Good Genes

Jack Hirshleifer from the November 1997 issue

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Still, reciprocity alone really cannot support the weight that Ridley would have it bear; it cannot by itself explain the extent of cooperation among non-kin. A system of exchange based on property rights must rest on more than self-defense and tit-for-tat responses. In particular, disinterested third parties have to be willing to engage in what has been called "moralistic aggression" to defend victims and punish defectors. If so, reciprocity is not the origin of virtue. Rather, true morality--pro-social propensities motivated by principle or compassion rather than by expected compensation--must be there already if a system of trade and exchange is to be viable.

Granted that true virtues, extending upon occasion to heroic acts of self-sacrifice, do exist and cannot stem from mere reciprocity, how can they have evolved? In The Moral Animal, Robert Wright had the delightful idea of using the life of Charles Darwin himself to illustrate the role of ingrained human instincts in helping resolve ethical quandaries and moral choices. In his concluding pages Wright asks whether a truly civilized, generous, idealistic, honorable individual like Darwin can really be explained in terms of his selfish genes. The final conclusion: In the light of the utter ruthlessness of evolutionary logic, Charles Darwin's morality--and indeed ours, such as it is--remains "nearly miraculous."

There are ways out of the puzzle. As suggested above, morality might be a human cultural development. By rising above our ingrained animal natures, by following the counsels of our sacred texts and great sages, we may have partially succeeded in a "revolt against selfish genes." An alternative, more mundane possibility was suggested by Darwin himself in The Descent of Man: "When two tribes of primeval man, living in the same country, came into competition, if (other circumstances being equal) the one tribe included a great number of courageous, sympathetic and faithful members,...this tribe would succeed better and conquer the other."

Darwin is suggesting that the habit of cooperation, even where disadvantageous to the individual, might be evolutionarily viable owing to differential group survival. Darwin's idea has come to be known as "group selection," a concept currently scorned by most sociobiologists (including Ridley, Wright, and de Waal). There is, however, an important dissenting minority; a forthcoming book by David S. Wilson and Elliott Sober makes a strong case for group selection. The issues involved are too technical for analysis here, but to my mind the evidence for the power of group selection--particularly in shaping the behavior of intensely group-competing species like ants and humans--seems overwhelming.

Going back to tit for tat, the intellectual enterprise of looking for a single "best" strategy is seriously misguided. What is best at any moment depends on the details of the situation and the other strategies in play. Accordingly, what we observe is not the universal adoption of any single strategy but rather an ever-changing, co-evolving mixture. In fact, as shown in some remarkable simulations by Bjorn Lomborg, viable patterns of cooperation practically always involve combinations of strategies. Producers, cheaters, and what we might call guardians (who keep cheaters under control) are typically all present simultaneously in evolving populations. This is closer to the way cooperation, halting and imperfect yet nonetheless real, is achieved in our fallen world.

Readers of this magazine will find Ridley's strong pro-market stance, set forth mainly in his final three chapters, appealing. But most libertarians and pro-market conservatives do admit, despite the evident dangers, a substantial role for government--to maintain law and order, protect property rights, and enforce contracts. As opposed to this classical liberal orientation stemming from John Locke, Adam Smith, and our founding fathers, Ridley leans in the anarchist direction. Individuals, motivated solely by the expectation of reciprocity, can supposedly do it all themselves--establish property rights, produce, trade, punish cheaters--if only government will get out of the way.

Yet systems of dominance and subordination, which are the essence of government, are also in our evolutionary heritage, as explored notably in de Waal's Good Natured and Roger Masters's The Nature of Politics. The possible effectiveness of government for good probably rests on certain other human virtues--among them loyalty and noblesse oblige--that call for further examination. But that is the topic for another book.