I have thouhgt it through. What good does it do the original organism? Why does the organism care if it's species continues? Where did that come from?
Reproduction is success is an artificial definition that we impose on the biological system because of our own observations.
It's only a "Success" in the sense that it's still around at the end of the day. If its dead then it can hardly claim the title of "champion". The value judgment of "Good" or "Bad" , "Success" or "Failure" , "Winner" or "Loser" is very much related to "Living" or "Dead" because the dead ones don't get to play anymore. The winners get to keep playing. The dead ones are just that, dead. It's not us who imposed this rule, the very nature of life imposed this rule on us!
It doesn't. All evolutionary theory says is that those (species) who do not do what is necessary to survive are less likely to do so. There's no "want" or "desire" or "need"; it's just a big filter. Mutation proposes; selection disposes.