Leon Vlieger at The Inquisitive Biologist:
Evolution is often characterised rather one-sidedly in terms of a struggle for existence, “red in tooth and claw”, and selfish genes. And yet, as evolutionary biologist Jonathan Silvertown shows here, cooperation in biology is both widespread and ancient. In his entertaining Dinner with Darwin which I reviewed way back in 2018, he briefly touched on food sharing in humans as one example of cooperation; in Selfish Genes to Social Beings, he gives the topic at large the book-length treatment it deserves. Silvertown here writes for a broad audience, explicitly including those without a formal background in biology. With nary an equation in sight, he relies on a potent combination of human-interest stories, wit, and ingenious metaphors to convince you that cooperation is an important component driving evolution.
Cooperation initially flummoxed biologists, yet, Silvertown contends, a few straightforward conditions are sufficient for its appearance. I might just as well hit you over the head with his take-home messages now. Two conditions are required for cooperation to evolve. First, the benefits to the individuals involved have to outweigh the costs. Attentive biologists might immediately pipe up that that simple statement hides important technicalities, while others will undoubtedly exclaim: “Yes, but what about…?— bear with me, I will get to this. Second, there has to be a way for cheaters to be detected and excluded, or otherwise. the system will buckle under their exploitation.
More here.
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