Radiolab - The Good Show

The standard view of evolution is that living things are shaped by cold-hearted competition. And there is no doubt that today's plants and animals carry the genetic legacy of ancestors who fought fiercely to survive and reproduce. But in this hour that we first broadcast back in 2010, we wonder whether there might also be a logic behind sharing, niceness, kindness ... or even, self-sacrifice. Is altruism an aberration, or just an elaborate guise for sneaky self-interest? Do we really live in a selfish, dog-eat-dog world? Or has evolution carved out a hidden code that rewards genuine cooperation? Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected] support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Duration: 1h 7m
Broadcast on: 19 Dec 2025
Audio Format: other

Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].
Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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WNYC Studios is supported by ODU. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. ODU solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. ODU is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out ODU at ODOO.com. That's ODOO.com. Wait, you're listening to Radio Lab. Radio Lab. From WNYC. This is Radio Lab. I'm left if not, sir. It's the holidays and as usual at this time of year, everyone's become so nice all of a sudden. Giving gifts, donating to charities, showing up with a plate of cookies, everything feels so warm and gooey and selfless. But where is all of this goodness coming from? This week, we're bringing back an episode from 2010 that asks a simple question. Why do we sometimes help others even when it hurts us to do so? It feels like the right episode for right now, not because it's a holiday story, although there is a little Christmas parable in there. But because it asks what generosity is, where it comes from, and whether it truly exists at all, here it is, the good show. All right. Okay, so let's just do the open. All right. Hey, I'm Chad Abu Marad. I'm Robert Krollowich. This is Radio Lab. And today, we're going to be talking, well, let's do it this way. Which way? I was at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, a gathering spot for cool people with new books. And with that particular we... Richard Dawkins. Richard Dawkins. They like him too. Don't make it so easy for him. I decided to begin. This is a real problem for a lot of people by quoting him to him. You write, I don't know if it's in this book or some other, the total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute, it takes me to compose this sentence. Thousands of animals are being eaten alive. Others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear. Others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites. Thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, disease. It must be so. If there's ever a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. Who? Darwin was worried by the same thing. I mean, Darwin recognized the total horror of the suffering in nature. It was one of the things that actually made him lose his faith. But he also realized that it's not just a fact that it happens. It's intrinsic to natural selection that it must happen.

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