SYNERGISTIC SELECTION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3309 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences, Methodology or model |
Positive selection produced through a trend towards cooperation among clustering elements.
This notion has been introduced by J. MAYNARD SMITH in his paper on “The Evolution of social behavior” (1982, p. 28-44) and developed by him and E. SZATHMARY in subsequent papers.
It is to be noted that the concept of “advantage through altruism ”-a value -laden concept - has been progressively abandoned by MAYNARD SMITH and others and replaced by the more neutral ( and measurable) one of cooperation .
It could even be argued that cooperation is probably in itself a result of a primarily accidental association which produced a commonreinforcement of fitness in some specific environment and/or circumstance.
P. CORNING produced a handy synthesis on the subject (1998b., p. 25-26)
See also
Kin Selection, Symbiogenesis