Extraordinary altruists see no difference between strangers and people they are close to.
Would you donate a kidney to someone you've never met? The idea is layered with soul-searching judgments — questions of risk and benefit, sacrifice and selfishness, not to mention the physical pain of the surgery itself.
But a small number of people have done this, and researchers at Georgetown University are studying them, providing a window on altruism in a world seemingly dominated by a me-first philosophy.
