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8

t han one would statistically expect if each gene were subjected to

natural selection.16   Some genes, he concluded, seem to be "invisible to

selective pressures."  Competition between groups could account for

the conundrum, since the group preserves a wide variety of

individuals incapable of surviving on their own.  But Gould

sidestepped considering this option.  Though he was forced to

acknowledge that not all selection takes place on the individual level,

he contended that selection transpires below that level between gene

fragments and above that level between species.  Gould assiduously

avoided mentioning the possible importance of social groups.

California State University's David J. Depew and Bruce H.

Weber, on the other hand, asserted forthrightly that "a group...can be

considered as an 'individual'" and that "the population level remains

primary" as a unit of selection.  But their brief observation, buried in a

work on an unrelated subject, went unnoticed.17

E. O. Wilson, in his keystone book Sociobiology, cites numerous

examples of behavior in which individuals sacrifice themselves for the

good of the larger whole. But current theory continues to explain these

away by claiming that members of the group who give up their lives

do it to protect  brothers, sisters and cousins who share bits of the same

genetic legacy.

Much of the enthusiasm over the theory of kin selection comes

from W.D. Hamilton's brilliant mathematical demonstration of how

genetic relatedness might account for the cohesion of bees, wasps and

other hymenoptera in a hive.  However recent evidence shows that the

1964 notion doesn't always mesh with the real world.  Tropical wasps

live together in cooperative colonies and function as a social unit.  Most

of the females become workers and give up on having offspring of

their own, working not in the interests of their own good or of their

kin, but in the interests of the group.  Yet they do not show the high

degree of family relationship predicted by Hamilton.18

In many cases, human beings who willingly form squadrons,

march off and fight to the death have no genes in common at all!  In

8

t han one would statistically expect if each gene were subjected to

natural selection.16   Some genes, he concluded, seem to be "invisible to

selective pressures."  Competition between groups could account for

the conundrum, since the group preserves a wide variety of

individuals incapable of surviving on their own.  But Gould

sidestepped considering this option.  Though he was forced to

acknowledge that not all selection takes place on the individual level,

he contended that selection transpires below that level between gene

fragments and above that level between species.  Gould assiduously

avoided mentioning the possible importance of social groups.

California State University's David J. Depew and Bruce H.

Weber, on the other hand, asserted forthrightly that "a group...can be

considered as an 'individual'" and that "the population level remains

primary" as a unit of selection.  But their brief observation, buried in a

work on an unrelated subject, went unnoticed.17

E. O. Wilson, in his keystone book Sociobiology, cites numerous

examples of behavior in which individuals sacrifice themselves for the

good of the larger whole. But current theory continues to explain these

away by claiming that members of the group who give up their lives

do it to protect  brothers, sisters and cousins who share bits of the same

genetic legacy.

Much of the enthusiasm over the theory of kin selection comes

from W.D. Hamilton's brilliant mathematical demonstration of how

genetic relatedness might account for the cohesion of bees, wasps and

other hymenoptera in a hive.  However recent evidence shows that the

1964 notion doesn't always mesh with the real world.  Tropical wasps

live together in cooperative colonies and function as a social unit.  Most

of the females become workers and give up on having offspring of

their own, working not in the interests of their own good or of their

kin, but in the interests of the group.  Yet they do not show the high

degree of family relationship predicted by Hamilton.18

In many cases, human beings who willingly form squadrons,

march off and fight to the death have no genes in common at all!  In