>>>> That doesn't explain charitable donations for Haiti/Pakistani etc. relief.
>>>The above goes a long way to giving a plausible explanation.
>>
>>How so?
>
>I said plausible not simple so I'm not sure I can summarize very easily..
>
>You seem to accept that altruism works on a tribal level and has proven itself over many thousands of years to be beneficial to species survival (this doesn't just apply to humans)

Yes.

>The manifestation of altruism in humans is compassion/pity (or other subjective nouns of your choice)

That's a bit of a leap, IMO. Behaviour indistinguishable from "compassion/pity" can be exhibited by those who are merely lazy, or even amoral if they are embedded within a larger society or culture that places value on those behaviours.

>Once you are genetically programmed to have these feelings then you do not control who should be the benificiaries.
>(Well OK - I'll make an exception for Bill :-} )

An even bigger leap. To ask just one superficial question, are you saying one can't distinguish between tribe/non-tribe in considering beneficiaries?