Academic discussion of kin selection theory and economic analogies

added the mechanics. Nassau Senior made that principle his first axiom in his Outline of 1836. The biological imperative lapsed from attention when the first generation of marginalists, led by Jevons and Menger, with Walras soon to follow, thought it unscientific to explain or justify tastes. It reemerged a century later in bioeconomics, much of which looked for economic implications of Hamilton’s rule. We will see how it might clarify pure consumption and the maximand. Enlightened Kin Selection Hamilton’s rule needs completion because the quarterback and his genes have figured out that the bench is better than the hospital. What really happens, I think, is a long-range example of Bob Trivers’ “reciprocal altruism” of 1971 as generalized by Richard Alexander. Bob wrote that creatures might invest in non-kin if the investment were expected to be repaid with interest. Alexander added that the repayment could be to the investor’s kin with equal genetic benefit if Hamilton’s hurdle rb>c were cleared from the investor’s perspective. The quarterback yields to special teams on fourth down, and they to the defense until possession changes again, for the best interests of each and all in the long run. The interest they receive in turn for deferring to non-kin is the cost of maintaining themselves on the bench. It does not accrue and compound because it is paid out continuously. It is an insurance cost that each temporary winner dares not trim. Group selection is enlightened kin selection. Three or four decades ago, this much acknowledgement of group selection would have met more resistance than I expect now. It shouldn’t have. Half the beauty of the Hamilton-Zuc scenario is in explaining allelic diversity as a result of agonistic rather than lethal competition. Zack and Jack and their genotypes are rivals now because they are teammates in the big picture. Kin selection is a help until it crosses the line and becomes a hindrance. Some mothers in the source deme will carry higher frequencies of the antidote gene than others. They will tend to be healthier, and so able to invest more energy in more Chapter 7 Petty’s Idea 2/3/16 10 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_011069