Mobility and Group Selection.
I've been looking at this article on group selection and Hayek's social organicism.
Something that's crossed my mind, in regard to individual and group selection: Group selection occurs when all the members of a group "sink or swim" at once. The classic example of this is genocide: one population completely wiping out and replacing another; but one can think also of the crew of a ship that goes down together, employees who will all be out of work if the corporation goes out of business, and so forth. It is a situation which, like the Three Musketeers, is "all for one and one for all", the interests of individual and group are collapsed.
Now, assuming that individuals have mobility between groups, and group selection also occurs: individuals, acting with some degree of rationality, will have a tendency to select groups which will promote their own survival -- that is, groups which are, themselves, more likely to survive. Individual mobility thus adds the factor of groups being selected for by individuals. Groups which are more likely to survive, for whatever reason, will gain more members and the selection process will snowball. There is also a reverse selection in that individuals who are good at evaluating and choosing successful groups will be selected for. So, individual and group traits will co-evolve across scale levels. Individual (genetic) selection drives cultural (group) selection which in turn drives individual selection, etc.
What if there is no mobility, and individuals are stuck in their groups (as in the case of hereditary, tribal cultures)? Then cultural group selection will be strongly tied to genetic selection; genes and memes will be co-selected for rather than crossing. Mobility accelerates the process of cultural (memetic) selection and partially reduces the genetic component. (Though not necessarily eliminating the latter, as people often have assortative tendencies and are more likely to join groups whose members have genes similar to their own.)
Something that's crossed my mind, in regard to individual and group selection: Group selection occurs when all the members of a group "sink or swim" at once. The classic example of this is genocide: one population completely wiping out and replacing another; but one can think also of the crew of a ship that goes down together, employees who will all be out of work if the corporation goes out of business, and so forth. It is a situation which, like the Three Musketeers, is "all for one and one for all", the interests of individual and group are collapsed.
Now, assuming that individuals have mobility between groups, and group selection also occurs: individuals, acting with some degree of rationality, will have a tendency to select groups which will promote their own survival -- that is, groups which are, themselves, more likely to survive. Individual mobility thus adds the factor of groups being selected for by individuals. Groups which are more likely to survive, for whatever reason, will gain more members and the selection process will snowball. There is also a reverse selection in that individuals who are good at evaluating and choosing successful groups will be selected for. So, individual and group traits will co-evolve across scale levels. Individual (genetic) selection drives cultural (group) selection which in turn drives individual selection, etc.
What if there is no mobility, and individuals are stuck in their groups (as in the case of hereditary, tribal cultures)? Then cultural group selection will be strongly tied to genetic selection; genes and memes will be co-selected for rather than crossing. Mobility accelerates the process of cultural (memetic) selection and partially reduces the genetic component. (Though not necessarily eliminating the latter, as people often have assortative tendencies and are more likely to join groups whose members have genes similar to their own.)