🧠 What Does “Selfish” Mean?
Usually, when someone is selfish, they:
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Don’t share
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Don’t help
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Only care about themselves
But in this lesson, we’re going to see something strange:
Sometimes, kindness can also be selfish.
How?
Let’s find out.
🤝 What If Helping Others Helps You Too?
Imagine this:
You give your friend a snack.
The next day, you fall down. Your friend helps you get up.
You helped first.
Then your friend helped back.
Now both of you feel better and safer.
This is not “mean” selfish.
This is smart selfish.
🧬 Genes That Help — to Get Help
Some genes can do something like this.
They “tell” the body:
“Be nice to others — if they will help you back.”
That gene can survive better because:
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The body is safer
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The body gets more food
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The body stays healthy
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And the gene gets copied!
So kindness… becomes a tool.
A tool to stay safe, and get copied.
🦍 Animal Example: The Monkey Groom
Monkeys clean each other’s fur. This is called “grooming.”
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It removes bugs
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It feels nice
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It builds trust
But guess what?
Monkeys often groom the ones who helped them before.
And they stop grooming those who don’t help back.
This is kindness — but it’s also smart selfishness.
“I help you, you help me. If not, I stop helping.”
🧠 Kindness Needs Memory
To be “smart kind,” animals (and people) need to:
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Remember who helped
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Remember who didn’t
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Choose who to help next
So creatures with better memory do more of this kind of kindness.
Like:
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Humans
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Chimps
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Dolphins
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Elephants
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Crows
📦 When Kindness Becomes a “Deal”
You give.
They give back.
If both do this — the kindness loop continues.
If one cheats — the loop stops.
Genes that learned to make smart kindness deals survived better.
That’s why some kindness in the world today is actually… smart, selfish gene behavior.
🧠 Recap
✅ Selfish doesn’t always mean mean
✅ Helping others can help you too
✅ Some genes “tell” the body to help — but expect help back
✅ Monkeys, chimps, and humans use “smart” kindness
✅ Memory helps this work — you remember who to trust