A dirty secret is that most people that are altruistic are doing it because they like something about being altruistic (whether that's warm fuzzies, bragging rights, or something else). At the end of the day we're all self-interested, just hopefully constructively so.

I do suspect "what the hell, may as well push it to github" probably starts more open-source projects than any other thought.

There is a difference between "what you're doing is so altruistic" and "what you're doing is because of altruism". I don't object to the former---I can totally appreciate how that makes sense as an observation about the world and the people around you. I do object to the latter, especially when it's used as a way to bin every programmer's motivation for writing code and then derive a political point from that binning ("open source is unsustainable").

I don't think to myself, "I can't wait to get home from work and selflessly help others!" I think to myself, "I can't wait to get home from work and crack open that really interesting problem that I've only been able to give a third of my brain to today." If the fruits of the latter result in someone else saying it's altruistic---that's cool. But don't try to tell me I'm doing it because it's altruistic. I'm not. (Being called altruistic is kind of funny. It's either a wonderful compliment or a condescending snub of youth/naivete. In my experience, anyway.)

FWIW, I suspect we're on the same page. I'm just trying to clarify the point I was trying to make to the original parent, because I think that's getting lost.

Your conception of 'self' is not inherently limited to your individual being.

Why not both?

I'm describing my own experience with writing code. I don't feel altruistic ("disinterested concern for others"), I feel invigorated, fulfilled, and so on.

Please consider the parent I responded to. It was citing motivation. My motivation is passion for the craft; not impersonal sacrifice for the greater good (even if you observe it that way, that's not what motivates me to participate in open source).

Whatever you want to call it