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http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Group_selection http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Group_selection for the prevailing view.

• rcthompson 15y ago
  Thanks for this link. That helped me understand why group selection may be intuitive but is most likely wrong. To summarize, group selection can work mathematically, but you must carefully choose the parameters of the mathematical model in order for "grep-selective" behavior (i.e. altruism toward strangers) to be selected. (These parameters define things like the cost and benefits of altruism to the "giver" and "receiver".) The slightest variation in these parameters results in a collapse of altruism and reversion to selfishness. So while it is theoretically possible, in practice the incentives just don't line up in a way that selects group-selective behaviors over selfish ones.
  • Bo102010 15y ago
    http://lesswrong.com/lw/300/group_selection_update/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/300/group_selection_update/ for a version of the view E. O. Wilson is proclaiming. My guess is that E. O. Wilson is probably right about ants, David Sloan Wilson is probably not right about group selection being like Daniel Dennett's universal acid, and Steven J. Gould was probably wrong in most of what he promoted.