Caledonian, delaying reproduction in order to maximize an individual organism’s lifetime output is not the same as foregoing reproduction to benefit the chances of other organisms. The latter behavior is altruistic, the former behavior is not. Williams discusses this while showing that observed cases of apparent reproductive restraint match very finely the requirements of individual optimization.
Now I’ve said before that I can’t include all the fillips and caveats in a series of blog posts. If you want to add a fillip in a comment, that’s fine, but please don’t assume that I’m ignorant.
Caledonian, delaying reproduction in order to maximize an individual organism’s lifetime output is not the same as foregoing reproduction to benefit the chances of other organisms. The latter behavior is altruistic, the former behavior is not. Williams discusses this while showing that observed cases of apparent reproductive restraint match very finely the requirements of individual optimization.
Now I’ve said before that I can’t include all the fillips and caveats in a series of blog posts. If you want to add a fillip in a comment, that’s fine, but please don’t assume that I’m ignorant.