“You are in way over your head on this one. It is clear that you are behind on current literature. The “selfish gene” is old hat and out of date. Multi-level evolution is increasingly widely accepted by many geneticists, with such mechanisms as reciprocal altruism being keys.”
Perhaps you shouldn’t be so hasty at pointing the “over your head” finger at others. Reciprocal altruism is NOT about multilevel selection. It’s good old individual selection—helping others on the assumption that the help will later be returned. This explanation assumes a fitness benefit (on average) for each participating individual, invoking group selection here is not necessary.
“You are in way over your head on this one. It is clear that you are behind on current literature. The “selfish gene” is old hat and out of date. Multi-level evolution is increasingly widely accepted by many geneticists, with such mechanisms as reciprocal altruism being keys.”
Perhaps you shouldn’t be so hasty at pointing the “over your head” finger at others. Reciprocal altruism is NOT about multilevel selection. It’s good old individual selection—helping others on the assumption that the help will later be returned. This explanation assumes a fitness benefit (on average) for each participating individual, invoking group selection here is not necessary.