The Evolution of Kin Selection and Inclusion of Fitness

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Yemanata hartin some ways, your face with the same kind of conceptioal question. You have an alel thatis harmful in a way to the individual that carries it. And you trying to make a sense of, how can that ever evolved at that kind of conundru and like that happens when you have the evolution of sterility in working t social insects.

One of the brilliant achievements of Darwin’s theory of natural selection was to help explain apparently “purposeful” or “designed” aspects of biology in a purely mechanistic theory of unguided evolution. Features are good if they help organisms survive. But should we put organisms at the center of our attention, or the genetic information that governs those features? Arvid Ågren helps us understand the attraction of the “selfish gene” view of evolution, as well as its shortcomings. This biological excursion has deep connections to philosophical issues of levels and emergence.

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Arvid Ågren received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Toronto. He is currently a Wenner-Gren Fellow at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. Previously he worked at Cornell and Harvard. His recent book is The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.