I note that none of these is obviously the same as the explanation Skyrms gives.
Skyrms is considering broader reasons for correlation of strategies than kinship alone; in particular, the idea that humans copy success when they see it is critical for his story.
Reciprocal altruism feels like a description rather than an explanation. How does reciprocal altruism get started?
Group selection is again, just one way in which strategies can become correlated.
Re: reciprocal altruism. Given the vast swathe of human prehistory, virtually anything not absurdly complex will be “tried” occasionally. It only takes a small number of people whose brains happen to wired to “tit-for-tat” to get started, and if they out-compete people who don’t cooperate (or people who help everyone regardless of behaviour towards them), the wiring will quickly become universal.
Humans do, as it happens, explicitly copy successful strategies on an individual level. Most animals don’t though, and this has minimal relevance to human niceness, which is almost certainly largely evolutionary.
I note that none of these is obviously the same as the explanation Skyrms gives.
Skyrms is considering broader reasons for correlation of strategies than kinship alone; in particular, the idea that humans copy success when they see it is critical for his story.
Reciprocal altruism feels like a description rather than an explanation. How does reciprocal altruism get started?
Group selection is again, just one way in which strategies can become correlated.
Re: reciprocal altruism. Given the vast swathe of human prehistory, virtually anything not absurdly complex will be “tried” occasionally. It only takes a small number of people whose brains happen to wired to “tit-for-tat” to get started, and if they out-compete people who don’t cooperate (or people who help everyone regardless of behaviour towards them), the wiring will quickly become universal.
Humans do, as it happens, explicitly copy successful strategies on an individual level. Most animals don’t though, and this has minimal relevance to human niceness, which is almost certainly largely evolutionary.