I think we definitely "get" something in return as a result of simply sharing; we feel better, happier, when someone else feels better and happier as a result of something we did or gave... I was touching on this vis-a-vis Steemit in one of my pieces yesterday. It's giving, for its own sake because we (ultimately) get a similar little shot of dopamine from someone else's happiness... or even the phrase "thank you" said sincerely as we get from a "like" on a Farcebook photo or a comment on our Steemit post.
That works smoothly and automatically assuming a broader societal that we live in a world of plentiful resources. Unfortunately (just personal opinion here) we seem to be living with a philosophical/economic system (capitalism) that largely depends on the paradigm that we live in a "world of scarcity" where there are not enough resources... which discourages people from giving freely.
Yes, I added similarly, but at first I guess I should have been more specific that we don't receive any material return for a material giving. The feedback part is how I see it, where we induce positive emotional states as a return for sharing. It's not something the other person gives us as a return, so that's more what I meant as something we get back from them. The feedback is self-induced. We give and induce happiness in ourselves. Nothing is required from the other person, although it can be to also stimulate our sense of well-being from sharing.
If we developed "free energy" and automation, that sharing factor would exponentially increase, as I see it. Scarcity is a reality based on the individualist need to provide for our own survival.
I had devised an alternative new way of living, where everyone in the community joins and agrees that we share water, food and shelter responsibilities. We work 1-4 days a month, and all the basics for living are taken care of. Then the rest of time can be spent working voluntarily for ourselves, for others, giving freely, or charging money for those things, but the basics for life would not be scarce anymore. I see food, water and shelter as the basis for establishing our freedom. In our world, we can't live off the land freely ourselves to provide for ourselves, so we are locked into economic survivability that removes degrees of freedom from life. In this new way, we all recognize the basic needs to establish freedom for all, and then further advancements are voluntarily engaged in.