“As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races.”
Charles Darwin, Descent of Man

A Galapagos giant tortoise

Worst comes to worst, my people come first
But my tribe lives on every country on earth
I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt
The human race is what I serve

But who are my people? Canadians?

Who knows? Maybe everybody!

Some people got good friend; I’ve got disparate friends
They live on different ends of earth, but just pretend
We actually get to the end of the time of
 and dissolve the lines of difference

And

The Abolition of the Slave Trade, (The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840), by Benjamin Robert Haydon (died 1846).

And communities, the
That’s it’s not that difficult to extend our instinctual
Sympathies to
Like, for instance, notice how
Overseas, even if they’re personally unknown
Well so do I! But not so much when I come home
But I know there’s nothing to stop me extending this basic

Sympathy to the people of
By the way, those are Charles Darwin’s statements
Paraphrased, a man ahead of his time
Extending his imagination and formidable mind
Into a future where all human sympathies combine

Worst comes to worst, my people come first
But my tribe lives on every country on earth
I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt
The human race is what I serve

In the South Pacific Islands, there’s certain animals that don’t
Experience fear, like

A newborn sea lion in the Galapagos Islands

They never had predators, so their
Evolved to be
So then, why do we have to live with violence
When this whole planet could be like a pacifistic island?
Do we need fear

The only predators here are called
And yeah, but we can also be
Motivated by
Or by that Old Testament animosity: an eye for an eye
But that philosophy’s got the
Let’s not pretend it’s gonna be a cake-walk to end it
If violence is an instinct, it’s not entirely
But the is reciprocal altruism

Yes we can change our perspectives
And as soon as this is widely comprehended
Then I predict we’ll be as

Worst comes to worst, my people come first
But my tribe lives on every country on earth
I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt
The human race is what I serve

 The Galapagos islands are an archipelago off the coast of Ecuador, formed by volcanic eruption (the oldest island is about 4-5 million years old) and home to many unique species. Darwin visited these islands while traveling on the HMS Beagle. 

One of the reasons the Dodo bird succumbed to extinction was because of its lack of fear response, which allowed sailors and dogs to hunt them easily for food and sport.

The evolutionary origins of generosity are discussed in a paper entitled “The Evolutionary Origins of Human Generosity” by Aafke Komter or you can find out more in this article by USA Today: “Unraveling the mystery of why we give, or don’t”.

Darwin’s prediction of increasing peace based on a mixture of reason and natural sympathies appears to be coming true gradually, since anthropologists have noted a steady drop in homicide and violence over the past 1000 years. If you’re interested in finding out more why not check out Steven Pinker’s latest book: “The Angels of our Nature”