BreakPoint

BreakPoint: Surprising Altruism

This past weekend, practically every TV was tuned to the same event and the same place. No, it wasn’t an NFL football game. Americans were gripped this past weekend with the high drama of watching men drilling a hole in the ground: a hole that represented the difference between life and death and a hole that illustrates why, contrary to what we have been told, we are not just another ape. On August 5th, a copper and gold mine in Chile caved in. The tragedy turned into a national crusade when, seventeen days later, it was confirmed that thirty-three miners had miraculously survived the cave-in. They were trapped in a rescue chamber 2,300 feet beneath the surface. President Sebastian Pinera and his government made the miners’ rescue their top priority. Work began immediately on drilling a 28-inch hole down to the rescue chamber to extract the survivors. No expense or effort was spared, and technical help came in from all around the world. And while families maintained a silent but painful  vigil, food, water and other supplies were lowered down to the survivors through a smaller hole. This past weekend, the rescue shaft was completed. Given its width, the miners will have to be removed one at a time. Since each trip will take approximately an hour, it will take the better part of two days to remove all the miners. Who should go first? The weakest? Well, there was still one more twist in store for Chile and the world. A surprised Health Minister Jaime Manalich told AP that the miners “were fighting with [authorities] yesterday because everyone wanted to be at the end of the line, not the beginning.” A news man from the scene choked up while reporting it. You know who else should be surprised: Darwinians. They believe the race has evolved through survival of the fittest. Neo-Darwinism cannot explain altruism like that displayed by the miners. At best, it can offer a superficially plausible explanation for what they call “cooperation.” But caring about someone outside your immediate kinship group, much less being willing to sacrifice your well-being for theirs? Never. Richard Dawkins’ “selfish gene” would demand to be the first person out of that mine. The “selfish gene” would not have even made the miners’ rescue a national priority. It would have settled for superficially-plausible mourning. A far more plausible explanation is suggested by the items that the miners asked be sent down to them while they waited for rescue: a crucifix and other items associated with their Catholic faith. They told officials that they wanted to set up a shrine in the rescue chamber. They signed two flags for Pope Benedict and, to make sure he got at least one, gave them to different officials. Now ask yourself, which is a better explanation for their altruism: a “selfish gene” or belief in a Good Shepherd that gives his life for the sheep? Even without an explicit faith connection, we know that this kind of altruism is uniquely human. Females of other species will fight to the death to defend their young, but another female’s young? Never. This is so obvious that the insistence that man is just another ape is nothing but a worldview—a humanist philosophy which is palpably false. It’s a worldview that can never account for what just happened in Chile, and makes the continued adherence to the Darwinian worldview the biggest surprise of all.

Further Reading and Information

Mine Saga in Chile Captivates Bolivians Simon Romero | The New York Times | October 11, 2010 Chilean President Looking Forward to Imminent Mine Rescue CNN International | October 12, 2010 Morality and Monkey Business Chuck Colson | BreakPoint | September 7, 2010

10/12/10