'Friendliest,' not fittest, is key to evolutionary survival, scientists argue in their new book

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 06:11:59 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.thehour.com/news/article/Friendliest-not-fittest-is-key-to-15419832.php>

"Survival of fittest, which is what everyone has in mind as evolution
and natural selection, has done the most harm of any folk theory that
has penetrated society," Hare says. "People think of it as strong alpha
males who deserve to win. That's not what Darwin suggested, or what has
been demonstrated. The most successful strategy in life is friendliness
and cooperation, and we see it again and again."

"Dogs are exhibit A," he says. "They are the extremely friendly
descendants of wolves. They were attracted to humans and became friendly
to humans, and changed their behavior, appearance and developmental
makeup. Sadly, their close relative, the wolf, is threatened and
endangered in the few places where they live, whereas there are hundreds
of millions of dogs. Dogs were the population of wolves that decided to
rely on humans - rather than hunting - and that population won big."

Via The RISKS Digest Volume 32 Issue 12:
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/32/12#subj1

Share and enjoy,
                *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://glasswings.com.au/             Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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