1. Checkpoint PowerPoint Winter Quarter 2008 COM SCI 194 Honors Research Professor Amit Sahai Alexander Liu and Eric Chang

2. Progress Overview Expanded coding on our simulation framework With some extensions it is sufficient for our current needs Finished running our initial sets of experiments These results are leading us to branch off into new directions

3. Experimental Topics Single variable-controlled altruism vs. altruism that is influenced by two variables- one governing potential and one expression The influence of locality- do altruists have a better chance when they interact with each other more than they do with strangers? What if they were allowed to horde? Genetic vs. cultural basis for altruism- the former is strictly inherited, the latter could be influenced and changed One hypothesis is that altruism has its roots in behavior between parents and children- being nice to your kids does not require reciprocation to have immediate benefits for the survival of your genes

4. Selected Graphs

5. What’s next? Many of our results indicate potential for further investigations in depth Development of existing experiments and creation of related new ones will help us do so We want to place our focus on repeated phenomena; it is our hope that these can provide glimpses into the fundamental principles underlying altruism