Natural selection is predicated on the 'struggle for existence': life is short, cruel and, whether through predation, disease or starvation, often ends traumatically. It would seem that in such a dog-eat-dog world, organisms ought to act selfishly, and avoid reducing their fitness (expected survival and reproductive success) by expending time and energy helping others. Put another way, alleles that increase the probability of altruism - a behavior whose expression increases the fitness of recipients while decreasing that of the actor - should decrease in frequency across generations and ultimately disappear.