.Alpha particles with energies on the order of megaelectronvolts will be the main source of plasma heating in future magnetic confinement fusion reactors. Instead of heating fuel ions, most of the energy of alpha particles is transferred to electrons in the plasma. Furthermore, alpha particles can also excite Alfvénic instabilities, which were previously considered to be detrimental to the performance of the fusion device. Here we report improved thermal ion confinement in the presence of megaelectronvolts ions and strong fast ion-driven Alfvénic instabilities in recent experiments on the Joint European Torus. Detailed transport analysis of these experiments reveals turbulence suppression through a complex multi-scale mechanism that generates large-scale zonal flows. This holds promise for more economical operation of fusion reactors with dominant alpha particle heating and ultimately cheaper fusion electricity.N