Altruism is a type of behavior in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for that of another animal or group of animals. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness; individuals performing altruistic acts gain nothing for themselves. Examples of altruism abound, both among humans and among other mammals. Unselfish acts among humans range from the sharing of food with strangers to the donation of body organs to family members, and even to strangers. Such acts are altruistic in that they benefit another, yet provide little reward to the one performing the act. In fact, many species of animals appear willing to sacrifice food, or even their life, to assist other members of their group. The meerkat, which is a mammal that dwells in burrows in grassland areas of Africa, is often cited as an example. In groups of meerkats, an individual acts as a sentinel, standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have obtained. If the sentinel meerkat sees a predator such as a hawk approaching the group, it gives an alarm cry alerting the other meerkats to run and seek shelter. By standing guard, the sentinel meerkat gains nothing—it goes without food while the others eat, and it places itself in grave danger. After it issues an alarm, it has to flee alone, which might make it more at risk to a predator, since animals in groups are often able to work together to fend off a predator. So the altruistic sentinel behavior helps ensure the survival of other members of the meerkat’s group.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to specifically explain how they cast doubt on points made in the reading passage.
The lecture contradicts the passage by explaining self-benefits obtained by sentinel of Meerkats and altruist human. The passage describes the trait of selflessness in humans and animals by giving example acts. However the lecture refutes these descriptions by pointing out the benefits that are obtained out of these acts by animals and humans who do them.
First, the lecture states that the sentinel of Meerkats eats before the group sets for searching for food. So, it actually doesn’t lose its appetite. However the passage says that it cannot get its food because it serves as guard while rest of the group searches for its food. So, from the new findings stated in lecture it can be understood that the sentinel is not really selfless to sacrifice its food for the sake of the group.
Second, the lecture claims that the sentinel is more likely to escape from predator than rest of the group. This is because as the sentinel of Meerkats gives alarm cry, the rest of the group is becomes frightened and they try to escape faster. Due to these sudden movements the predators changes its attention from sentinel to rest of the group. Since the sentinel is nearer to its home and as it notices the predator first while rest of the group is busy in gathering its food, it can escape easily. So, the sentinel is actually benefitted here. Such a claim opposes the argument made in passage, the passage says that since group has stronger defending mechanisms by acting together, the lone sentinel is more probable to be attacked by the predator.
Third, the lecture explains that due to selfless acts humans get appreciation from the society and hence they would be happier. Anyways these non-material benefits are completely ignored by the passage. The lecture opposes the passage by illustrating that by helping others humans actually don’t act completely selflessly.
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 212, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...ans and animals by giving example acts. However the lecture refutes these descriptions ...
^^^^^^^
Line 2, column 155, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...ctually doesn't lose its appetite. However the passage says that it cannot get its...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, anyway, first, hence, however, if, really, second, so, third, while
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 13.0 10.4613686534 124% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 5.04856512141 79% => OK
Conjunction : 6.0 7.30242825607 82% => OK
Relative clauses : 9.0 12.0772626932 75% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 29.0 22.412803532 129% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 42.0 30.3222958057 139% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1572.0 1373.03311258 114% => OK
No of words: 314.0 270.72406181 116% => OK
Chars per words: 5.00636942675 5.08290768461 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.20951839842 4.04702891845 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.5884334701 2.5805825403 100% => OK
Unique words: 146.0 145.348785872 100% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.464968152866 0.540411800872 86% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 488.7 419.366225166 117% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.23620309051 121% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 2.5761589404 78% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 13.0662251656 122% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 21.2450331126 89% => OK
Sentence length SD: 39.4136714859 49.2860985944 80% => OK
Chars per sentence: 98.25 110.228320801 89% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.625 21.698381199 90% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.8125 7.06452816374 68% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 4.33554083885 185% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 4.45695364238 90% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.128410838316 0.272083759551 47% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.048101260465 0.0996497079465 48% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0367154989843 0.0662205650399 55% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0791500764236 0.162205337803 49% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0448817917387 0.0443174109184 101% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.0 13.3589403974 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 52.19 53.8541721854 97% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 11.0289183223 97% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.78 12.2367328918 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.15 8.42419426049 97% => OK
difficult_words: 71.0 63.6247240618 112% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 10.7273730684 70% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 10.498013245 91% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.2008830022 107% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.