Humans, seem to be almost exactly the opposite, thinking only for ones self by instinct.
Although this seems to be the case for many people, in many other cases this is certainly not true. Just think of the soldiers walking into German machinegun fire at the Somme or storming the Normandy beaches.
But did these soldiers consciously and willingly put themselves in these life-threatening situations defending the freedom of others or.. are mechanisms at work that resemble the organization of ant hives at a higher level. In other words, how much of our behaviour is controlled by group organization processes often unrecognized by us, thinking our behaviour is determined by conscious thought and free will.
Anyway, I don't agree with the idea of a 'flawed' humanity implied here. I would say the human race has three abilities that make it the rightful ruler of this planet.
1. Unsurpassed flexibility in handling situations provided by our superior brains compared to any other animal.
2. The tried and tested survival of the fittest mentality, the average human strives to be better than the last one, his peers, himself on a previous occasion, etc. Some nasty side effects are selfishness, hate, wars, etc, but as individuals and groups we continuously try to improve ourselves.
3. We are the masters of organization. Even though many of our goals are for our own feelings of accomplishment (even altruistic ones, some might say), no one can deny our ability to work together, put strength in numbers and specialize to optimize our efficiency. A very important aspect of our being is wanting to be part of a group, making the group succesful etc.
Disclaimers:
1. This is all talk about humans inhabiting the earth as seen from a very large distance. Abilities may not apply to particular individuals or situations. Also, personality is an important biological trait, meaning that different people perform different roles in the population.
2. Even though we are able to perform 'wonders' of engineering and production, let's call this energy-transformation, we are also masters of energy waste and misuse in all forms imaginable.
3. The mentioned abilities may lead to the destruction of human civilization by overloading our habitat, nuclear holocaust or excessive playing of GalCiv II.
My opinion is that even though humanity is not perfect, the basic 'design' is pretty good and humans are not inferior to ants.
