SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed

Here’s a review, by David Willetts , of Martin Nowak and Roger Highfield’s book, SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed

The link to the review is here: The invisible hand that binds us all

Willetts’s bottom line:

Like other great controversialists, Mr Nowak moves from decision matrices to emotive moral language. He says the best strategy is to be hopeful, generous and forgiving. Hopeful means you first try co-operation – your opening move should be positive. Generous means not to be as concerned where you are relative to others as to obscure your own gains from interaction even if they are more modest. Forgiving means if someone else defects, you do not defect straightaway but try to re-establish co-operation, not least because it could have been an accidental mistake.

We cannot just offer freedom, opportunity and choice without also recognising the power of belonging, commitment and roots. But all politicians can draw inspiration and ideas from the intellectual resources of this exciting approach.

You can buy the book on Amazon, by clicking here: SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed
(As always, no endorsement is implied.)

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