A lot of people misrepresent true Darwinian fitness.

quite true @rhino @ fd @ gordon.

if you read Guns, Germs and Steel, he makes the interesting point that "immunity to pandemics" was probably the main source of darwinian advantage in the west for the last 1000 years.

the african had to be quick to escape the lion so he wins the 100m at the olympics.
the white european had to have an immune system to fight off typhoid cholera and syphyllis

Gordon wrote on Apr 20^th, 2020 at 11:43am:

apparently hes still trying to be relevant, whatever that means

John Smith wrote on Apr 20^th, 2020 at 2:32pm:

So about $1m per life, or $10,000 per kilo.

Some tuna are worth $1m. But I think they weigh more than a person.

Aye. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Apr 20^th, 2020 at 5:18pm:


I heard this in an old Radiolab podcast, the effort and resources  someone will expend to help a person decreases at  very predictable rate the further genetically removed they are .

The first human "revolution" identified by historians is an intellectual one. I think they date it to about 100,000 years ago (?), when humans gained the ability to cooperate in groups of more than about 100. Prior to this, humans, as with all other species, used interpersonal relationships to manage group politics. They kept tabs on not just their own relationship with everyone else in their tribe, but also about the relationships between other tribe members. This becomes exponentially complex as group size increases.

I think that is what lead to modern humans replacing neanderthals.

Yes freediver

Ants bees termites will co-operate in their millions
But they all are genetic clones and share the same DNA

Humans are the only animal that will co-operate in large numbers even with people who don't share the same DNA

If you think back to that tribe of 100 people
You can see how trust and reciprocal arrangements were built
How the most powerful person in that tribe
Was not the person with the biggest club who belted the others over the head
But maybe the guy who could coordinate the other hundred into designing and using a Mastodon trap

Even further to this
When wolves bring down a deer
The alpha wolf eats his fill and then the other wolves in order

But say a human group of hunters brought down a Mastodon
And they had the foresight to bring back some of the meat to share with the tribe
Now they are building the idea of trust
The idea of trade
And the idea of markets
That currency becomes more important then having the biggest muscles 2 belt people with the biggest club

It seems like this idea of trust is crucial 2 what has advanced human beings.

If you look at a system such as perhaps eBay

From a purely selfish point of view
One would expect that the seller would sell dodgy items
And the purchaser would send a dodgy check

And when they started eBay there was expensive insurance to ensure this did not happen
After about 6 months it was all dropped
Because people generally are trustworthy
Even when dealing in groups bigger than 100
In fact from a capitalist marketing perspective
Trust is the basis of globalisation

Markets trade and global trust are the way forward

That's why ideas such as closing the Queensland New South Wales border
Or trying to eliminate the virus in Australia and go it alone
Are anti-evolution
They are a step backward
from that perspective they are doomed to failure