Survival of the ... Nicest? Check Out the Other Theory of Evolution

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:


Survival of the ... Nicest? Check Out the Other Theory of Evolution
A new theory of human origins says cooperation—not competition—is instinctive.

by Eric Michael Johnson
posted May 03, 2013


A century ago, industrialists like Andrew Carnegie believed that Darwin’s theories justified an economy of vicious competition and inequality. They left us with an ideological legacy that says the corporate economy, in which wealth concentrates in the hands of a few, produces the best for humanity. This was always a distortion of Darwin’s ideas. His 1871 book The Descent of Man argued that the human species had succeeded because of traits like sharing and compassion. “Those communities,” he wrote, “which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.” Darwin was no economist, but wealth-sharing and cooperation have always looked more consistent with his observations about human survival than the elitism and hierarchy that dominates contemporary corporate life.

Nearly 150 years later, modern science has verified Darwin’s early insights with direct implications for how we do business in our society. New peer-reviewed research by Michael Tomasello, an American psychologist and co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has synthesized three decades of research to develop a comprehensive evolutionary theory of human cooperation. What can we learn about sharing as a result?

Tomasello holds that there were two key steps that led to humans’ unique form of interdependence. The first was all about who was coming to dinner. Approximately two million years ago, a fledgling species known as Homo habilis emerged on the great plains of Africa. At the same time that these four-foot-tall, bipedal apes appeared, a period of global cooling produced vast, open environments. This climate change event ultimately forced our hominid ancestors to adapt to a new way of life or perish entirely. Since they lacked the ability to take down large game, like the ferocious carnivores of the early Pleistocene, the solution they hit upon was scavenging the carcasses of recently killed large mammals. The analysis of fossil bones from this period has revealed evidence of stone-tool cut marks overlaid on top of carnivore teeth marks. The precursors of modern humans had a habit of arriving late to the feast. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/how-cooperatives-are-driving-the-new-economy/survival-of-the-nicest-the-other-theory-of-evolution

[Cleita]

1. Thank God that the scientists have finally figured out something

that most of us figured out in elementary school. In spite of every effort of our parents and teachers to try to make us compete with each other, most of us figured out early on that we weren't going to be the star student or athlete so we let those who could be go at it. The rest of us played our games at recess for fun and did our best for our report cards, but knew we weren't going to be straight A or even straight B and we didn't obsess over it. It was much more desirable to get the other kids to like you and that took cooperation as well as give and take.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. A good example of this can be found on Russian roadways (really!)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022793682

[d_r]

3. of course it is

I didn't realize that this is a new theory. What has made us so successful as a species is our ability to communicate and work together and learn from previous generations.

[winter is coming]

4. Yet more proof that Republicans need to evolve. n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. "Man is the only animal that blushes....or, needs to." Mark Twain

[toddaa]

6. Peter Kropotkin way ahead of his time

Kropotkin developed his political theory of anarcho-communism based on Darwin's Theory of Evolution and what he himself observed in nature. He believed that cooperation in nature was innate in humans, and developed an economical theory based on mutual aid, voluntary cooperation and a rejection of capitalism, which favors competition over cooperation. His concept of mutual aid is very similar to a gift economy.

What's really interesting about Kropotkin was his defense of Darwin's Theory against the misinterpretations of the Social Darwinists.

[Shankapotomus]

7. Someone on DU recommended Kropotkin

Just finishing David Sloan Wilson's latest.

I am thoroughly enjoying this subject and I'm sure Mutual Aid will be another pager turner.

[toddaa]

9. Kropotkin was a fascinating man

In some ways he's a bit like a modern day Siddhartha, who willingly gives up the aristocracy in a search for a better way to live. Not a spiritual way, but there's a sense of enlightenment in his biography, nevertheless.

[starroute]

8. And this

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130430194259.htm

Cooperative behaviour is widely observed in nature, but there remains the possibility that so-called 'cheaters' can exploit the system, taking without giving, with uncertain consequences for the social unit as a whole. A new study has found that a yeast colony dominated by non-producers ('cheaters') is more likely to face extinction than one consisting entirely of producers ('co-operators'). . . .

The researchers found that while a cooperative yeast colony that survives by breaking down sucrose into a communal supply of simple sugars can support a surprisingly high ratio of freeloaders -- upwards of 90 per cent -- a sudden shock to its environment is highly likely to result in catastrophe. . . .

"We were very surprised by the fact that the total population size for the mixed group (consisting of both co-operators and cheaters) was about the same at equilibrium as the total population size in the absence of cheaters (i.e. purely co-operators). We didn't expect that," Dr Sanchez explained. "If it weren't for the fact that the co-operators and cheaters were labelled with different colours, it would have been very hard to tell whether the population contained any cheaters or not."

This was the case when the environment was benign. But when those stable populations were suddenly exposed to a harsh environment, all of the pure co-operator populations survived, while just one of six mixed populations adapted to the fast deterioration in conditions, the researchers found.

[Laelth]

10. k&r for exposure. This is very important. n/t

-Laelth