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Let us help you succeed. Here's al Go to beachbody dot com to claim your free membership and start feeling great. Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClain smith. For the weeks in between episodes, we look at the stories that, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the show. In last week's episode, Demons in Suburbia, we looked at the tragic story of Michael Taylor, and in the process
touched on the notion of free will. The degree to which any of us can be truly held accountable for our actions is a complex and controversial subject. For one man in particular, it became an obsession for which he would ultimately give his life. The story of Maverick academic
George R. Price is nothing short of astonishing. Born close to New York City in nineteen twenty two, George was raised single handedly by his mother after the premature death of his father when George was only four years old. Despite an impoverished childhood exacerbated by the Great Depression, the precocious George went on to graduate with a degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago before taking a teaching post at Harvard. At some point, George met and fell
in love with Julia Madigan, a devout Roman Catholic. The pair were married and later had two daughters, Anne Marie and Kathleen. For many, the relationship seemed a strange fit due to George's equally devout atheism. It was a contention that would ultimately prove irreconcilable, and the pair divorced in nineteen fifty five. By his mid forties, George had become
deeply unsatisfied, despite working a number of prestigious jobs. What drove George more than anything, according to author Arren Harmon, was a desperate desire to achieve greatness. For George, his was an obviously superior intellect, but one that had yet to establish the notoriety it deserved. But all that was about to change. Whilst working for ib M, George became convinced that colleagues were unfairly profiting from his ideas. Then, in nineteen sixty six, George was left paralyzed after a
botched operation to remove a tumor from his thyroid. One night, lying in bed, George became convinced that something had to change. In nineteen sixty seven, George decided to abandon his family and New York City, brought a flight to London, and went in search of greatness three and a half thousand miles away. A shy and lonely evolutionary biologist was spending his night sat on a bench at London's Waterloo Station,
scribbling furiously into a notebook. Now a widely celebrated academic considered by Richard Dawkins to be the greatest biologist since Darwin, at the time, William Donald Hamilton was an impoverished academic with little more than a two one degree in genetics to his name. He had chosen to work in the station because being surrounded by all the waiting passengers made him feel less alone. From that humble bench in the station, Hamilton devised what would later become one of the greatest
vindications of Darwinism. Although somewhat crude and unpolished, Hamilton's early equations suggest as something truly startling in an idea later popularized Dawkins's a selfish gene Hamilton had discovered that altruistic behavior was nothing but a biological function designed to better
the survival of your own personal gene pool. The theory known as kin selection helps to demonstrate, for example, why colonies of bees are largely populated by sterile workers that would otherwise be expected to die out or indeed why a bee will decide to sting, sacrificing its life in the process. Are you always taking care of your family? Do you often take care of others and not yourself. Now it's time to take care of yourself, to make
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teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy to change counselors if needed. For free teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. Having arrived in London some months before.
According to arn Harmon, Price had been living a solitary existence, shuffling around from one late library to another when he came across Hamilton's equations. What he discovered shocked him. Deeply Convinced there must have been a flaw in his reasoning, Price quietly set about disproving Hamilton's theory. Much to his horror, not only did he find the theory correct, but he
also found a way to improve it. At an extension of Darwin's survival of the Fittest theory, what is now known as the Price equation allows us to understand the competition between groups rather than individuals, but most specifically, how the behavior of selfish individuals will compromise the fitness of the group overall. Furthermore, it could be suggested that all behavioral traits are merely mechanisms that ensure the survival of that group, be it your family or the genes that
make up the individual. In other words, what we think of as love may be nothing more than a carefully orchestrated process of self interest. Within months of formulating Price's equation, Georges granted a fellowship at the University College London, who became a well respected member in his new field of
evolutionary biology. Price also began to work closely with William Hamilton, whose work he had originally set out to disprove, and later Price would team up with acclaimed biologist John Maynard Smith to develop the evolutionary stable strategy commonly known as E S S. Drawing on the earlier work of the mathematician John Nash. The strategy helps to explain why some species of snakes tend not to use their poisonous fangs on each other, or why male reindeers antlers are more
decorative than dangerous. Price had, without doubt, achieved everything he had craved. Not only had he gained the respect of his peers, but his legacy was also secured. But something was deeply wrong. Perhaps it was the guilt of abandoning his own family on the other side of the Atlantic, or merely the enormity of his discovery, but Price had
become profoundly unsettled. If altruism was just a biological conceit, then a true love and kindness, what many would consider the fundamental elements of what is good, are essentially meaningless. It isn't known exactly when or how it happened, but one night, walking past a church in the area of Marylebone in London. The atheist George Price found himself entering the building. By the time he came out, he was
a completely changed man. From that moment, George devoted himself to a severe form of Christian asceticism, believing he had been put on earth by God to teach human beings the true meaning of love. He proceeded to rid himself of all money and possessions. Everything he had he gave to those whom he felt needed it more, even offering
up his apartment to the homeless. In essence, George wanted to disprove his own theory, to show that kindness and love could transcend genetic predisposition, but self sacrifice was possible without ulterior motive, and that his will was ultimately his own. Hamilton, who had grown close to Price, was quick to notice the worrying signs of mental deterioration. The descent was rapid. On January sixth, nineteen seventy five, George sat alone in a North London squad surrounded by little more than a
solitary mattress. In a final act of defiance, the fifty two year old George took a pair of nail scissors to his throat. Minutes later, this strange, brilliant and extraordinary man was dead in what is no doubt a tragic end to a deeply troubled mind. It is nonetheless a story of startling relevance, living as we do in a time where iron Randian notions praising the benefit It's a self interest and greed have never been more questionable. And what then, of selfless love? For those who might also
despair at the implication of Price's equation. You could do worse than to take a quiet stroll down to a small corner of the city of London. Hidden part way between Saint Paul's Cathedral and the Museum of London, you may find yourself stumbling upon Postman's Park. Once inside, towards the back, you'll find the Watts Memorial to Heroic self Sacrifice.
Unveiled in nineteen hundred, the beautiful monument commemorates the lives of sixty two selfless individuals who sacrifice themselves attempting to save others, people such as twelve year old David Selves from Woolwich. On September twelfth, eighteen eighty six, David fought desperately to save his playfellow from drowning when he too succumbed, sinking below the waters, clasping his friend in his arms. All elements of Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith.
Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now. It's time to take care of yourself. To make time for you. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you
get back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video any time between seven a m To nine p m Local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit teledoc dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast to day to get started. That's t e l a d oc dot com Slash Unexplained Podcast