Group Selection Meme on the Rise

Posted by Rafe Furst in Evolution, Models, Science on December 8th, 2008 | View Comments

groupselection

This is from a recent Seed Magazine article.  Click on the image to enlarge it.

Related posts:

  1. The Logical Necessity of Group Selection
  2. Policy Implications of the Ascetic Meme
  3. Alex Ryan's Diagram
  4. Environmental Ideology and The Ascetic Meme
  5. Foldit

  • From my perspective kin recognition, spatial selection, punishment (and other dynamics you discuss in your post on the Evolution of Cooperation) are actually all manifestations of the evolutionary benefit of cooperation under the right circumstances. In other words, these all fall under the heading of group selection.
  • ben
    Hah, good find! It seems that group selection was a case of "baby thrown out with bathwater"--some of the arguments used to justify it were weak, but that doesn't mean it's a bad concept.

    Of course, it's hard to differentiate between the effects of group selection, kin recognition, or spatial selection. They end up looking like mostly the same thing. For many organisms, a combination of these and other mechanisms were likely relevant in structuring their societies.
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