War and Generosity
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How altruists help win wars.
For Sparta! Good idea or no?
Samuel Bowles, from Italy's University of Siena, developed a killer mathematical model. It simulates how two frequently warring societies evolve when the behavioral traits of each group's citizens are mixed up.
That is: what happens if you add altruists to a bunch of barbarians?
To find out, he pitted theoretical prehistoric populations against each other. He included real conflict frequencies and the battle-related mortality rates of ancient peoples. One group was always given a subset of souls willing to risk their lives for others.
Sadly, the Bravehearts themselves often died. But each one boosted the survival of many tribe mates – so the altruists' teams won most wars.
As winners thrived and reproduced, the fraction of altruists slowly grew. After all, according to Darwinian theory, three-quarters of their offspring would have at least a little altruistic blood.
Thousands of virtual years later and – badda-bing, badda-boom! The inter-caveman competition produced civilizations predisposed to say, "Can't we all just get along?"
At least they're predisposed to. Your results may vary.
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