Simulating Green Beard Altruism 

Lots of comments relate to racism, so I think it's worth discussing that a little. Racism in humans is a very complex phenomenon that can't be simply traced to genes. To be honest, I don't think I really understand racism, but I'm confident saying a full understanding would take inputs from biology, psychology, sociology, and history, perhaps more. But as the video explains, the green beard phenomenon is very brittle and rarely shows up in nature, so it's not an explanation, and certainly not a justification for something as complex as racism. Thanks for reading, and be kind to each other. :)

"The red ones will be called imposters" Ah crap.

I genuinely appreciate that these videos have darker colours and don't use a bright white background.

“It’s interesting to imagine what kinds of alleles have appeared in the history of the earth and could have done well but just got unlucky.” Way to casually blow my mind, primer.

i feel bad for the suckers; they did their best to help, and most of them even gave their lives in order to save others, but the bearded folk ended up leaving them in the dirt to get eaten by the predators :(

"I don't see color, just your beard." - Manliest Blob

"These will be red and called imposters" Why have you done this to me

I think it's worth considering adding in a possibility of a coward's counterpart surviving an encounter with a predator. A lot of altruistic behaviours are based around group dynamics and peacekeeping in interdependant groups, so living with the results of one's actions in terms of group dynaics is a huge part of altruism.

I'd love to see you run simulations on invasive species showing why they can fail in their own environment but succeed in another's

Altruism: "Sharing is Caring" Cowards: "Caring is Daring" Imposters: "Dont eject us"

It would be interesting if there was a variable like 10-25% chance that a blob switches from "non-altruistic" to "altruistic" through the experience of being saved by a blob with altruism if the blob saving them survived.

Actually I think the cowardice vs altruism kind of says something about society but not in a hopeless way and more in a warning sense. Cowardice wins out but it’s based solely on individuals in the environment and whether they live or die, in this sense cowardice makes sense because if it’s just you then you’re definitely going to try and survive and put yourself first. However Altruism is beneficial in that it would allow a community to survive for longer. Altruism would more likely lead to the blobs defending each other and maybe even causing the predators to avoid them. Which means more potential mates and young would end up surviving. E.g. When chimps band together to attack an incoming threat. Some may die, but the group, including its costly young would survive. If every chimp ran away then the slow and the young would probably all get destroyed and the chimps would have to exude a lot of effort to make more young and have a next generation. So even though cowardice wins in a selfish emotionless environment, it wouldn’t be practical in the long run. So a purely social darwinistic society where every individual only acts in their sole self interest would probably not survive in the long term, or atleast not with a large sustainable population. Maybe that could have been demonstrated if cowardice had a lower chance of reproducing than the altruism (less mates) or perhaps an energy penalty (since each individual would have to gather for themselves instead of sharing food) (Not a criticism of the program, just adding my opinion)

I might be interested in seeing this type of scenario except if a blob runs away, it becomes less likely that the other blobs will help it again. I feel like this is the main difference between this scenario and real life. Those who help others are more likely to receive help from others, and someone who has experienced kindness is more likely to show kindness.

"The classic example of this is a green beard, and that's a fun thing to put on the blob so let's stick with that." Well... yeah, can't argue with that.

The True Beards will not be forgotten.

What if there was a function where each time an imposter or coward was saved, it had a chance to become a sucker or true beard? After all, while not everyone may do it, a good majority of people may help in return if their treated nicely. Especially if someone saves their life.

0:13 gosh this little smile just made my day

"The first to go are the suckers. They help, but they never get help. It's a tough world out there." That hit me harder than it had any right to

Statistically speaking, I can't get enough of these videos

Two major factors that make "altruism" work in real life but not a simulation this simple: - In reality, the desire to help others predominantly extends only to those that are close to you, namely family. Given family would share this "helpful" gene, it's closer to the first green beard simulation. - Not every encounter in real life is a life or death situation. Coupled with the ability to alert others of "traitors", "smart altruism" would overwhelmingly win out over other choices. And this is just for animals. With humans, their advanced reasoning capability allows them to rationalize the advantages of altruism even if they would not otherwise be disposed to it.

It would be interesting if the creatures had a memory, and could take revenge on their rival.

don't you hate it when you're out picking mangos in the forest when suddenly a green tree-dwelling version of the carnivorous chomper from pvz just decided to ate your entire family?

I think an interesting thing to add to this would be a chance to convert to an altruistic behavior after being saved by another blob

Every video you made are just incredible. Every time I see your video my brain think into so deep and eventually I feel like I learned so much in just 10 to 15 mins!

This reminded me of a question that I had when I started studying history back in primary school. If the bravest of men were in the front lines of every conflict, they were most likely to be casualities. The bravest of us had been culled down for generations: in war, as political dissidents, down to a business owner who would stand his ground against local mafia, thieves, etc. Are we becoming soft and useless because of that? Amenable, obedient, in need of someone to save us, to tell us what to do?

I'd totally pay money if you made a simulation like this into a video game where we could control factors like the environment, creatures, etc.

the reds being called impostors was like a jumpscare in a horror movie

Its actually really fun to learn and see what happens, and when i get guess, that just brings more joy to the table. Thank you for these vids, they make me really happy and i hope you too.😊

i think one of the biggest things about human altruism that this video doesn't capture is how we treat people we know vs those we dont know, community vs outsiders. in a case like that, the two dominant genes would likely be narrow altruism (sacrificing for blobs that live within a certain range of itself), and broad altruism (sacrificing for any blobs). on a larger scale, there's also the question of who's seen as community vs outsiders, which is often determined by physical and/or cultural appearance, and is also part of how racism starts (outside of exploitation for gain justified by xenophobia , and a lot of other things. humans have a tendency to be wary of those we see as outsiders, but that doesn't always translate to hatred, and who we even *see* as outsiders can vary a lot as well. so can things like competition, since those who already arent struggling will be less likely to care about an outsider coming along, let alone see them as competition for resources. however, in human society, it's important to distinguish between competition for resources, and who actually *controls* said resources. yes, this tendency towards fearing outsiders can make people more prone to bigotry, but it's almost always groomed into such by people who have something to gain from the have-nots fighting amongst themselves, instead of confronting the ones who have everything. a broke, white redneck from alabama who dropped out of high school has infinitely more in common with an illegal mexican migrant in cali who can barely speak english, than either of them have in common with their local congressmen of the same race.)

They're evolving, and they're also learning to behave as impostors. They are too dangerous and need to be taken down before it's too late.

That’s probably why real systems of altruism in species rely more on social reputation than outward appearance. There’s a species of bird which socialize and remove parasites from each other. The tacit agreement is one helps rid the parasites from another, then that one turns around a helps the first. Sometimes, a bird takes advantage of this system by leaving once they’ve been helped without helping the other bird. However, when these birds come back they are shunned from the help circle.

I watch your videos when ever I get bored I LOVE YOU VIDS SO MUCH

Love these types of videos, thanks. Currently binge watching them😂

These videos are right up there at the pinnacle of quality on this website. Congrats on 1 mill dude, I'm sorry I missed that milestone. To have achieved that with the number of videos you have demonstrates how each one is a work of art; and science. I am in awe.

5:51 "More blobs being saved just results in more blobs being eaten later on." That's...kind of depressing, ngl.

Your videos are cool to watch thanks for making them!

man i love watching these great job dude :-]

You should run a simulation with the “pay it forward” mentality where imposters who are helped have a 50% chance of converting into a true green beard.

"Look, Tomar, it's you!"

Statistically speaking, I can't get enough of these videos. Statistically speaking, I can't get enough of these videos.

I gotta say I’m late to discovering your videos but I love em and also these little blob bean boi’s are super adorable lmfaoo

The moment the imposter allele was announced the live chat went crazy

And the moral of the story is: don’t be nice to other people or you will get eaten by a huge Venus fly trap that lives in your tree

All the grey beards gotta help the green beards, ROCK AND STONE!

some cool but extremely hard to make traits 1. if a altruistic blob saves a coward that blob becomes altruistic 2. if a true beard gets tricked by an imposter it will not be altruistic 3. a fighter that can fight blobs for food making them die if they get no food like a "hawk"

The little blue bean's happy reaction to receiving a gift was priceless.

This is a great simulator/explanation for genetics.

i love learning from these videos its better than school bc THIS GUY makes it fun

I'd love to see a simulation of what happens when altruism is "contagious". When an altruistic blob saves a coward, the coward becomes altruistic. And vice versa. Or maybe it's only passed on of the altruistic blob sacrifices itself?

Actually, the answer to this is very well known, "For altruism to work, you MUST punish cheaters!". In fact, a lot of creatures "humans included" have mechanisms for punishing cheaters. The green beard mechanism worked because it punishes those who are not reciprocally altruistic by not granting them altruism. The imposters won in the last situation because there was no mechanism to punish imposters.

This is the best channel i have found on youtube!!!

I also find it interesting, that this Model kind of explains, why so many people in real life want it to be recognised when they do something good. You need others to recognise and appreciate the good in you to be able to survive in the long run.

if ants don't give back massages, they're labeled as outsiders and killed. That's why some weird looking insects can infiltrate ant colonies to eat larva by simply interacting with ants the way ants expect themselves to interact

Because of this channel, I understand a few concepts in my probability and statistics class. Do more 👍

In Nature the very act of alerting correctly is often the signal that one is a green beard. So there are situations where an imposter is just also altruistic unintentionally. What this model says to me is that altruism fundamentally can't be an unchangeable genetic property or it fails.

And the red ones will be called impostors Me: Ah shit here we go again

Live chat: 😀 Live chat when Primer used the Impostors: 😳🗿😂😎🔥

ok the video is cool and all but the way that blob smiled at 0:14 melted my heart

Suspense is mean worry, my suspense is getting lower and lower due to this fantastic video, adequate spectators love it, I have engrossed in it and it is a good guidance to all of us

calling the red boi "impostor" was pretty sly

Something about an entire species of altruistic blobs going extinct for the sake of helping a species of coward blobs is extremely sad and kind of infuriating when viewed in form of a graph.

okay but what of we added friendship into the mix, if cowards were helped by altruists they would be willing to help that blob back

Why humans have still evolved to be altruistic: This information comes from an evolutionary psychology subject I took as part of my psych degree, and the papers and books I read during that time. Another commenter touched on this, but the reason is because of "reciprocal altruism" within which we act altruistically towards others, even at a cost to ourselves, with the expectation that they will then be altruistic towards us in the future. Going by the maths approach of this video series, this works out because the amount of costs to an individual tends to be less than the benefits they may receive later from the individual or group they have assisted. For example in cave man times, if one was to kill a large animal, without the preservation techniques we have today, a lot of the meat on it would be go bad, so by giving some to others, and expecting them to do the same, the species, and genes benefit. Or, to give an example with a cost, like in this video, it may be that by warning others, there is only a 30% chance of death, but a 95% chance the warned individual will be saved. So overall, for both individual genes and a group, doing so will increase survival. But of course, the real question is why do cheaters not win then? Well just as physical traits were shown to evolve, in this series, psychological (or more simply mental) traits also evolve. One such trait that has evolved is a specialised ability to keep track of those who cheat, and those who reciprocate (obviously as usual it's much more complicated than this). Also it is important to note, that ability was considered so important, that it was highly selected for. Over time a species only has a limited amount of "evolutionary resources" which is how much they can actually change over time, since change is gradual in the real world (eg giraffe's necks would grow slightly longer with each generation, not massive all at once). Humans may have actually nerfed themselves physically, because evolving these psychological mechanisms was so useful for survival. It may also be true to say that these mechanisms, and associated other mechanisms, are actually what has created the society we live in today, and informs the relationships that we will have throughout our entire lives! Another interesting thing to note here is psychopaths/sociopaths. They are essentially, the pinnacle of cheaters, so recognising them is highly important. Because they are willing to take from others without giving (like the imposters) if we become unable to recognise them, they will end up wiping the rest of the species out over enough generations. Interesting this results in a kind of evolutionary warfare, in which if there are too many sociopaths/psychopaths at one time, the rest of the population will get too good at distinguishing them, and they will end up dying out, but if they are rare, and skilled at remaining undetected, it won't be worth it as a population to improve in ability at detecting them. So, and I'm sure there's some kind of complex equation for this, there can only be a certain percentage of "imposters" in a population at a given time. A lot of this is more theoretical than 100% proven, as most evolutionary and especially evolutionary psychology concepts are, but it is our best guess as far as I am aware of currently, and very interesting to think about and apply to real world scenarios in your own life!

What if the blobs could notice other blobs yelling and saving others, then remember that blob and treat them as a greenbeard? This would simulate reality where people get to know others by their actions and treat them accordingly.

8:40 "It's interesting to imagine what kinds of alleles might have emerged in the history of the Earth and could've done well, but just got unlucky". Oh man, what a sad thought.

This is really cool simulation! And if you coded ths good job :)

Altruism probably needs the creatures to have emotion so they can feel for the other blob.

I'm literally waiting for a literal lore world that contains all type of blobs, and a cool story about them

Idea: Perhaps you can add communication between blobs. For example when blob1 is saved by another blob2 he can tell his direct family, that blob2 is nice. In return the (altruistic) direct family of blob1 will always warn blob2 when they spot the predator, because they are more inclined to save blob2 due to his shown kindness towards blob1. This will allow him greater survival chances in the long run.

This has become one of my favorite channels. This reminds me of Give and Take by Adam Grant

Amazing, as always. Every video you post explains in great detail. I think you should try this: 33% Everything but 1% imposters. That would be interesting.

Maybe you could add a reputation score.. like how green is the beard, and when someone warns someone and they survive the one who warned the other gets a better reputation

Moral of the story? Try to help others but recognise a lost cause before its too late. Or blobs with beards are cute af, you choose

I think you should try it with the same blobs meeting each other multiple times. You could have something like an allele for remembering previous encounters and one for forgetting previous encounters, and then separately an allele that is always a coward, one that is always nice, one that starts off nice and then mirrors whatever strategy the other blob used previously if it has a memory, and one that starts off as a coward and then mirrors whatever strategy the other blob used previously.

The blobs are color blind, they just love a fabulously spiffy beards

In humans, we don’t see who a “green beard” is at a glance. Many people will only act with self-destructive altruism toward someone who is known and trusted, often needing to build that trust up for years. Additionally, that trust can typically only be earned through helping one another, even if that help is given with selfish intentions. Very rarely will a person fully fit the “imposter” role in which they only receive help but never return any at all, as people around them will figure out that “the beard is fake” A more applicable model might be one as mentioned by another comment, in which a blob can gain or lose their green beards based on previous actions

Must be nice to have a green beard tbh

I think an interesting idea to add to this experiment would be to make altruistic blobs help whoever and then the other blobs have a chance of becoming altruistic after they have been helped.

it seems like everyone is commenting about how this simulation could be improved, and honestly, good! it’s good to recognize just how limited it is (not that primer didn’t warn us) and think critically on it.

I’d be interested in seeing what happens if the Imposters were given a 10% chance to turn into Cowards whenever they fail to rescue someone, representing what happens when the imposter is found out and Green Beards stop helping them

"Look Tomar, it's you."

no, the issue with the initial testing was there was no risk for allele 1 ever. they had a yell and survive rate of 100%

I had a thought on this video here. What if the alturism wasn't passed on as a gene in your simulation but rather an inclination. Some people have an inclining to help others more some people have no inclining at all. However, as people help one another that increases the likelihood of those that were helped of helping others in the community. Maybe, there is even a decay in that inclination back to that individuals base levels. I hypothesize that this model would do exceptional well in the scenario where their is a 50% death chance on alturism. Also in stead of their being imposters everyone has different beard colors. The closer to Green it is the more likely they will help out and the farther from green the less likely of course.

The answer you're looking for, in my opinion, is a social one, not a purely genetic one. Say the various blobs can NOT tell which blobs are imposters by a physical characteristic, but can recognize individuals and can remember when a blob saves someone. Then it's not necessarily about an arbitrary physical manifestation that can be faked, it requires a building of something akin to "trust." Blobs are more likely to work with blobs that they trust, and more likely to save them. That would be a fun model to experiment with and watch play out.

"The blobs with green beards but no altruism will be red and called impostors" *_amogus flashbacks_*

Someone on discord sent me the entire video up to the imposter part and honestly, im not disappointed

“The red ones will be called Imposters.” OH GOD OH NO PLEASE NO

honestly, even with a million subscribers, this channel is underrated.

Love your videos man. I'm a professor who teaches evo bio. I'm screaming at this video "they need memories man!" Shows you're an amazing creator, I'm so invested because the content is so good!

Joshua Risko's comment about 'converting' to altruism touches upon the basic flaw of the model. Behaviours don't spread within the generations, that is, there is only natural selection and not social selection. In real life, in-group selection is fluid and associative rather than determinate. Saving someone creates a bond that makes those someones more likely to reciprocate in the future. In-groups form naturally through similarity and proximity, sure, but they also *build* through social mechanisms. I should note that I love this video. It's not to its detriment that you don't end up effectively simulating altruism, you're cover a lot of ground in uncovering what altruism actually *is* on the systems level.

good video keep em coming up

Guy1: Hey! don't go ther- Guy2: Shhhh he dosnt have a green beard. Let him suffer...

video: what do you think will happen? me: well that is obviously... video: predict ahead of time what you think will happen me: oh well that is just GREAT

your videos are awesome

10:28 "Impostor" Me: "Oh God, please no" My brain: " *WHEN THE BEARD IS SUS* "

"The cowardice gene will be yellaw" Subtle, but a good one.

"one of them will notice the predator". Only one of the two will notice. That's a key detail I missed the first time.

Can we just take a second to appreciate the music in every video

I have an idea for another Allele: Bravery. The Blob fights the predator with a 25-80% chance to die.

No clickbait, interesting content that has practical applications, well animated and narrated. This is peak youtube, right next to filthy frank (just the opposite kind). Thanks for the video