Humans are the only creatures that can consciously change themselves
Opinion from the Internet on selfless behavior:
“There is no such thing as a conscious selfless act. It always comes down to math. Or economics. People are utility maximizers. In other words they will always choose what they see as the best option. Which is being self serving. Which isn’t bad. It’s really the only way to be.”
You are completely right. This is how we are programmed, this is how we behave by default according to our inherent nature - which we had no free choice about so it is neither good or bad.
On the other hand now - that we evolved into a globally integrated, interdependent world - the instinctively selfish calculations, exploitative economy, the constant drive to succeed at each other’s expense has made us behave “like cancer”.
In a global, integral system survival necessitates completely different calculations, behavior - similarly how cells and organs of our own biological body maintain health and survive: each cell, organ making calculations only towards the well-being of the whole organism, collective.
Human beings are the only “creatures” in Nature’s system with a unique intellect, mind that is capable of critical self-assessment, initiating self-change in order to survive.
In our generation we have reached the state - before a seemingly inevitable see-destruction - when we will have to activate this unique Human mind, and to start an unprecedented, conscious Human development, learning how to act selflessly, consciously, above and against our selfish, egotistic instincts.
And when we do so, within the contrast of our initial, instinctive behavior and the acquired new, “Nature-like” program, we become Nature’s only conscious, independent, objective observers, partners.