In the “development and evolution”
thread on Thompson, Paul dismissed and contrasted him with “people who
actually study organisms.” Hence my latest referenced articles are by
exactly those people that do. And even among the experts in the know
there are differences and disagreements. Another such article confirming
this is “Kin and multilevel selection in social evolution:
A never ending controversy?” (The abstract follows.) Some adamantly choose one side of the
debate, others like this article seeks some semblance of rapprochement. As to the debate, Pinker wrote a piece that explicitly shows on which
side he butters his evolution: “The false allure of group selection.” In
the comments section there is some good debate by those in the know on
both sides. One of the most amusing is Dawkin’s reply titled: “Group
selection is a cumbersome, time-wasting distraction.”
Abstract:
“Kin selection and multilevel selection are two major frameworks in
evolutionary biology that aim at explaining the evolution of social
behaviors. However, the relationship between these two theories has been
plagued by controversy for almost half a century and debates about
their relevance and usefulness in explaining social evolution seem to
rekindle at regular intervals. Here, we first provide a concise
introduction into the kin selection and multilevel selection theories
and shed light onto the roots of the controversy surrounding them. We
then review two major aspects of the current debate: the presumed formal
equivalency of the two theories and the question whether group
selection can lead to group adaptation. We conclude by arguing that the
two theories can offer complementary approaches to the study of social
evolution: kin selection approaches usually focus on the identification
of optimal phenotypes and thus on the endresult of a selection process,
whereas multilevel selection approaches focus on the ongoing selection
process itself. The two theories thus provide different perspectives
that might be fruitfully combined to promote our understanding of the
evolution in group-structured populations.”
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