The Problem
- Many great ideas begin with a problem.
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If evolution by natural selection is true, we are confronted by a very curious problem:
- How can altruism be explained?
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Altruism defined:
- unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.
- Zoology instinctive cooperative behavior that is detrimental to the individual but contributes to the survival of the species.
Kin Selection: A Solution?
- Developed by William Hamilton in 1964.
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If an organism sacrifices itself for another, as long as it shares genes with the other there is a benefit, not to itself, but to the shared genes.
- By helping your kin you are actually helping the genes you share in common.
- The test of any good scientific idea is evidence…
The Evidence
The existence of social insects can be well explained by kin selection
- Social insects are mostly in the order Hymenoptera: bees, ants, and wasps (termites are of the order Isoptera).
- They have well developed caste systems.
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They have a unique form of reproduction: haplodiploidy.
- See one page (front and back) reading from The Naturalist for details.
E. O. Wilson
- A very smart professor from Harvard took the idea of kin selection and ran with it…
- He realized that evolution by natural selection was essentially responsible for the behavior of insects.
- He wondered if other organisms' behavior could be explained using natural selection.
- The result was his magnum opus…
Sociobiology
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In 1975 E. O. Wilson publishes Sociobiology.
- The most controversial book written in the last 140 years, since The Origin of Species
- The writer and essayist, Tom Wolfe, calls Wilson “Darwin II” in an essay.
- Wilson argues that the at the root of all animal behavior is the driving force of evolution by natural selection.
- His book wouldn't have been so controversial, except that he decided to include Homo sapiens in the last chapter.
Sociobiological Controversy
- People went ballistic over Wilson's book.
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Why?
- Wilson suggested that human behavior was nothing more than the result of natural selection acting on our genes.
- This idea can be interpreted to lead to what is known as “genetic determinism”—the idea that our behavior is “determined” by our genes. It seems to deny human freedom.
- As for Wilson, he was simply describing a “hypothesis,” an idea that was worth pursuing and testing.
The Attack
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E. O. Wilson was attacked by his critics.
- Unbeknownst to him, Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin (both colleagues of his at Harvard University) wrote a critical article in the NY Times Review of Books.
- Protestors took over the podium at a conference and dumped ice water on Wilson's head, saying “Wilson, you are all wet.”
Wilson's (and Mr. Hammack's) Response
- Wilson was honestly surprised by the response to his work.
- He felt that he was “just doing science…”
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He didn't start this fire…
- “Stephen Jay,
- Takes the Day,
- Selfish Gene,
- Sounds Obscene,
- Icy Water on My Head,
- Lots of People Want Me Dead.”