Will selfish people become extinct?

A recent study shows that selfish people will not be advantageous in evolution and will sooner or later be extinct.

A recent study published in Nature Communications offers new evidence that evolution does not stand for selfish people.

Researchers explain that while selfishness may bring about short-term success, the selfish people will eventually become extinct because sooner or later they will be overwhelmed by collaborating competitors. achieve common goals.

In this study, researchers use super-powerful computers to run hundreds of thousands of games to see if selfishness or selfishness will prevail.

" We realize that evolution will punish you if you're selfish and narrow-minded ," said lead researcher Christoph Adami of Michigan State University . In the short term and for some specific opponents, selfish individuals may be more successful. But selfishness is not evolutionary. "

Lead researcher Christoph Adami

These latest findings contradict the assumption of 'Zero Formula' that selfish people prevail over those who cooperate.

However, the researchers explain that there are many strategies and ways to 'win' in evolution, and the exchange and cooperation for success are very important strategies.

In this study, scientists used a dilemma for prisoners to model cooperation, in which two people committed crimes and were arrested together. The police made a proposal for each prisoner.

Accordingly, if a person accuses the other person, this person will be free while his friend will be jailed for 6 months. If both of them accused each other, they were both imprisoned for 3 months, and if both of them remained silent, they would only be imprisoned for up to 1 month.

If two inmates have the opportunity to talk to each other, they can build trust and are more likely to cooperate because they only have to sit in prison for a month. However, if they are not allowed to talk to each other, the best strategy is to denounce the other person because it ensures that the accuser will not be imprisoned longer.

Researchers say this game allows them to consider a fundamental question that each individual faces when fighting for limited resources, that is: They will act selfish or cooperative.

Cooperation will bring maximum benefits to many people, but they can also generate selfish thoughts and 'sit down to eat gold bowls' by letting others work and take risks.

Researchers found that 'zero determinant' or selfish behavior only works if players know who their partner is and defeat them by delving into their weaknesses.

Only collaborators survive in evolutionary process (Artwork: Reuters)

Researcher Arend Hintze said: 'The only way for those who apply Zero Strategy to win is that they can identify their opponents.'

"Even if these people continue to win and only the Zero-Defining strategists remain, they will have to evolve away from Zero Zero in the long run and become more cooperative. Thus they will no longer be Zero Formula strategists. "

Researchers say communication is a key element of cooperation, and communication is the reason people cooperate.

Researchers believe that there are five independent mechanisms that promote cooperation. However, they emphasize that these mechanisms are only ways to ensure that partners only 'play' with other collaborators and stay away from selfish people.

Adami researcher believes that the same principles apply to all living organisms and says he will test this idea on alcohol yeast cells.