Beer Drinking Networks In Amazon Tribe Help Explain Altruism

KentuckyFC writes "The Tsimane tribe are hunter-gatherers living in the forested region between the foothills of the Andes and the wetland-savannas of the Llanos de Moxos in Bolivia. They drink beer made from boiled manioc (a type of sweet potato) which they chew and spit into the mix to trigger fermentation. After a week or so, the resultant brew is about 4 per cent alcohol. Now anthropologists studying this tribe say the way they host beer drinking events for each other offers important clues into their culture. At issue is the question of altruism: why people spend considerable time and effort doing favors for others that don't directly benefit them. The answer from studying these beer drinking events is that the favor is quickly returned by the guests in the form of another beer drinking event. This helps to build good relations with neighbors and family. And when the beer drinking invite is not returned, the researchers speculate that this is probably because there is some other favor involved, such as helping to gather or prepare food, suggesting mates or political co-operation."

Comments

most violence here a 2AM bar closing

[peter303]

counter example lots of fights, rapes, and mruders just after 2AM

Re:most violence here a 2AM bar closing

[Chris Mattern]

What counter example? As you point out, after 2 AM is *after* closing. Therefore beer=good, no beer=bad.

Re:most violence here a 2AM bar closing

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't mind if I do.

It's not altruism if a favor is expected in return

[trout007]

Doing something for someone else with no expectation of it being returned is altruism.

Explain how?

[jbmartin6]

I don't see how this explains altruism, this explains self interest. It's no different than chimps taking turns picking lice off each other. (Disclaimer: I had chimp-like ancestors. Also, I am not saying chimps and the people in TFA are equivalent). Altruism is jumping on a live hand grenade, or taking on a predator while the rest of the troop flees.

Re:Explain how?

[jbmartin6]

Another point, it seems TFA doesn't use the word "altruism" it uses "reciprocity". So jeers for the submitter on that point.

Islam

[sycodon]

I bet if Islam allowed alcohol they'd all be a lot less cranky.

Re:Islam

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

I bet if Islam allowed alcohol they'd all be a lot less cranky.

Some of the crankiest people I knew were fundies living in dry counties in Texas. You may be on to something.

Re:It's not altruism if a favor is expected in ret

[somersault]

I don't know if a favour is expected in return, but there's something in us that makes us want to help others who've helped us anyway.

It seems obvious that altruistic behaviour would be a result of the fact that a species that helps each other is more likely to survive. It might also have side effects, like wanting to help any living creature to survive.. but as long as that doesn't damage the original species' reproductive abilities, there's no reason for that behaviour to be selected out.

We know how altruism evolves

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

I think we understand the evolutionary mechanism behind the development of altruism well enough now. The "tournament of algorithms" conducted by the U Mich in the late 1980s on the iterative prisoners dilemma provided the seminal breakthrough. Carl Sagan's article on the Golden Rule in the Parade mag in early 1990s and the newly added chapter 13 to "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins in the 30th anniversary edition of that book are easier to read. Game theory developed further. We are now able to explain the circumstances under which altruism develops, and we also understand why it is impossible to drive the "freeloaders" all the way down to zero. We are beginning to understand the role played by taboos and religion in reducing the freeloader problems. Some, like Steven Pinker, think evolution of the language 75000 years ago essentially needed a mechanism to check the freeloaders and religion was probably that mechanism.

So we are pretty far along these directions. Research on reciprocal altruism like this beer drinking ritual by some tribals is minor compared to the extensive work done on the bats regurgitating blood to share food with bats who did not have a successful hunt.

Re:It's not altruism if a favor is expected in ret

[sudon't]

Doing something for someone else with no expectation of it being returned is altruism.

I agree with that. It seems little different than the "round buying" that goes on in bars/pubs. When one buys a round, there's a reasonable expectation that everyone in the group will in turn buy a round. Unless you have a guy like Bob, who's always broke, but he's very entertaining to drink with, and a good guy. I guess we're buying him rounds for entertainment and companionship, so even that's not pure altruism.

Because the Tsimane don't have local bars, and making up a batch of brew is such a pain, it looks like they came up with a way to take turns being treated so that one is treated more often than one has to treat. Hardly altruism.