Rebroadcast: The Psychology of Extreme Altruism

Some people go to great lengths to help others, even when it comes at a high personal cost: the couple who adopts 20 orphans, the woman who donates a kidney to a stranger, the man who starts a leper colony. New Yorker staff writer Larissa MacFarquhar profiles these extreme “do-gooders” and others like them in her book, “Strangers Drowning.” We’ll hear about what drives these rare individuals and consider, with MacFarquhar, how much we can and should help others.