>>Nick Arnett writes:
>>> You're describing this in terms of natural selection, which I don't think
>>> tells the whole story. Natural selection is pure competition.
And later writes of commensalism and symbiosis:
>While it is true that they exist, they are in no way part of natural
>selection, in which the only rule is survival. Evidence of collaboration
>indicates the incompleteness of natural selection.
Actually, Nick, evolution isn't pure competition, not by a long shot. In
fact it favors cooperative as well as competitive traits because
cooperation enhances survival.
Submitted for your consideration:
"Peaceful coexistence, not struggle, is the rule in our Darwinian world."
Natural selection is harsh only to the deviant aggressor who seeks to
poach on the niche of another. (Paul Colinvaux, _Why Big Pierce Animals
Are Rare._ Princeton University Press, 1978.)
"The principle of natural selection operates on the species rather than
the individual level: It it the species that becomes extinct when its mode
of life adapts poorly to the environment....It is not necessarily the
group of the most aggressive or strongest individuals that survives, but
the group which attains a balance between the requirements of the group
and those of its individual members. (James L. Peacock, "Ethics,
Economics, and Society in Evolutionary Perspective," in _The Ethical Basis
of Economic Freedom._ American Viewpoint, 1976)
"The rules of contract formation were not given to humanity from above,
nor did they emerge randomly in the mechanics of the brain. They evolved
over tens of hundreds of millennia because they conferred upon the genes
prescribing them survival and the opportunity to be represented in future
generations." (Edward O. Wilson, _Consilience._ 1998.)
If you remain unconvinced, please let me know. As the comic said, I got a
million of 'em.
cheers,
tom
Thomas Petzinger Jr.
tom@petzinger.com
<http://www.petzinger.com/>www.petzinger.com
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