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Deep Thoughts from years spent on a Trident submarine. | |||
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by Chris McGraw There is an interesting biological principle that seems to influence animal and plant behaviour. Scarcity of resources brings out competition. (Stated in broader terms, outside stressors encourage competition. There are more stressors than just resource scarcity). A lot of evolutionary theory is derived from the concept that, in the end fitness is key. "Fitness" means the ability to pass ones genes to the next generation. What is interesting is that some animals are self sacrificing, or so it seems. Some birds in Florida, for example, will forgoe raising their own young and instead, they will help to raise the young of another bird. This puzzled some researchers until study found that the birds' helping was actually increasing the representation of the helper-bird's genes in the population. As it turned out the birds they helped were close relatives and as a result of the combined efforts the group got a greater representation of their genes in succeding generations than they would have if they had tried to go it alone. Scientists have tried to show (and, I believe they've done it effectively) that cooperation, and sometimes "sacrifice", in some instances is beneficial to the fitness of both participants. This would break down when one of the participants perceives his or her fitness to be in peril and when the participant perceives others as being more different than him or her than alike. Perhaps some of the sailors act in this manner. Being "generous" when the perceived threat is from without, and petty when the perceived threat is from within. One of the interesting facets of humans is that, in some instances, it is the survival and propogation of ideas (rather than genes) that influences behaviour. Some people (sometimes called fanatics) are willing to sacrifice their own fitness for the survival of their beleifs. |
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