Re: [ontolog-forum] Social interaction and teamwork

["Len Yabloko" <lenyabloko@xxxxxxxxx>]

John,

Thanks for sharing this article. 

I would like to add that the main contribution is in demonstrating " cause-and-effect link between needing a large brain to compete against and cooperate with your social group mates."

The evolution of cooperation as adaptive strategy was studied for many years by Game Theory, including many variants of "prisoner dilemma". This book by Martin Nowak covers the history and current state:
http://www.amazon.com/SuperCooperators-Altruism-Evolution-Other-Succeed/dp/1439100187

What I find relevant to this forum however, is not Game Theory aspect of cooperation but  Signaling Theory that studies communications between agents involved in the games. It shows that some strategies are seemingly wasting precious resources only to "impress" others. In nature cooperation is not about truth or facts (however defined ), but about playing games. There may even be connection here to the language games. 

Len Yabloko
 
'Per aspera ad astra'

----- Reply message -----
From: sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx
To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ontolog-forum] Social interaction and teamwork
Date: Thu, Jun 7, 2012 3:03 pm

The following article raises some interesting issues about the way agents interact in societies.

http://phys.org/news/2012-04-scientists-social-interaction-teamwork-human.html

Scientists have discovered proof that the evolution of intelligence and larger brain sizes can be driven by cooperation and teamwork, shedding new light on the origins of what it means to be human. The study appears online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and was led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin: PhD student, Luke McNally and Assistant Professor Dr Andrew Jackson at the School of Natural Sciences in collaboration with Dr Sam Brown of the University of Edinburgh.

John Sowa

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