humour me again

so, in regards to the post about the inevitability of cynicism... let me first clarify that i imply nothing more than a straightforward interpretation of the word and would like to eschew other concepts, for example pessimism, that though abstractly connected to cynicism, is not part of its definition. that is, a cynic believes [most] people are motivated by selfishness and that "virtue" is achieved through self-control.

i used to be idealistic, up until very recently, figuring altruism to be a significant human trait. if this were true however, capitalism would not have evolved to be the dominant economic phenomenon, or rather, socialist systems wouldn't be so unstable. furthermore, a capitalist system necessarily makes it so that altruistic behaviour is more likely to incur penalties when it comes to survival advantage. with such cause and effect at play, and with an exploding human population competing for finite resources, i can't see how altruism can survive. concordantly (*snap* i've finally used that word) proactive self-interest will predominate.

in that light i see selfishness evident empirically and the cynical position as not invalid. from a personal standpoint, even though i hold that self-control is "virtuous", i have not met a single person, including myself, who exercises it out of principle as opposed to necessity for avoiding disadvantage. (clearly i have never met a buddhist.)