Â鶹´«Ã½

From Tony Ferns, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, UK

With regard to Jonathan Goodman’s article on how “survival of the nicest” makes no sense when seen in evolutionary terms, one can see the frustration in those who try to seek explanations in terms only of an individual’s genes and consequent behaviour (15 November, p 19).

For most of human history we have lived in small clans or tribes. Within a tribe, close bonding of all the members and a high level of mutual trust has been necessary for the tribe to survive, and this has selected genes for the required behaviours. The real pressure to select for “altruism” has come from competition between tribes. If two similar-sized tribes came to be competing for land, prey or other resources, the tribe that worked most cooperatively would be more effective, and therefore likely to prosper.

Put simply, I don’t have to survive and breed to pass on the selfish genes for altruism. It is enough if my siblings or cousins, or even more distant relatives, carrying mostly these same genes, thrive in my place.