Re: Small groups a key to solving the tragedy of the commons?


Dave Smith wrote:
Lance wrote:
How Cooperation Can Evolve in a Cheater's World

Whether you're a free-loading virus or a meat-stealing monkey,
selfishness pays. So how could cooperators survive in a cheater's
world? Thomas Flatt, a postdoctoral research associate at Brown, was
part of a group that created a theoretical model that neatly solves
this dilemma, which has stumped evolutionary biologists and social
scientists for decades. The trick: Keep the altruists in small groups,
away from the swindling horde, where they multiply and migrate......

I'm not sure how different this model is from the model described in
Sober and Wilson's book 'Unto Others'. The idea that group selection
processes may help to explain the emergence of altruism goes back to
Darwin, but it became an unpopular view in the 1960's. When it comes
to explaining altruism in humans, it seems likely that cognitive and
cultural variables are contributory factors. Cheaters can be identified
and punished, co-operative behaviour can be taught, and so on.

What do you mean by "group selection"? Why do you think the paper above
refers to group selection? It seems to me that they introduce the idea
of population dynamics as a factor, not group selection.

Lance

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Article: Group selection, a theory whose time has come...again
    ... evolution, is in theoretical disarray. ... based on group selection had become taboo and has not recovered since. ... scientists David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson-whose book ... rallying cry that paraphrases Rabbi Hillel: "Selfishness beats altruism ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Group selected altruism - (was: Hamiltons rule)
    ... >>> mechanism for the spread of altruism. ... >>> as a whole under the group selection mechanism. ... One way of doing this is to have the successful groups colonize ... > I would claim that the 'reduced gene flow' actually works against you ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: OT: Lets Nuke That Leaking BP Oil Well
    ... A quantitative genetic model of reciprocal altruism: ... condition for kin or group selection to prevail. ... The evolution of reciprocity in ... British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52:25-50. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Article: Group selection, a theory whose time has come...again
    ... evolution, is in theoretical disarray. ... scientists David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson usher in a new era ... explanation based on group selection had become taboo and has not ... and how altruism can be maintained in groups that happen to ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Article: Group selection, a theory whose time has come...again
    ... evolution, is in theoretical disarray. ... scientists David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson usher in a new era ... explanation based on group selection had become taboo and has not ... and how altruism can be maintained in groups that happen to ...
    (talk.origins)