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Does this not depend on the definition of an organism? In Smith's haystacks, individuals have to cooperate to form a successful group, although the real world may look like a farmyard after a hurricane with a carpet of shallow peaks and troughs representing a degree of segregation.
Some of the actual individuals will have survived the successful pressure-cooker environments of the haystacks (excuse metaphors) and temporarily become the mobile germ-line for the cluster and altruism is hence selected for because haystacks with largely uncooperative individuals don't succeed. Individuals benefit from clustering and don't spread in a run away fashion.
Permalink Sun, 22 Apr 2012 06:10:32 UTC | #936414