
Studies on Two-Layer Evolution - jger15
https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/05/12/studies-on-slack/
======
barry-cotter
> In other words, group selection can happen in a two-layer hierarchy of
> nested evolutionary systems when the outer system (eg multicellular humans)
> includes rules that the inner system (eg human cells) have to follow, and
> where the fitness of the evolving-entities in the outer system depends on
> some characteristics of the evolving-entities in the inner system (eg humans
> are higher-fitness if their cells do not become cancerous). The evolution of
> the outer layer includes includes evolution over rulesets, and eventually
> evolves good strong rulesets that tell the inner-layer evolving entities how
> to behave, which can include group selection (eg humans evolve a genetic
> code that includes a rule “individual cells inside of me should not get
> cancer” and mechanisms for enforcing this rule).

> You can find these kinds of two-layer evolutionary systems everywhere. For
> example, “cultural evolution” is a two-layer evolutionary system. In the
> hypothetical state of nature, there’s unrestricted competition – people
> steal from and murder each other, and only the strongest survive. After they
> form groups, the groups compete with each other, and groups that develop
> rulesets that prevent theft and murder (eg legal codes, religions, mores)
> tend to win those competitions. Once again, the outer layer (competition
> between cultures) evolves groups that successfully constrains the inner
> layer (competition between individuals). Species don’t have a czar who
> restraints internal competition in the interest of keeping the group strong,
> but some human cultures do (eg Russia).

...

> You need slack. In the evolution example, animals usually stumble across
> slack randomly. You too might stumble across slack randomly – maybe it so
> happens that you are independently wealthy, or won the lottery, or
> something.

> More likely, you use the investment system. You ask rich people to give you
> $10 million for ten years so you can invent fusion; once you do, you’ll make
> trillions of dollars and share some of it with them.

> This is a great system. There’s no evolutionary equivalent. An animal can’t
> pitch Darwin on its three-step plan to evolve eyes and get free food and
> mating opportunities to make it happen. Wall Street is a giant multi-
> trillion dollar time machine funneling future profits back into the past,
> and that gives people the slack they need to make the future profits happen
> at all.

