bbc radio discussion on evolutionary biology of altruism

Some of you may be interested in the latest broadcast of the BBC radio program In Our Time, which concerns itself with the history of ideas.The latest program deals with the evolutionary biology of altrusim - the panel includes Miranda Fricker (Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London), Richard Dawkins (you know, the heathen) and John Dupré (Professor of Philosophy of Science at Exeter University and director of Egenis, the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society).I believe the programs are archived permanently, so after a week, when the program is moved from the front page of the radio show's website, it can still be found in the archive section (which is worth a look in its own right - some fascinating stuff there).Enjoy.

Biology isn't exactly my thing, but I thought that Darwin stated that his theory would have been disproven if we could find a true altruistic species.

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A long discussion is probably better off in a science forum.However, yes, a truly altruistic species (that is, a species in which the individuals make sacrifices for others with no survival benefits for the genes that induce altruism) would be impossible.However, when biologists speak of "altruism", they are referring to the behavior that is seen in social or eusocial species (or symbiotic behavior between different species) where "sacrifices" made by an individual actually does lead to an increase in the genes or alleles that induce the behavior.I'm sure the show explains how this is possible.Here is a link to a relatively recent thread on how behavior that is seemingly counter to reproductive fitness can nonetheless be favored by natural selection -- it did focus mainly on homosexual behavior, but the principles are similar.

Ya, I've read similar studies before. Thanks for clarifying!

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