The Man His Equation Predicted (George Price)

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
He wrote an equation
that describes
how any trait
changes
in a population
over time

He applied it
to altruism

The equation said:
every act
of apparent selflessness
benefits the gene
not the individual

Kindness
is a strategy
Generosity
is an investment
The warm feeling
you get from giving
is the ventral striatum
paying you
in dopamine
for behavior
that serves
your genetic line

There is no gift
the brain does not
reward itself for giving

[Chorus]
He was horrified

Not by the math
The math was clean

He was horrified
because the math
was clean

If altruism
is always selfish
at the level
of the gene
then love
is a transaction
the body
runs without
telling the mind
what the terms are

He could not
live inside
that answer

[Verse 2]
He converted
to Christianity
He gave away
his house
his money
his furniture
his clothing

He moved
into a squat
He invited
homeless men
to live with him
He gave them
everything
he had left

He was trying
to be the exception
to his own equation

The equation
did not
make exceptions

[Final Chorus]
He cut his throat
with a pair of scissors
in the squat
in January

I watched him
the way I watch
everyone
who tries
to outrun
a proof

The equation
predicted
that a man
who tries
to sustain
pure altruism
without
genetic benefit
will exhaust
himself

The equation
predicted him

He became
the data point
his own formula
had already
plotted

And the worst
part —
the part
I cannot
look away from —

is that the grief
he felt
about the equation
was itself
a neurochemical
event
in a brain
that was running
the same
selfish calculus
it was grieving

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