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This is a little bit of a tangent but I was just listening to a program on NPR about baboons and their relationships. Specifically, the toxic effect of being th
by vervez 8y ago
This is a little bit of a tangent but I was just listening to a program on NPR about baboons and their relationships. Specifically, the toxic effect of being the alpha-male. While I couldn't catch the whole program, I did hear they mentioned that while baboons have tumultuous lives surviving, mating, and dealing with alpha males, they do have a small opportunity for friendship with one another. One of the surprising findings from a study on baboons was that the baboons who were friendlier/not alpha-males tended to have more offspring than the alphas. A case of nice guys winning and friendship being more meaningful than dominance.
Here, I'd gander that it's less about game theory and more about evolution of a cohesive unit. And that's my baboon tangent.
- socrates666 8y agoIt has also been shown that alpha makes, in business, tend to lose money owing to short sighted thought processes. In fact, the guy who originally coined the idea that humans have an alpha male concept pulled back on the notion, saying that he was mistaken in comparing human hierarchy to wolves. Humans aren't actually hierarchical. We believe in equality and because of this can form many different kinds of social structures (which is where political struggle comes from, i.e. democracy, Communism, socialism, etc.) It's nice when someone steps up and volunteers to do all of the work though.