As many pointed out this is flawed at the root. The author talks about examples of cooperation in nature and then says "oh too bad the economy isn't like that."

As many pointed out this is flawed at the root. The author talks about examples of cooperation in nature and then says "oh too bad the economy isn't like that." (a small heuristic I can't help but share, I looked up the author and he's one of these people that hasn't figured out how to rotate an image so his face is sideways in his twitter profile) A little nuance or just thinking would reveal understanding and functioning of cooperation within an economy. In fact, the economy is a cooperation machine. The classic example of the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker who each "happen" to product things that the other 2 need, so that the 3 of them are jointly much better off is cooperation in its purest form. On a national level, economists "prefer" peaceful trade to war-time adversity. Good trade helps each country be better off (this is just the baker/butcher example magnified) which again is cooperation being used to benefit humanity. Now, companies. Google as a company is "worth" what is because it creates more than the individual employees could have on their own. Google creates value by creating an opportunity for them to cooperate well and is rewarded for it. A company is a cooperation machine. Even in relationships that are in some way zero-sum (what I pay my producer or what I charge my consumer), smart businesses are "long term greedy" meaning that they don't go for the opportunity to starve out their suppliers or consumers, instead they let them keep the margins they need to sustain the relationship long term. Now obviously, like nature, economies deal with competition. If my town can only support one bowling alley but there are two, the alleys compete to survive, same as animals compete to survive if their environment requires it. The author is basically disingenuous or silly because he takes two things that are basically analogous (competition for resources and survival in nature and in the economy) and contrasts the cooperation examples from one to competition examples from the other, which is as pointless as it sounds.