I was bemoaning the lack of action on global warming, and how all of civilization was at risk if we didn’t take action now, and my boomer mom replied,

“Why should I care? I’ll be dead by then!” 😞

What about these voters makes them unable to sympathize with others when it happens to them?

Sociopathy

Plants come close, using nitrogen to make protein, and CO2 for carbohydrates.

I’ve read The Selfish Gene and also studied Biology, earning a BS in the process. One thing you fail to consider is your genes are diluted with each generation. Your children will have 50% of your genes, your grandchildren 25%, and their children will each have 12.5% of your precious genes. And lest you think your genes are somehow unique and valuable, most likely 100% of them already exist in other people.

You also fail to mention that Dawkins, rightfully concerned about those using his work to justify selfishness, explicitly discusses how, now that we know of these selfish-replicators, we can cultivate pure altruism - going against our biological programming and doing the right thing. That’s what people who choose not to have children are doing - they are acting in the best interests of humanity.

I have a seedbox. On private trackers I limit my UL speed to give home seeders as chance to build ratio.

For public torrents where I am the only seeder, I throttle upload so the leech might appreciate the value of having multiple seeders and will seed the torrent so the next user doesn’t have to go through the same bad experience. It hardly ever works, though.

It’s exactly what lions do!