Our Social Nature: The Evolution of Cooperation
Marketing the Social Good
Article · 10 min read · For: Everyone
A short essay making the case that cooperation is part of human nature, not a moral add-on. It covers research on self-domestication and Axelrod's computer tournaments showing that a few cooperators in an uncooperative setting can outperform and spread. Useful as a discussion opener for a team or co-op talking about why shared ownership can work.
Sign in to see who to ask for it.
Problems it helps with
- People here say everyone is out for themselves, so sharing never works
- I want a short reading to open a discussion about why we work as a cooperative
- A few of us cooperate but we wonder if it can ever spread to the whole company
- Our new hires don't see why collaboration should beat individual competition
What it covers
- The 'domestication syndrome' and what it suggests about human sociability
- How selection for cooperation shows up in biology
- Axelrod's finding that a small cluster of cooperators can outperform and spread
- The feedback loop between cooperating and succeeding as a group
Topics: Community and collective governance · Purpose