A Cooperative Species - Altruism, Parochialism, and War

Explore a thought-provoking lecture by Samuel Bowles, Professor at Santa Fe Institute, delving into the complex interplay between altruism, parochialism, and war in human evolution. Discover how computer simulations generate artificial histories spanning tens of thousands of years, offering alternative trajectories to explain humanity's capacity for both kindness and hostility. Examine the unsettling hypothesis that warfare and out-group animosity may have played a crucial role in shaping our admirable moral predispositions. Investigate topics such as paleo economics, group selection, agent-based modeling, and the coevolution of altruism and conflict. Analyze ethnographic and archaeological evidence supporting these theories, and gain insights into our ancestral past and its influence on modern human behavior.