Evolution of Cooperation - Conclusion

Conclusion

When Richard Dawkins set out to "examine the biology of selfishness and altruism" in The Selfish Gene, he reinterpreted the basis of evolution, and therefore of altruism. He was "not advocating a morality based on evolution", and even felt that "we must teach our children altruism, for we cannot expect it to be part of their biological nature." But John Maynard Smith was showing that behavior could be subject to evolution, Robert Trivers had shown that reciprocal altruism is strongly favored by natural selection to lead to complex systems of altruistic behavior (supporting Kropotkin's argument that cooperation is as much a factor of evolution as competition), and Axelrod's dramatic results showed that in a very simple game the conditions for survival (be "nice", be provocable, promote the mutual interest) seem to be the essence of morality. While this does not yet amount to a science of morality, the game theoretic approach has clarified the conditions required for the evolution and persistence of cooperation, and shown how Darwinian natural selection can lead to complex behavior, including notions of morality, fairness, and justice. It is shown that the nature of self-interest is more profound than previously considered, and that behavior that seems altruistic may, in a broader view, be individually beneficial. Extensions of this work to morality and the social contract may yet resolve the old issue of individual interests versus group interests.

Read more about this topic:  Evolution Of Cooperation

Famous quotes containing the word conclusion:

    So this
    Is man; so—what better conclusion is there—
    The day will not follow night, and the heart
    Of man has a little dignity, but less patience
    Than a wolf’s,
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness
    of the flesh.
    Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep
    his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
    Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes (l. XII, 13)

    A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn’t enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. The spectacle is nearly always comic.
    Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)