This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
The Evolution of Parochial Altruism in Scarcity Systems
Introduction
Parochial Altruism is the interplay between altruism towards ones own tribe, and hostility towards outside groups 1). Individually, the act of either altruism or parochialism and the benefits thereof are weighed against the cost of such an act. In other words, the decision to engage in either one depends on whether it is more beneficial to not do it. From an evolutionary perspective, this is a weak mechanism for suitability in the gene pool. However both acts engaged in as a reinforcement to the other would make for a much stronger viability in the long term, and help ensure the persistence and evolution of both.
My project seeks to test this theory by creating a set of tribes of individuals who are given a choice whether to help their own tribe or not, as well as whether to attack an outsider or not. Based on the theory, we should see the growth and persistence of both behaviors more often than only one surviving in the population. Likewise, I would like to see how well this system behaves under various states of scarcity, and what effect that might have on a groups decision to be altruistic, hostile, or some combination thereof.
Elements
For this simulation, I will make use of Dregs and Res, both to serve as “Random tragedy” that might strike an arbitrary denizen of the simulation, and as resources that must be gathered and used by the fauna, respectively. The new element that would be needed is the being itself. The being would be given a team (or no team at all in free-for-all runs of the simulation) and an initial genetic makeup that allows for some probability of altruism and another independent probability towards hostility. Individuals of an in-group will be allowed to procreate, passing on some random combination of their genetic makeup to their offspring, allowing the dominance of whatever behavior will naturally arise.