David Sloan Wilson: Truth and Reconciliation for Group Selection | HuffPo
David Sloan Wilson, professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University, from his Huffington Post article "Truth and Reconciliation for Group Selection I: Why it is Needed."
It is precisely because I am such an idealist about science that I am calling for a truth and reconciliation process for group selection. ...
[G]roup selection is arguably the single most important concept for understanding the nature of politics from an evolutionary perspective. Recall Wikipedia's definition of politics as "the process whereby groups of people make decisions." Why should people be expected to make decisions "for the good of the group" in the first place? Why should they be expected to act "for the good of the group" after a decision is made? These are the questions that caused Darwin to propose the theory of group selection in the first place.
David Sloan Wilson and Edward O. Wilson (no relation), from their December 2007 article, "Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology" (pdf).
The problem is that for a social group to function as an adaptive unit, its members must do things for each other. Yet, these group-advantageous behaviors seldom maximize relative fitness within the social group. The solution, according to Darwin, is that natural selection takes place at more than one level of the biological hierarchy. Selfish individuals might out-compete altruists within groups, but internally altruistic groups out-compete selfish groups. This is the essential logic of what has become known as multilevel selection theory.
David Sloan Wilson, from his Huffington Post article, "Truth and Reconciliation for Group Selection II: The Original Problem."
All of us can appreciate that doing the right thing makes us vulnerable to exploitation. We can equally appreciate that united we stand, divided we fall. Why should such simple ideas become the basis of endless controversy?
Yet, as we proceed, I guarantee that you will become confused. One reason that a truth and reconciliation process is needed for group selection is to return to the simplicity of the original problem and Darwin's solution. ... Selfishness beats altruism within groups. Altruistic groups beat selfish groups. Everything else is commentary.
[Update: See also: Yochai Benkler: The End of Universal Rationality]
