Why do we give gifts at all?
Weâre all evolved, right? Selfish genes and all that. So how come weâre generous? How come we waste valuable resources on other humans when we could be keeping them all for ourselves? Yet altruism, and gift-giving, exists in thousands of animal species. In most other species, itâs readily explicable by kin selection (being generous to close relatives who will likely carry our genes) or by reciprocity: males give gifts to females to boost their chance of mating; social creatures are generous to each other to gain favours themselves in future.
But humans are often generous to total strangers, almost certainly unrelated to them and who they may never meet again. Usually itâs explained by saying that itâs an evolutionary hangover from our days of living in far smaller groups.
â But Professor Martin Nowak of Harvard University suggests that our generosity is still evolutionarily helpful, because it creates a ânetworkâ of altruism that will eventually come back to benefit us: âI help you, and eventually somebody else will help meâ. "Our analysis shows that gratitude and other positive emotions, which increase the willingness to help others, can evolve in the competitive world of natural selection," says Prof Nowak, leading to "an 'epidemiology of altruism' resulting in an explosive increase of altruistic acts."
Déjà vu extract from this August 2016 LinkedIn article on Paul Trotter.
After growing up in the mountains of Guatemala (no Dr Ropata jokes please), and the more Mexican parts of Texas (my parents were missionaries) I returned to NZ at 13, completed my schooling in Tauranga, and moved up to the big smoke (Auckland) at 19. After a few years working for various companies, I founded Author-it (www.author-it.com), a software company with the mission to transform the creation of documentation, now focusing in Pharmaceutical documentation. I spent the next 20 years building, growing, and scaling Author-it, and during that time there isnât much I havenât done or seen in taking a NZ company global. Last year, after living in California for the last 6 years, I made the decision to step out of day-to-day operations and come home to New Zealand. Iâm now active in the NZ start-up community helping lots of great young entrepreneurs take on the world, and possibly avoid some of the many mistakes I made. I am also very active in governance, being on the board of my own company and several other companies, and believe governance is an area that needs significant changes, especially in the high grow technology-enabled space. I joined FKA to learn alongside a group of fun and experienced investors. After being a member for a few months, and having participated in a few DD teams, I have decided to invest in LLP2 as I believe it is the best way to participate in the opportunities and leverage the collective resources and experience of the group. I live in Rothesay Bay with my German partner Helen, who is patiently teaching me German, and the joys of sensible footwear. I also have an ex and four kids, who keep me poor and busy. Iâm a Rugby Referee for North Harbour and coach for junior rugby and basketball.
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Best way to get talking is via our www.ADI.Clinic. Just book a slot that next suits you.
ð ° Hi Rudi, I have booked in for the 29th at 5:20pm [...]I am skimming here. However, we and other senior figures know realyeti is a world changing model. I am about to speak with Fairfax investment vehicle Netus given their history with Trademe. We have already met Google in San Fran in March during our Cloud17 Expo. However, we weren't as developed then. I have not produced the typical IM nor run NPV as myself and our CA places nil value on them much like a pre-cashflow valuation. I am interested in meeting high net worth investors who will instantly recognise what we are doing and take the punt. Six months later. ð ° Lets have a catch up. We are now aiming for hyper-growth through licensing our technology to other global brochure websites. Its not hard to achieve given regional competition. I want to raise $5 million NZD for 30% equity. Let me know when your free. âð Please take a slot at www.ADI.Clinic to have a talk. ð ° I reckon the clinic won't cut it Rudi I need to meet with primed prop tech investors, your call as we are going international after Christmas with a UK and OZ launch. Let me know if you can help. The TVC on the homepage tells you enough. REA as we know it is over. Comments are closed.
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September 2024
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