[SeekAndFind]

Here's an example from the book of how Evolution explains Human Altruism ( NOTE: Not endorsing it, just sharing their presentation ):

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At the heart of Nowak’s ideas is the haunting game of Prisoner’s Dilemma. The game involves two accomplices who are caught for a crime, interrogated separately and offered a deal. If one player incriminates the other, or “defects,” while the second remains silent, or “cooperates,” he will be given a sentence of one year, while the other player gets four. If both remain silent, they will be sentenced to only two years, but if both defect, they will receive three years. The rational choice for either prisoner is to defect, getting three years — though had both cooperated, they’d have been out in two. In the absence of trust, reason can be self-destructive.

[Christian Engineer Mass]

This might sound like the front end of a joke, but in fact [it's what passes for serious science in 2011]

Yep.

[paudio]

Many game theorists allow themselves to jump from experimental economics results to policy, even though they know that those are tightly controlled experiments.

[pnh102]

[pnh102]

So let me see if I understand this. "Evolution" (or what these scientists call "evolution") dictates that only the species of life that is the most aggressive about advancing its own self-interests are the species that survive and lay the groundwork for future species.

So over the course of hundreds of millions of years that life has existed on Earth all species have had to follow this rule or they would not survive. Now all of a sudden we get to a situation where some of these species make a 180 degree U-Turn, do the complete opposite, and continue to propagate.

OK.

[PENANCE]

I don’t know what Nowak’s theory is based on; but I’ve always thought it nearly self evident that evolution can explain cooperation — but, “altruism” is a different thing altogether.