Does true altruism exist?

@sc: Hehe I was jokingly serious :p

But yeah it can be quite rewarding helping people, I don't do it to make myself look better than others, nor do I do it for any self-gratification purposes. But it's more or less of a need to connect or help another human being. Well if I offered someone money if they helped me I wouldn't offer it again, depending on the circumstance. When I went over to the Grandma's house I guess it was more of a business type thing than a friend helping a friend, or at least maybe that's what she viewed it as, I will be working with them in the near future.

Hehe my reward was getting to talk to the Grandma about her career in teaching ^^

Possibly, yeah.

Obviously yes

It's a complicated question, but in general, I lean toward "no."

The cynical one has spoken!!

We see the world as bleak, so you don't have to.

@jedixman: The world can be full of meaning if one wishes ^^

You're the only thing in the world that I need :D

Life has meaning again :D

Definitely.

And for that JXM, I thank you.

This was covered by Phoebe, in one Friends episode. The one where Phoebe hates CBS.

An enjoyable sub plot.

As for my asnwer: No, and there`s no need to be.

As for the best answer, it`s the one @sc wrote, as expected.

Sporadically yes, generally no. We are naturally self-interested people; we often get more frustrated when we deny ourselves selfish pleasures than when we deny altruistic favors to others. This is mainly because internal biases make us interpret our individual needs as more of a necessity and the needs of others as a luxury.